[Paddlewise] Spraydeck Fix - Folbot Greenland II

I have just finished an improved spray deck for my Greenland II double.  I had
been unsatisfied with the stock model for some time.  It had begun to lose the
waterproof coating due to abrasion and aging, and because it is made of nylon,
when wet it stretches enough that it can no longer be made taut.  This allows
water to build up on the deck, which eventually leaks down into the cockpit. 
In addition, the plastic-tube-supported holes are too small for me to quickly
slide my body through on surf/surge launches.  I wanted a more durable deck,
with larger cockpit holes and coamings I could fit hardshell sprayskirts to.

My solution was to fabricate a deck out of the hull material, from a two foot
by eight foot piece generously donated by Phil Cotton of Folbot.  This was cut
so that it would fold over the washboards as the stock deck does.  I contact
cemented and stitched (polyester thread; home sewing machine) two-inch fuzzy
velcro to the inside of the edge to duplicate the attachment system Folbot
used in the stock deck.  Because only 1-1/2 inches of the velcro width
actually engages the complement on the washboards, I folded half an inch of
the fuzzy stuff over the edge of the new deck and stitched it to the outside
surface of the deck.  This eliminates the raw edge of the hypalon material and
makes a pleasant accent to the deck perimeter.

I had to cut out U-shaped recesses at each of the positions where the
washboard knobs attach frames.  These recesses were topstitched so the Velcro
would not come loose there.  To complete the periphery of the deck, I cut
darts at each rear corner and at the front, contact-cemented the resulting
flaps to form close-fitting corners, and used a Speedy Stitcher awl to secure
the cementing.

To hold the coamings to the deck, I had originally planned to use a Velcro
mate between the deck and the 3/4-inch wide bottoms of the coamings.  After I
sewed the fuzzy stuff around the edges of custom-cut coaming holes in the
hypalon deck, I realized this would never hold.  So, I made an aluminum
backing plate for each coaming out of 0.090 inch 6061 aluminum (cut out of
US$10 worth of sheet stock, at US$2/pound).  This was quite a lot of work,
with lots of fussy pattern-making and at least eight to ten hours of band
sawing and filing/shaping.

These backing plates were drilled to accept #8-5/8 inch truss-head stainless
steel sheet metal screws (about 30/plate -- on 3-inch centers).  After making
holes with a leather punch in the hypalon to correspond to the coaming holes,
coamings and plates were screwed together to make a sandwich with deck
material as the filling, and the whole thing was done!

It has yet to be tested on the water, but it looks very slick, and should be
much more durable than the stock deck.  On the down side: 1. the wooden
coamings are too large to fit into the storage bags, so I will have to carry
them separately. I'll probably make a protective bag for the deck;  2. the new
deck is heavier than the old one (maybe 2 lbs more?);  and 3. I expect it will
be hotter that the old one.  The last is not usually a drawback in the Pacific
Northwest, however!

I undertook the project partly to enhance my G II and partly for the fun of
it.  I would not regard the new hull as a cost-effective solution to the
problems I was trying to solve.  Unless there were a vary large demand for
these, Folbot could not justify generating the tooling needed to make them.
The biggest obstacle is the coaming and joining it to the deck.  For example,
Feathercraft's system seems the best in the industry, and I expect their
coamings are a bargain at US$110 each.  I looked at duplicating their system,
but the Folbot's flat deck would not accept their coamings.

I'll report back after I have tested the new deck on the water.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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