origonaly I laminated an 1/4 inch strip of walnut onto the leading edge of my bow. my hull is made of WRC. I then layed 3 layers of 6oz glass onto the hull. 1 layer for the whole hull, 2 layers from the chines down and 3 layers on high use areas(rub strips).

now for my stupidity. at anacapa you must land and launch form a small peir. This peir is about 20 feet or more above mean tide. you use a pully and sling (you must supply your own sling) to land your kayak. The last time I was out at Anacapa was in plastic kayaks. We lowerd the rear of our unloaded kayaks by hand and lowerd the frount using a 8 foot lanyard. The kayaks did bounced around abit and hit the pilings a couple of times.

Well this time I lowerd the stern most of the way to the sea. then I gave the bow a hard shove.

The bow cleared the wooden railing only to hit the wooden pieling 3 1/2 to 4 feet down.

ok wallnut edging up to 3 layers of glass, an empty kayak (52lb) and less than 4 feet to fall. There can't be much damage.

5 1/2 inch long, 1/2 inch deep with the widest flat area 3/4 inch wide. this is thrugh the 1/4 inch wallnut edging. my only thought on how the dammage could have been this bad is if I sanded through most or all the glass on the leading edge.

fortinatly it didn't start to leak untill after more than 5 miles of paddling,and then only a few cups.

I would hate to see what would have happend if I had hit a rock during a surf landing.

this time there will be about 2 inches of wallnut, and 3 to 4 layers of glass.
I will be very carfull about over sanding.

I have sealed the damage with 1 coat of RAKA (It still leaked) and then 4 layers of 5 min epoxy. once I start the repair, no more paddling utill its done.

my mother and law will be here for 3 weeks. I want to be on the water!!!

Sage.