Jan <td376_at_mail.anonymizer.com> wrote: >> I have a kevlar Wind Dancer. The rack bars on my Westfalia are on either side of the cockpit. No cracks to date. [snip]. 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. >> I agree with Jan that the foam bulkheads (about 1/2 inch thick bluefoam) in our Wind Dancers provide little structural support. I had similar gel coat cracks on the back deck, from paddlefloat rescue practice (I usually hump myself onto the back deck and then work my way across the paddle shaft en route to the cockpit). A buddy's polyester/glass layup WD, same deal as mine, had similar cracks. We judged the problem was a too-light lay-up, so we adhered a couple layers of 6 oz glass with epoxy on the underside of the deck. Stiffened things up well, and only added a few ounces of weight. Jan's repairs seemed more extensive, and maybe the lighter layup of a Kevlar boat demands that. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jul 22 2002 - 10:46:36 PDT
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