Well, I'm back to working on the rebuild. I strayed from working on it so I could finish beautifying my backyard. The next step for the rebuild is to rebuild the stern and bow. As you can see by the pictures this will not be an easy job. Or will it? There are two pictures, one of the bow and one of the stern. Does anyone have an idea as to how I can proceed. I do have ideas but I want to know if anyone has an easier idea. Paul, here's incentive for you to help me get the yak done, assuming you want to paddle a Lightning 17 while you are in town. It is my thought to construct some kind of form using stiff heavy guage plastic sheeting cut to fit. I am thinking that if I screw two oversized pieces into the hull I can then trim the edges until I reach the desired keel size and shape. Once done, I can then fill the attached mould with well thickened epoxy (thickened to reduce total weight) and let it set. Once set, I would remove the plastic sheeting and sand the bow and stern to perfect the shape. After sanding, I would glass the keel as if I was building a new yak.

I'm also thinking of being a little bit creative. This yak has a heavy endpour int he bow. I was thinking of using copper to edge the keel and add a sort of copper flame trail from the keel and over the sides of the bow, kinda like those old hot rods that had the orange flames painted on either side of the engine compartment. I plan on giving the kayak its original paint job so it should look pretty good when it is done. Hold on a minute, with all the patching I have done I suppose I just might have to add a little more paint to cover up past mistakes.

Robert N Pruden