> I would like to upgrade my seat and rudder peddle system and possibly add an > optional down wind sail. The problem is that my kayak is a plastic > Perception Eclipse. These these modifications require drilling new holes > and filling existing ones. I am very very concerned about the hull > cracking, or getting too spongy after too much sugery. Have any experience > or ideas about this? In addition to the technology used by Nielsen Blaauw, here are recommendations by Mark Balogh for mast holes. I'm planning to install his *upwind* sail rig and outriggers (removable, of course) on both PE and folding kayak, so progress is slow. Use keyhole saw (looks like mini hand saw), or hole-saw (actually a 4-5 cm wide drill bit). For keyhole saw you'll need to drill an 8-10 mm hole first, to insert the tip of the saw. My PE Prijon Seayak manual recommends using manufacturer's PE sticks of the same colour and hot-glue gun to fill the holes. I think it's a good idea to heat the hole edges as well, but with what? I'm not sure that hair-dryer will do the job. Portable heat gun (blower) neeeds caution - it's powerfull, may over-heat the plastic around the hole and cause hull distortion. Rudder will have to be replaced with a rudder for double kayak, and it may not be enough, since sail area is large and mast will be far from the bow. It's less of a problem with a small downind sail. What worries me is those plastic brackets holding the rudder asssembly at the stern - sailing will cause more stress on them. Balogh allso recommends to epoxy mast-step to the hull, I didn't come to that stage so far, but have read (New South Wales kayaking website? not sure) that epoxy won't stick well to PE, and that you need to do these works in a hot weather (don't know why). One thing is good with those PE kayaks - they are cheap, no fear of mistakes :-)... Alex. *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Apr 18 2003 - 04:15:22 PDT
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