[Paddlewise] Reinforcing Flimsy Back Deck

I have a vintage 1993 Eddyline Wind Dancer, which has a too-light layup on the
back deck, aft of the rear hatch.  It's strong enough, but just not rigid
enough.  When I slide my upper torso across it preparatory to re-entering the
cockpit (in a paddlefloat self-rescue), it flexes a lot.  It has flexed so
badly, there are a couple loooong gel coat cracks.

I'm not concerned about the ugliness of the gel coat cracks, but with the
effects of repeated flexes of the back deck.  I suspect it will fail one of
these days.  So, I have begun to reinforce it with epoxy/glass layers.

I laid in a sizeable reinforcement patch of 6 oz cloth, but that does not seem
to be enough.  I'm getting ready to apply another layer of 6 oz cloth.

Anybody got experience with this sort of repair/reinforcement?  My yakking
buddy just acquired a vintage 1994 Wind Dancer, which shows the same problem --
and we intend to fix it, also, so any advice will be doubly useful!

Thanks,

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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