Re: [Paddlewise] Roof Rack Spacing - Fibreglass Kayaks

From: anonymizer <td376_at_mail.anonymizer.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 12:03:05 -0400
> Perversely, the hull of my light
> layup Wind Dancer shows no gel coat cracks at the forward strap location,
> which is way aft of the bulkhead, and and where the yak is of largest cross
> section.  Good fit to the saddles?  Don't know.  Go figure?  Probably.
I have a kevlar Wind Dancer.  The rack bars on my Westfalia are on either 
side of the cockpit.  No cracks to date.  I have a Saris rack and saddles.  
On the Wind Dancer, the bars under the bulkhead really does not apply because 
it has foam bulkheads.  The foam bulkheads do a good job of keeping the water 
out but they do not do very much in terms of keeping the hull ridged.  My yak 
has developed two 5" gel coat cracks centered on either side of the leading 
edge of the rear hatch.  I got those from doing paddle float rescues.  The 
foam rear bulkhead let the rear deck pancake in a little to far.  So far I 
have removed the rear foam bulkhead and getting ready to replace it with a 
6mm plywood one.  Adding a second one back there too so that I will have a 
bulkhead on either side supporting me when I slide up on the rear deck.  I 
also get a day hatch with this modification.

Jan Mason
td376_at_mail.anonymizer.com

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Received on Fri Jul 19 2002 - 09:07:04 PDT

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