: Leo

: I'm very sorry to hear of the damage. It's could have been worse, so you're
: fortunate in a sense. If you're near San Diego, I'll help you rebuild it,
: and the beers are on me.

: I tried to open the photoisland, but the site wouldn't work with the security
: settings, and photoisland privacy statement versus the type of cookies
: doesn't agree, so nix on the site. Sorry that I couldn't view the images,
: forgive me.

: The kayak can be fixed, and you should do it. Rob Pruden is currently on the
: last stages of putting his big chunks of kayak back together, so it can be
: done. Sage did an immaculate and exquisite job patching the 5 holes in his
: yak. Don't worry about the details yet, start by sanding out the varnish
: and some of the glass to feather in the new addition. They'll be some
: eveidence down the road, but you have to look hard, more so the patch
: match will be the obvious give away. But...you'll have a yak to paddle and
: scrape up again, and that is the mission objective, not making some
: pristine gem for a museum collection. Besides that, the ol' trooper is now
: a true veteran, staying together in unbelievable abuse. A credit to the
: builder without doubt! Take a bow, sir, you did a great job building a
: true tank of a kayak.

: About racks...Thule and Yakima. If you do a search of the archives I have
: posted issues in the past with both companies. After making a huge stink
: over the cam cleat design for the tracks on SUVs, and my NOI, and
: apparently a suit by others, Thule quietly eliminated the design. Thule is
: receptive to replacing the flawed Hullaport with the new Set-to-go
: saddles. Do this by sending pictures in a letter certified and Registered
: Receipt Request, demanding replacement. You'll also notice in their
: literature and website that they say bow and stern lines are required. In
: other words, this admits that the the cradle itself is known to fail.

: One should always put the straps around yak and bar, and I recommend 4 straps
: per kayak. Also, tie the bow and stern to minimize roof attachment stress.
: The Jeep line and several GM and Chysler vans have roof rack attachments
: to sheet metal (!) and not to an underlying structure. Talk about bad
: designs!!!

: That said, the stress on the rack cradles indicates a bad cradle design.
: Plastic at stress points is tatamount to criminal stupidity on Thule's
: part. Yakima is no better with several really screwed designs, too.
: When I mentioned how lucky you are, if that yak caused damge, injury or
: accident, that misdemeanor then becomes a felony in several states. My
: opinion is that the misleading advertisement and inept design by the rack
: manufacturers is at fault to some degree.

: I truly wish this didn't happen, that damn cradle shouldn't have let go if it
: was made like it should have been. The group is around and my offer
: stands. Best to ya, amigo, we're eaer to hear of progress.

Thanks for the kind words, I'd love to take you up on the offer, unfortunately, I'm way over on the other coast in Massachussetts. Strangely, I'm not suicidal or anything about this. I did work on the boat for over a year and planned on doing some fiberglass work over the winter anyway. I just didn't plan on this extensive rebuilding. Maybe it's because I built it and kinda know what I have to do to rebuild it. I have to say I was in a kind of funk yesterday and last night, but now... I'm kinda looking forward to the project. I just have to think through my repair plans, sometimes if you can't hide damage, the best thing to do is to make it a feature... maybe a matching design on the other side.

I have one hole about 10" x 15" inches right on the sheer line just touching the front hatch cover where the guard rail impacted. There is nothing left there except some tattered remains of the inside glass. The hatch cover suffered very superficial damage. fortunately, it didn't get into my deck detail. So those are 2 dodges right there.

There is another hole punched though the bottom on the centerline right under the front hatch, that's only a couple of inches in diameter and I may be able to push wood back into place and just deal with the scars, not a problem, it's the bottom of the boat. The last major area is the nose, about 3 inches of the bow is gone. I kinda wanted to carve a figurehead and may make that a winter project as well. I'm thinking one of those Lalique style things, maybe a reclining woman or something. There are numerous scrapes, but it doesn't look like many if any went all the way to the glass. I also can't find any other cracks or structural damage, so that's another plus.

You're absolutely right about lucky... as soon as I heard it breaking free, I checked my mirror... no one there. I could just picture it smashed through someone's windshield. My guardian angel was on my shoulder once again.

I wish I could blame it entirely on the rack, but I can't. I should've tied it down at the ends and also secured it to the bar. Just got careless is all and was in a rush to get home. I will see about getting the cradles replaced, although I'm thinking of having some aluminum blocks machined that will work better than what Thule currently uses.

I'll keep you updated as the boat undergoes a winter overhaul. Whatever, she my baby and I'll have her floating again in the spring.

On a side issue, I am beginning to really enjoy my greenland paddle. It's taken a bit of getting used to. It seems that you just can't over power them. If you just take a bit more time getting up to speed, then it works really pretty nice.