: Dave,

: If bulkheads were that important, why does Pygmy even suggest building
: without them and using a sea sock (as I did on my Arctic Tern)? I built my
: Tern hollow end-to-end, yet the deck is strong enough to stand on (not a
: test I'd recommend.) I'm finishing a stripper, with bulkheads and hatches
: this time, and I used 1/8" birch plywood with only a couple coats of
: epoxy and a very small fillet of thickened epoxy. Not in the water yet,
: but I expect them to hold up well. They will only be supporting vertical
: loads and keeping water out of the ends of the boat. Many production boats
: use foam bulkheads siliconed in place.

Hey Dean,

Just to play devil's advocate here:

What if you're surfing your new kayak and do an ender. Your feet slip off the foot pegs and go crashing through the 1/8" birch bulkhead, and your feet get pinned in the bulkhead. The boat then falls end-over end, smashing your face into the sand. You drown, and then some ingenious passerby pulls you out of the boat, takes it home, glasses in some beefy bulkheads, and then has a great new Outer Island to play in the surf with. *just kidding!*

Or, you could avoid the really big surf, and not have an extra 5 lbs. of bulkheads to lift on and off the new VW every day you paddle your boat.

Decisions, decisions! ;)

Any photos of your boat yet?

Shawn Shawn