: 2. I am building a Guillemot and was thinking about trying to cover the
: entire cockpit recess and coaming with carbon fibre and then regular glass
: over the whole thing. My reasoning for doing this is mainly cosmetic ( I
: think it will look cool and I am not completely happy with how the recess
: turned out) the other reason is that I am not a small guy (6'4"
: 240lbs.) and a bit of extra strength would probobly be good. Has anyone
: done this before? Pics would be great. Am I going to have a hard time
: making the carbon conform to the coaming lip?

: Thanks for the help,
: JJ

I built a carbon coaming on my almost complete Guillemot using essentially the same techniques described on the One Ocean Kayak web site. I used the Guillemot cockpit plans except I rounded the front of the cockpit opening. The one problem I ran into is a not quite smooth finish. This was due to my technique, I'm sure. In order for the coaming to come out completely smooth, I have been having to add unthickened epoxy in the low spots. Since the epoxy is not thick, it is taking many applications (four so far). If I were to do it again, I would wet out the layers of cloth as normal, other than the last layer of carbon and glass, and let this cure. After this cures, I'd fill the low spots, if any, with thickened epoxy and sand when cured. Finally, I'd wet out the last layer of carbon and fiberglass. After a few fill coats and sanding, the coaming should be fine. A jigsaw blade doesn't last long trimming this stuff. Send me an email if you would like some pictures.

Kurt