true confessions here, being new to the East Coast I haven't lived with the consequences of storing wood kayaks in steamy hot air weeks on end. How do I discover this? My gorgeous North Bay that I have carefully used just the right amount of resin to glass out, minimal seal coats under the deck,etc. was left in outside,mostly in shade, but with hatches closed and residual moisture in compartments after paddling. After a few months I noticed a darkening of the aft deck,lighter where there were carlins,dark where the seal coat was lean, there was also glass reinforcing under the deck but no fill coat. It took about two weeks for the effect to be complete after 4 months of steady use. Got the boat dried out,sealed the underside. But the boat isn't stored with hatches closed anymore.

I thought the effect was confined to this boat but noticed my daughter pygmy 13 was getting the same effect even though it was 4 years old and had sat outside in the shade in Ca. with float bags inside all the time. It appears that in this steamy summer environment the float bags kept enough moisture trapped against the deck to poach it in the same time as the North Bay. Other boats haven't had this problem...but they haven't been used as much.

oh well, live and learn. It's not a disaster, the boats got kind of a "shroud of Turin" effect to it.