: I have a 14' Great Auk that I have been working on the past 2+
: years. I have the hull and deck stripped and am in the process
: of planing and sanding it. I want to take it with me down to SC
: (from upstate NY) this winter to work on it, when I'm not
: golfing. It still has the 2x4 strongback and forms in it. I have
: a ladder rack on my truck that I put my kayaks on (Pygmy AT,
: Pygmy Osprey and a Point Bennett). I would put the GA on the
: ladder rack but need to know what special precautions I should
: take. If the weather is bad, I probably need to put a tarp or
: something over it since it is not fiberglassed or epoxied. I
: also can't tie down the front since I don't have an attachment
: point on the yak. Would just straps work and would the stress be
: too much for it?

: Charles Robinson

I bought a strip canoe from someone. I was still on the strongback and was faired and sanded on the outside, but was unglassed. The weather was nice the day I picked it up, so I figured It was safe to transport. But on the way home, the wind broke some of strips loose from the stem, splitting the glue joints between some strips.

A frequent poster her long ago, Shawn Baker, took his Hybrid Cormorant to a kayak event (just a short distance from home) after it was stripped but not glassed. It rained while we were there. The rain caused the strips to expand unevenly, making ripples in the deck. He spent many hours trying to get the ripples out, but eventually glassed it with some of them still there. The kayak has held up for many years, ripples and all.

I would recommend wrapping it in stretch plastic wrap, then covering it with a tarp. Either that or keeping it safe in a protected place until you can glass it.