[Paddlewise] Feathercraft K-Light Cockpit Coaming

An uninspiring subject-heading, I'm afraid, but something that's been on
my mind for over a month now, so:

I own a K-Light, and love it for, among other reasons, the two mentioned
in recent threads: excellent tracking and sensuous feeling of being one
with the water.  I spent this past summer in British Columbia, and
while paddling around Salt Spring Island I noticed what looked like a
serious crack in the cockpit coaming.  I wrapped it with multiple layers
of duct tape and hoped for the best, but wasn't really surprised, given
the inevitable flex that the coaming is subjected to, that the crack grew
larger during my next paddling session, developing finally into a complete
fracture.

Fortunately I was heading into Vancouver the following day, so I stopped
in immediately at the Feathercraft factory on Granville Island and showed
the broken coaming to the person there. I asked him if such failures were
common with K-Light cockpit coamings and he said, "They're not really
common, but they're not unprecedented."   Needless to say, Feathercraft
took full responsibility and handed me another coaming on the spot, but
the incident left me with some questions.  The thought of a similar
component-failure happening when I don't happen to be within a day's
ferry-ride of Vancouver is pretty unappetizing.

I've been told, and I believe that Feathercraft's literature mentions that
the cockpit coaming is the most complex and difficult component to
manufacture. Certainly it takes a great deal of strain, whether during
portages, re-entries after wet-exits, or just the ordinary flexing
associated with wave action.  And since the coaming serves as the `frame'
of the backpack in which the disassembled boat is packed,
there is probably the possibility of shock and damage when it is
transported (like other K-Lights, mine gets taken on airplane trips as
checked luggage).

I'm wondering if other Feathercraft owners have experienced similar
problems with cracked or broken cockpit coamings.  Also, is their any
experienced-based wisdom out there regarding ways to minimize the strain
placed on that component?

David Kosofsky
Seoul, Korea

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