Brian Nystrom wrote:
patrick mitchel wrote:

a stitch and glue kayak made from lauan ply (the cheap doorskin/non
waterproof). Kept under cover in the mild southern california coastal
climes. Showing delam in the areas where the ply has extensive
exposure to end grain (cockpit coaming, hatches). Also occasional
splits on the sides where impacts have occurred and allowed to open a
bit. What's the best strategy to keep splitting to a minimum (yeah, I
know, marine grade ply. Aint gonna happen- not in the budget.) When
building the boat might the best strategy have been a couple layers of
thinned epoxy to penetrate the end grain and flat surfaces given me a
better chance of not having to deal with this fairly minor problem
(considering the age of the boat is approaching 10 yr old) It was fun
to build the boats and the one that spent the majority of it's life in
a garage looks a lot better in the splitting dept (or the lack of
splits). Thanks Pat


You've answered your own questions. Build the boat with the right
materials (marine grade ply) and seal it with epoxy. Is the boat
sheathed in fiberglass? If not, it should be.

The bottom line is that if you build a boat to last, it will. If you
build it cheap, you have to regard it as disposable and/or expect to
repair it frequently. You can't have it both ways.


You may also want to check the manufacturers data with regards to
thinning epoxy. Most of them say don't do it.