When I cut off the excess cockpit flat, I kept the scraps for a while. A few weeks later, I did the same peel test, with the similar results. By then, it was too late to think about re-glassing.

Instead of leaving the epoxy behind, however, my peels seemed to pull off a thin layer of wood splinters with them (red cedar).

Nick mentioned in the lates NF Woodworks "Strip building news" that he reglassed a several year old kayak after the fiberglass started peeling when he tried to sand out a bubble for patching.

I suspect that the peel strength of the fiberglass bond is much much less thant us builders would like to believe. The scraps of my cockpit flat were easy to peel, I think, because there was excess un-saturated glass overlapping the sides. I dont think that any of the normal stresses on a kayak are likely to mimic this kind of peeling stress, short of a major tear on a rock or something.

Anyway, after one season of pretty regular use, my Coastal hasnt started to peel yet.

> I see two options - tear it off or not. Don't laugh, there is good
> argument for not: there will be no hatches, deck fittings can be removed.
> If I go ahead and laminate the coamings and they come off, they will more
> likely come off in one piece, making it a wash to fix it now or later. I
> probably could get at least two seasons out of it as is...

> I'm sure someone else has seen this, I recall reading about it. Are there
> ither troubles with Raka cloth? I made a test panel on Okume, will advise
> the results in a week or so, when fully cured. Comments?