My Vegvísir patch. Now I will never get lost.

I finally sewed my Vegvísir patch onto one of my PFDs. If you know me at all you know that I studied Norse and early Germanic mythology and I thought this was kind of fitting for a PFD. My wife bought the patch for me.

The Vegvísir is also known as the Viking or Icelandic compass. 

The symbol is attested in the Huld Manuscript, collected in Iceland by Geir Vigfusson in 1860 (but consisting of material of earlier origin). A leaf of the manuscript provides a drawing of the Vegvísir symbol, giving its name, and, in prose, declaring that "if this sign is carried, one will never lose one's way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known".

It is said to be associated to Ægir.
In Norse mythology, Ægir (Old Norse "sea") is a sea jötunn associated with the ocean. The Jötnar are a mythological race that live in Jötunheimr, one of the nine worlds of Norse cosmology.

I am certifiable or was that certified?

Welcome back readers and hello new readers.

If you have read my "What is this blog about and why another blog?" post, I state that I know squat about kayak except for taking some basic instruction classes. That has changed, sort of, I guess.

A couple weeks ago I took an IDW/ICE from Mike Aronoff. After a week of being put through our paces I came out of it as an ACA L3 Coastal Kayaking Instructor. If you know anything about Mike you understand that it was not an easy ordeal.

Now, I am not sure what I will do with it.

I have other skills that I use to earn a living and the pay is better than what I would make as a kayaking instructor. I stated before that I was once an AMGA Climbing instructor. I tried to make that work as a career but the money is just not there, at least where I live.  I managed to survive at it for 3 years but not at the level of lifestyle I had grown accustomed. It made a great part time job for 16 years and I loved the pro deals.

I will probably teach some classes on the weekends and keep my certification current and work toward L4 and L5 and maybe BCU but it is mostly for personal enrichment and not for a career. Maybe a second career after I retire or maybe open my own business one day.

So, I guess I can no longer claim ignorance about sea kayaking. I know a few things about it. My post are still informational and not instructional (well except the ones about boat repair). Mostly I am expressing thoughts and opinions. Please seek out instruction and practice the skills that will make your journey safe. And have fun.

Always have fun and don't take life to seriously. Remember, no one gets out alive.

Composite Kayak Repair - Fixing the Whisky after my Charlston Rough Water Classes

While at the East Coast Paddlesports & Outdoor Festival this year I took a few classes offered through Sea Kayak Carolina. These were rough water courses from Kayak Waveology and a surf course with Dale Williams. I had a great time but my Whisky 16 did not handle it as well.

In a review of the Whisky 16 I defended the light lay up of the fiberglass. It actually gives a little flex and can prevent sever damage when you have a close call among the rocks. It has a hex core bottom that gives the rigidness the hull needs. I love the design of the kayak but it has a flaw.

You will see in the picture that the fiberglass flexed enough to crack the gelcoat and the resin in the glassing. This happened when the kayak slapped the water after I had to shot over a 4 foot wave that was about to break outside the zone we were surfing, basically breaking on top of us. So, upon inspection I noticed two things that contributed to the cracking. First, it cracked just past the hex core where it does not cover the full length of the hull. Second, the fiberglass in the hull of the front hatch does not appear to be fully impregnated with resin.

So, I found out that the glass hull cracked and now had flex in it by the cracking of the gelcoat. 

 You can see that it really does not stand out much until you zoom in. I actually did not notice it until we got home and we were unloading the kayaks.

You can see by the way it is cracked and the lack of scratches or other signs of impact that this was caused by stress.

It is actually an easy thing to repair since there are no holes in the hull. The area just needs some resin in the stressed area and some added glass for reinforcement. Then a gelcoat repair.

First thing you need to do is prep the area. I start with a 230 grit sandpaper to clean and rough the area then I clean out the dust and wipe the area down with Acetone.

You want the surface to be well cleaned for the resin to adhere to the surface. The sanding will also open the original fiberglass the was not well impregnated with resin. This will allow you to force additional resin into the original glass.

 Next thing is to get your fiberglass and cut it to the size you need for the project. I use a 6 ounce fiberglass instead of cross layering sheets of 3 ounce. This is a repair and not a structural build.

Your glass should cover the area of damage and continue a couple inches around the damaged area. The kayak had stress areas along the sides as well as the large area on the bottom so, I cut a piece big enough to cover the sides as well as the bottom cracking.

