You have the drill-fill-drill right.

RE fiberglassing the coaming.  I did not on my first boat.  After 5 years the paint / varnish wore off and some of the wood got a bit discolored.  Since I had done a red stripe along the sheer and painted the coaming to match it does not really matter as long as I get my act together and paint it before it starts to rot.

On my new boat I did fiberglass the coaming. I think there is a bit under shop tips about this.  if not guillmont kayaks has video's of Nick doing it.

If you are really wanting to get on the water, skip the varnish for a little while but seal the coaming.  In the long run you will be better off.

PS. For me it has not been a strength issue and I pick up the boat by the coaming all the time.  It's for long term appearance.

My opinion, I'm sure others will chime in.

I'd glass it if I were you. Remember that you will support your weight on the rim when getting in and out of the boat and in rough landing conditions this can put stress on the coaming. SEEYA Jack

FWIW, I've never glassed my kayak coamings and have never missed it.

The main thing it does is what Ed mentions - abrasion resistance. That's because it pretty much guarantees that you have a nice even layer of epoxy on top.

It also does a little of what Jack mentions - absorbing the stress when you put your weigt  on the coaming top - but not really all that much. That's mostly a compressive stress absorbed by the wood and the channel (1/2 I-beam) geometry of the deck, risers and coaming. A strip of heavy uniaxial glass under the deck below the coaming would actually do a better job of handling that stress than a strip of woven on top. However, the wood by itself does a real good job.

So, I'd say that if you want superior water-proofing and abrasion resistance, go for it, but that carefully epoxied wood by itself is good enough for most cases.

Have fun,

Laszlo

i have a west river 180 and did not glass the coaming.  i have another clc boat that i have where the coaming is glassed.  both are used actively....two times a week 10 months out of the year.

i see no difference in general durability.  i routinely sit on the coaming and carry the boats by the coaming.  as explained above, the structural strength is the many plys of wood that are sandwiched together to make the coaming.  

that being said, from a maintenance perspective, i have found the glass a bit of a pain.  when i have had an impact (and i happen to have experienced that on both of them several times over the years), the 'epoxy only approach' is much easier to repair. 

my history with the boats, fwiw, is that both seem to get coaming dings at about the same rate.  most of the dings are right on the edge where the coaming is taking a relatively sharp, high pressure blow.  and while glass is great at abrasion resistance, it really seems to not make a difference on these types of 'sharp ding' incidents.

typically, the repair of an impact like this on the boat with glass on the coaming ends up involving a larger area than than the 'no glass boat' because the glass fabric gets pulled in the impact -- dislodging it from its epoxy matrix in areas immediately adjacent to the impact. 

so for the same impact,  the boat with glass needs a larger repair area than the boat without glass.  in repairing where glass is involved, one has to be very careful to ensure there is no 'not totally wetted out glass (e.g., damaged glass)' in the area adjacent to the problem or it then shows as a whitish spot.  with the epoxy only boat, i have found a good looking repair is much simpler and faster.

anwyway, just my two cents on the matter.  good luck with your boat.

Howard

Thanks for the advice all.   I skipped glass on the coamng, two coats of epoxy on it, and I'll do one more with a final coat of epoxy on the whole deck.