Dear All,

I have recently acquired 2 fibreglass kayaks.

Given our lack of storage space, I am considering shortening them.

Has anyone done this before?

I have done some research into glass fibre moulding, and if I was to do
it, was planning on making a male mould that I would leave wedged into
the cut ends and lay the fibre over it. My brother has some experience
of glass fibre moulding and is prepared to advise too.

One is 3900 long, the other 4200 long. The width is around 600mm.

I have calculated the volume of the shorter one as being around 360
litres.

Surely I can afford to lose some volume given that some modern kayaks
are as little as 180 litres and I'm not that heavy?

I read a little somewhere about people shortening plastic kayaks, so I
would have thought this would be more straightforward?

I know it could be quite time consuming but it seems a shame not to
make use of kayaks that would otherwise have been destined for
landfill!

Any advice gratefully received!

Regards,

Nick

wrote:

I have recently acquired 2 fibreglass kayaks.

Given our lack of storage space, I am considering shortening them.

Has anyone done this before?

The previous owner of my sea kayak chopped the stern end off to put a
C-Trim rudder mount at the back. It still works fine... I have got the
original end and he's offered to glass it back on if I want, as you
suggest it's not impossible to do this sort of thing with fibreglass.

Surely I can afford to lose some volume given that some modern kayaks
are as little as 180 litres and I'm not that heavy?

Volume isn't the only issue. Hull *shape* will affect the boat handling
to some extent. Also, reducing waterline length will probably reduce
the hull speed. On the plus side, you might end up with something
easier to turn.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Thanks for your quick reply Pete!

I am glad that this sort of thing has been done before!

How much was chopped from the stern of your boat?

How was the stern sealed? With fibreglass sheet?

I'm not too bothered about straight line efficiency, so long as it
floats, that's the main thing and making it short enough for easier
storage.

Our local river is overgrown in places so having a shorter boat will
help when avoiding fallen branches etc.

Thanks very much,

Nick

wrote:

How much was chopped from the stern of your boat?

Somewhere between 8" and a foot, can't remember exactly.

How was the stern sealed? With fibreglass sheet?

No, the C-Trim mount is a plastic plate (with mouldings to take the pins
the rudder pivots on) which is screwed into place (I assume into the
original hull fibre), and then the whole thing was sealed originally
with resin though after the original started leaking a few years down
the line I re-did it with high grade silicone sealant (Sikaflex, not
cheap but very good)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Thanks again.

I'll continue with some more research before I get the saw out!

Regards,

Nick

wrote:
Dear All,

I have recently acquired 2 fibreglass kayaks.

[ snip ]

I know it could be quite time consuming but it seems a shame not to
make use of kayaks that would otherwise have been destined for
landfill!

Any advice gratefully received!

I'm guessing that the boats are probably quite old. I'm afraid that my
advice would be to bin them. In my experience, any old glassfibre boats
will generate such horrible fibreglass rash when you try to use them
that you'll hate them immediately.

I'd suggest getting a plastic boat from the classified adverts in your
local paper...

--
Conor O'Neill, at home in Bristol, UK

Shortening the kayak will no likely change the handling characteristics of
the boat. I had a discussion with someone who did this but do not recall the
details. Your weight distribution will change, moving the seat forward could
compensate.

I believe that they cut a "v" out of the bottom and pulled the sides
together.

Sean


wrote in message
ups.com...
Dear All,

I have recently acquired 2 fibreglass kayaks.

Given our lack of storage space, I am considering shortening them.

Has anyone done this before?

I have done some research into glass fibre moulding, and if I was to do
it, was planning on making a male mould that I would leave wedged into
the cut ends and lay the fibre over it. My brother has some experience
of glass fibre moulding and is prepared to advise too.

One is 3900 long, the other 4200 long. The width is around 600mm.

I have calculated the volume of the shorter one as being around 360
litres.

Surely I can afford to lose some volume given that some modern kayaks
are as little as 180 litres and I'm not that heavy?

I read a little somewhere about people shortening plastic kayaks, so I
would have thought this would be more straightforward?

I know it could be quite time consuming but it seems a shame not to
make use of kayaks that would otherwise have been destined for
landfill!

Any advice gratefully received!

Regards,

Nick