just a little more detail on the problem.....

the areas identified are sandable and hard to the touch...however, unlike the rest of the hull, it is not rock-hard...and can be dented if pressed hard with a thumbnail. when the sections are sounded, they sound no different than the hard sections.

the blue dots represent three seperate areas and the width of the 'soft' areas are at between 2 and 3 strips wide. and the length of the areas are 10 inches (the bow section); 18 inches (the in-front of coaming section) and 24 inches (rear deck).

for some reason, the problem only occurred on the centerline. my hypothesis is that it probably was related to where epoxy was originally poured and perhaps the other areas got a lot of extra mixing as the epoxy was squeegied around so whatever was wrong with the epoxy got diluted or mixed out.

all the rest of the hull is rock solid and there was no problem with the interior glass.

what i am really trying to sort out is if this creates any significant 'safety' risk. if it doesn't, i am inclined to let it go and if it wears out faster than the other areas or otherwise delaminates or something,,, i will deal with it at that time. if it is a safety risk (e.g, the boat failing/coming apart while paddling), i will strip it back to the hard areas and re-glass the defective sections. i was doing some reading on and the physics of the strength of a stripped/glassed composite hull which sparked the concern in the first place. but not sure how over-designed these boats are or if these 'soft spots' represent a significant structural defect.

in the mean-time i have wrapped it in black plastic and we have a couple hot days coming.....so i will let it bake a bit regardless and see how it looks by end of week....hopefully, by that time, i will have some sage advice and the epoxy will be whereever it is and i will then make a final decision.