: After taking flak from a local Seattle designer/manufacturer/retailer for
: using solid bulkheads,

No idea who that could be...

: I got to wondering; how many of you have experienced hull damage just in front
: of or at the junction with a solid bulkhead? In other words, is it
: statistically significant enough to bother thinking about?

I don't think so. After paddling wooden kayaks next to composite kayaks, you can really see how much stiffer the wooden boat's monococque structure is. I've felt resonant vibrations pounding through a kevlar hull in choppy seas that would jar your teeth! Granted, a finer entry will keep pounding to a minimum, but the wooden boat just didn't flex to the same extent.

This flexibility is where the stress riser would be a liability. Heck, add a 4 or 5" wide band of glass under your bulkhead and don't worry about it. I wanted a solid front bulkhead for a footbrace, and glassed it in. With fillets of epoxy and tape on both sides of the bulkhead, there is no distinct line where a stress riser will be concentrated. Then, you're talking more of an indistinct stress risk like Lee was describing.

4mm S&G with one layer of glass might be a problem, but 1/4" stripper with at least a layer of glass on each side of the strips should be stiff enough to not worry about it.

Speaking of foot pumps--Pete said you'd been to one of the WKC pool sessions with him this spring. Did you check out Bill McKenzie's foot pump system with the FG pickup line running along the keel and under the seat? Wow!!

Shawn