Larry,
I'm glad to hear that you are making progress on your Isere. The seat in my Cascade is also fiberglass and not too comfortable. These fiberglass seats are referred to as "hung", as they hang from the coaming. I believe that the hung seat is part of the structural integrity of the kayak, and it may be best to leave as much of the seat as possible.

I cut out some of my fiberglass seat, and then built a foam seat around and over the remaining fiberglass. This gave me some comfort while retaining the structure of the kayak.

Chris

: Chris,
: Thanks for the pics. My hull is translucent like your Phoenix. Mine was
: really battered from being dragged on the stems. I repaired all the bad
: spots and rebuilt the stems. Over this hoilday weekend I reglassed the
: hull with 2 oz. plain weave glass. I used white pigmented epoxy for the
: fill coats. The pigment didn't hide like paint, as others suggested it
: wouldn't. However, I'm very happy with the results. I sanded the first
: fill coat while still green as well as the second fill coat. This method
: really removes a lot of excess epoxy and makes a usually tough job quite
: manageable as well as making a very smooth surface while reducing epoxy
: weight.
: I will have to paint the hull but I should be able to get a 1-2 coat finish
: with the white pigmented epoxy as a good under color. I don't think I
: added much weight with the 2 oz. glass. Also I may cut the fiberglass seat
: out so I can carve a foam seat. This will possibly cancel any weight I
: have added.
: I will post pics of this finished vintage boat. This project has me inspired
: to finish my Nordic Arrow (20'x20"stripper) that I started 2 winters
: ago.

: Thanks to all for your suggestions,
: Larry C.