: I can only say that I never coat my frames with any sort of
: waterproofing - though I do oil up the frames of open boats, for
: looks. It seems to me that your problem may well have stemmed
: from your wood choices, rather than coating options? I'm just
: guessing. Glad you weren't paddling when your boat broke in
: half!
: I should note that I do advocate making the aft cockpit frame
: considerably thicker than Tom Yost's instructions indicate, as
: this certainly is a high stress area. Tom knows what he's doing,
: and this could just be overkill (though apparently not in this
: case....).

: Looking forward to seeing your "Chuckanuck!"

I make the frame behind the cockpit stronger too, I often sit on that frame and having it strong for me seems a good idea.

On my Sea Ranger there is barely enough room to stuff the float bag in, deflated, of course that frame might be 6" tall to start with, very low volume boat.

Bill H.