I have a '94 Canadian made Current Designs Solstice ST, it was my first kayak. Generally, I was pleased with the boat and still am with the exception being leakage of the bulkheads. After about a year of owning the boat, I noticed that I consistently had water entering both the bow and stern compartments. Some simple testing with a hose proved the problem to be the bulkheads. Personally, I think these compartments should stay dry, very dry. While I pack important gear in dry bags, I just don't like the idea of water collecting in these spaces that are supposed to provide boyancy when I most need it. When they leaked, I placed air bags in each compartment for an added measure of safety. The thought of carrying around the extra water weight during kayaking treks didn't knock me over either. While I don't know a whole lot about this stuff, I've always suspected the problem came about because of one of two possible reasons - the bulkheads were made of plastic and the boat of fiberglass and the bulkheads were put in place using some sort of caulk, perhaps the two materials contract and expand differently when exposed to different temp extremes causing the caulking to break down - or perhaps it is due to the light lay-up of the boat. It is very easy to warp the hull's shape when tying it down on the car top. Perhaps this occasional warping caused a problem with the caulking. At one point, I wore a hole through the hull of the boat where my heals contact the hull (excessive kayaking in water shoes combined with the light layup). When I had the heel holes repaired by a fiberglass fix-it person, I had him glass the edges of the bulkheads as well. This solved the problem, I had dry compartments after practice rolling sessions and lived happily ever after... Greg Hollingsworth *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Jan 22 1999 - 16:08:56 PST
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