To my horror, the deck on one of my Fire Star kayaks developed the white pocks
of dispair last June when I left it out in the hot sun at the last "Meet at the Beach".

The deck was very dark, and the sun made it very hot.

I smiled at people saying, "I can fix that".

I was sure I could, but I was not looking forward to sanding all that glass off.

It's a classic "epoxy gets hot, softens, and any stress in the deck releases causing the epoxy
to pop away from some glass fibers creating white pocks/dots.

I believe this happens when the glass on the deck has stress that puts the exterior glass
in constant tension, which gets released when the epoxy softens and glass moves.

I'm sure some engineer out there can give you a more accurate discription, but I know
what it is and I hate when it happens.

This goes back to a question a few weeks ago about a deck out of shape and the idea of
forcing it in place. Yes, you can do that, but, if your deck ever gets hot, the stress will be
released, and you'll have the white pocks to deal with. Better to sand off the glass on the inside
of the deck so the shape can be changed without loading stress/tension on the deck glass.

I've managed to put off fixing the Fire Star til now.

I thought I would be able to sand off the glass without breaking though the seal coat
into bare wood. The problem with cuting into bare wood is that you'll often have
a dark halo appear at the edge of the wood/ resin transition when you apply new resin.

I've been able to sand off 6 oz. glass and not cut into the seal coat before.

However, the kayak I'm working on has 4 oz, S-glass and I found I was not able to sand
it off without cutting into a few spots of bare wood.

I WAS VERY UNHAPPY. THIS IS A BOAT SOMEONE IS PAYING A LOT OF MONEY FOR. I THOUGHT I WAS SCREWED!

I tried to remember, how I tell people building one of my boats, to remain calm,
take a break, and think about options, and you,ll figure it out.

I finished sanding out those nasty white pocks and sanded the surface down
to 220. I wiped the surface with alcohol to see what the damage would be
and to my relief, it looked just fine. No dark halos all over the place.

I wet the deck with a seal coat of slow hardener and resin, in my shop
which was quite warm.

Tomorrow, I'll apply new glass on the deck.

I think sanding to 220 along with the slow resin/warm shop kept those
nasty dark halos from appearing.

So I've pulled myself out of the Pit of Dispair, and I hope this will be a help
to some of you in your hour of need.

All the best,
Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com