[Paddlewise] Confessions of a boat abuser

My poor Nordkapp, I've beat on it for 20 years now, and its mad as hell and
isn't going to take it anymore. We've been having an awesome storm season
here on Southern Vancouver Island, best in living memory really, though
Oregon has gotten a bit more of the brunt (home of the whining
Paddlerwiser, Dave Kruger!) :-)

Was out on Wednesday in 40 knot winds for three or so hours, seas were
rather lively with much higher squalls and hail from unstable pockets of
cooler air aloft (you just don't get beautiful weather like this in the
booring summer, Dave, with Mother Nature drum beating on the side of your
skull cap). I got pushed up on a lee shore "beach" and bashed and then
rolled over a log in the heavy shore break, and split the deck seam along
from one bulkhead to the other (6 feet). The two halves are separated now,
and I'm leaving for a Central Coast trip in a few weeks. HELP!

1) I can repair the inside seem with cloth tape and epoxy, but does anyone
know a good way to stiffen or strengthen the joint so it is better than
before?

2) Should I run an outside seam? It "seems" to me that these British boats
are heavy and well built, but suffer from the fact that one little thin
seam on the inside holds the whole thing together, and once an incipient
crack starts, the whole thing un zippers (this happened to a notorious
Nordkapp surfer on the Oregon coast a few years ago).

3) I have a custom $400.00 epoxy paint job. Will I have to sand that and
then the underlying original gel coat to make an outside seam adhere properly?

4) My boat is kept outside, upside down. Has UV damage weakened the
fiberglass? Does fiberglass have a lifespan?

5) Should I buy a plastic kayak from Costco? (VBG)

Doug Lloyd
Victoria BC
Canada

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