Re: Deck Beam Installatio

Posted by LeeG on Mar 10, 2006

That's why I wouldn't use ratchet straps. It makes more sense to put the kayak in L-brackets than attempt to crush the midsection to tie it down. The hull is already very,very rigid. You do make a good point about cam straps,,with too much salt water and grit the spring can get loose so the cam doesn't grip well,it's always worth checking them when tieing the boat down. Check out the inside of an Arctic Hawk,it's a bent deck and the coaming stack is thinner than the Chesapeake stack, the only difference is that there's a few more layers of 2oz glass around the coaming/deck. Rogers boats are substantially built based on use, and there's no deck beam. Given that there's no underdeck glass I'd still put one strip of 4mm under the front edge of the coaming. Speaking of amphibious use with the stock Chesapeake the aft compartment doesn't have glass cloth between the 3" tape on the keel and chines on the bottom panels. It's not unreasonable to expect a person to come to a protected river bank to get out and have the kayak resting on a bump in that area, when you get out your weight shifts back as you get up onto the aft edge of the coaming. Even with 6oz glass on the outside the relatively wide/flat bottom panels will flex up and make little micro cracks in the epoxy seal coat. That's why the cockpit has glass, it'll still hold up 95% of the time unglassed but the flexing will crack the seal coat causing water stains. With a glassed cockpit it remain cosmetically more attractive and provide real worst case scenario strength. Try it sometime, turn a regularly glassed Chesapeake over and press down hard with the flat of your hand in the middle of the cockpit bottom panel then do the same in the aft compartment panel,the cockpit side in the widest portion of the bottom panels will be solid, 12" behind the aft bulkhead you'll hear slight cracking sounds. Safe to say your entire body weight and kayak rising/falling gently on shore will exert more pressure. I'm guessing that in heavy use you'll see more utility out of a square foot of 6oz glass on the aft compartment hull panels than a 1" thick deck beam.

In Response to: Re: Deck Beam Installatio by Laszlo on Mar 10, 2006

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