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Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
By:John Bell
Date: 9/21/2015, 2:38 pm

Greetings, fellow paddlers! Wonder if I might get some help.

I just bought (probably fourth-hand) a 19-foot homemade strip-built kayak. I have no idea if it came from a kit or what. It clearly needs at least some new epoxy and varnish, but I'm not sure if it ever had fiberglass or (if it doesn't) if that's something I should add. Here are some photos:

https://sailwithdulcinea.shutterfly.com/pictures/21

(I sold the sailing dinghy on the main page several years ago. And the tiny house.)

My tentative plan is to sand it down (hull and deck) with a rotary orbital sander to remove all loose epoxy/varnish, then re-epoxy (with System Three General Purpose) and re-varnish (with Pettit Z-Spar Flagship). I originally thought the yellow dimples were glass showing through, but then I saw that some of this was flaking off near the stern--and thus appears to just be epoxy. But if I'm wrong, please let me know.

Assuming there is (as I now suspect now) fiberglass, should I add some? I like it that the boat is so light--probably a shade lighter than my Pygmy Coho, despite being 1.5 feet longer. (It is a lot narrower, though--19" at the cockpit.) So I would not want too add a ton of weight by glassing the whole thing--but if adding a little here and there (maybe via glass tape) would prevent this kind of damage in the future, I'd lean toward doing that.

I have almost no experience with woodworking, boat repair, etc., but I can follow directions and am OK if it doesn't come out perfect. I just want it to look great from 10 feet and, most importantly, be seaworthy.

Thanks a million for any thoughts or advice!

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 2:38 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Paul -- 9/21/2015, 3:13 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 3:24 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 4:01 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Etienne Muller -- 9/21/2015, 5:28 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak *PIC*
Dan Thaler -- 9/21/2015, 5:34 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 5:36 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/21/2015, 6:47 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 6:55 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/21/2015, 10:41 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 7:19 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Mike Bielski -- 9/22/2015, 7:53 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 8:17 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 9:16 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 9:22 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 9:25 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/21/2015, 5:58 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 6:49 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Dan Thaler -- 9/21/2015, 6:58 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 7:22 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Marc Upchurch -- 9/21/2015, 7:00 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 7:35 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/21/2015, 7:54 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/21/2015, 8:04 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 2:01 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 7:31 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 9:17 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 9:27 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 9:41 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 4:34 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 4:30 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 4:36 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Bill Hamm -- 9/22/2015, 7:12 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Marc Upchurch -- 9/21/2015, 10:24 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 7:21 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Etienne Muller -- 9/22/2015, 5:05 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Paul Sylvester -- 9/22/2015, 7:17 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 8:27 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 7:53 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
scottbaxter -- 9/22/2015, 8:42 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 8:54 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/22/2015, 8:55 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 9:11 am
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/22/2015, 12:59 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 1:28 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/22/2015, 2:05 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 2:28 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 9/22/2015, 3:29 pm
Re: Strip: Renovating 19-Foot Strip-Built Kayak
John Bell -- 9/22/2015, 3:50 pm