: I have done messed up. I am re-skinning my kayak for the summer
: rush, and I got to the part where you cut off the excess fabric.
: I laid a 1-1/4" flat strip down the length of the kayak,
: and proceeded to pull the skin across and cut along the side of
: the batten away from the gunwale the skin wrapped. At least I
: [i]think[/i] I did. I've skinned kayaks at least 10 times now,
: this is how I always do it. Then I put in my zig-zag lacing,
: tightened it all up, and went back to start my running stitch to
: pull the skin together. I got about 2 feet from the stern tip,
: working towards the cockpit, and realized I was quickly running
: out of skin to pull together. Finished that run of thread, and
: checked it out. Further towards the cockpit (further means about
: 3' from the stern) I can't even pull the nylon to touch, let
: alone overlap an inch or so. Now, I picked today to start the
: skinning because it's been rainy all morning, and kinda cool. I
: sprayed the skin down and got it good and wet prior to the
: zig-zag. By the time I got back to the running stitch, I had to
: spray it again, it was starting to dry.

: One, is it possible that during drying out from the initial
: wetting, the skin shrank up that 1-1/4" gap?

: Two, maybe I was thinking about Kurt's machine guns and actually
: cut the second flap of skin on the wrong side of the batten. I
: suppose that's possible. So if I have a permanent gap, what is
: the procedure for installing a long v-shaped patch? Stitching
: wise. I can't be the first idiot to have done this... not that
: anyone else who's done it is an idiot... if you have the answer
: to my little dilemma, that makes you a genius! : )

: My inclination is to get it good and sopping wet, and run a second
: zig-zag closer to the would-be seam and try my level best to get
: them to at least touch. Maybe then I can steal enough extra with
: a whipping or x-stitching to bunch together some semblance of a
: closed seam, or at least shorten the patches.

: Thoughts, and possibly encouragement, would be appreciated.
: Ordering another skin is kind of out of the question at this
: point, but I have a pile of big scraps from the last three
: kayaks.

: Is there some kinda magic tape I can overlay on the seam? I could
: stitch it as tight as possible and spread a load of 5200 down it
: maybe...

I've not done nylon but I can't see why a wedge shaped patch wouldn't work.

Bill H.