Next I spread the resin on the area that is cracked and force it into the cracks. this will fill in any gaps in the original glass and fill in areas that were not fully impregnated originally. This will created a stronger bond with the new fiberglass.

Then you lay the new glass onto the area and work it into the resin. Then you start adding more resin into the new glass and forcing it in with a squeegee. You need to use enough resin to fully saturate the fiberglass.






On this repair I added some additional glass on the bottom where it was the weakest form the cracking. This will add additional support for the area and give it added strength.

As you work the resin into the glass you will also work out the air bubbles and press the fiberglass flat and into any corners. It should lay as smoothly as possible and have full contact to the area of coverage.

In the photo below you can see the repair with the double layer of fiberglass on the bottom and a couple additional patch areas on the  left side.


Once you have the fiberglass full of resin and smoothed out you need to let it cure. I use an epoxy resin that cures in about 6 hours at 80 degrees fahrenheit. I generally let it cure over night to be on the safe side. The resign can nor over cure but it can be an issue to try and sand it before it has cured enough.




Now you will sand the area you just patched. Not to much. You do not want to sand away the fiberglass you have just applied. You just want to sand down the edges where the fiberglass willbe rough and rough up the resin on the top of the glass to add a finishing coat.

  After the sanding to smooth the edges you will want to clean out the dust. Then once again clean the area with acetone to remove any grime and grease left by your hands.






After you have the surface sanded and cleaned you will notice the sharp hard edges of the fiberglass. Also the surface will have an uneven texture to it. To get a smoother surface you will add some additional resin around the edges with a paint brush. then you can brush on an additional  layer on the surface to get things relatively smooth. Since this is the inside of the hatch I do not get overly particular with it. I just do not want any rough edges to abraid my dry bags when I slide them in and out.

Now you need to let the resin cure. After it cures it should be fairly smooth without sharp edges. You and apply more resin as needed.







Now, it is time to repair the gelcoat. This is where you get particular about the sanding and smoothness. First, you have to do some prep work by removing the cracked gelcoat and and prep the surface. I use a polyester gelcoat paste for this type of repair. Also I don't have the area to use a sprayer and painting the gelcoat on with a brush can be problematic. The paste has issues of itself. You have to be really careful about air bubbles and after the first sanding you may find that you need to apply paste again to fill air bubbles.

first thing you want to do is chip off any loose cracked gelcoat and open any cracks. This will allow you to have an area to apply the new gelcoat and it will be attached to gelcoat that is tightly bonded to the fiberglass.






Make sure you do not dig into the fiberglass base. You do not want to compromise the strength of the glass.  After you have chipped out all the loose gelcoat and scraped open the cracks you will need to sand the surface. I use a 300 grit sandpaper. Then thoroughly clean the area with acetone.




Now you mix and apply your gel paste. My hull is white but not a true white. I do not bother trying to match the color. I pigment my gelcoat with a true white. This allows me to inspect the repaired area over time but you have to look closely to notice the difference.

When you spread the paste on try to keep it smooth to prevent air bubbles and do not over work it. You are not trying to get it even with the original gelcoat. This is done during the sanding.

 Then you let it cure. Some people like to let it cure to a firm state but, not fully cured. The idea is it is easier to do the initial sanding. I like to let it cure for at least 12 hours so,I generally leave it overnight.

I find it is less likely that I will oversand the patched areas if the gelcoat has fully cured.

Next is the initial sanding.

I start with a 300 grit sandpaper and sand the patched area until the are almost flush with the original surface. I sand in a circular motion trying to stay on the patched area and following the kayaks contours.

The sanding block I use is cut from a piece of closed cell structural foam.

You can see in the photos that the sanding gets almost flush but not quite. The reason for this is to allow for the wet sanding that will go through 3 grades of grit to get a smooth finish.

The finish will be the most time consuming depending on how much of a smooth finish you want.

For the wet sanding I use sanding sponges I get from HomeDepot.

I have a 320 a 400 and a 600. I start with the 320 and sand the patched area pretty much flush then I move to the 400. When it is fairly smooth to the touch I move to the 600 to finish the surface.

The surface will still have a dull look to it. Next I use a fiberglass polish to start giving it a little shine.

Take you time with the wetsanding and polishing. This will be what defines your work. This is the surface that people see and notice. It will also be the deciding factor of how much you can charge if you decide to do the repairs for others.  In my area there are very few choices of places to go for composite boat repairs.

 Polishing can be done by hand or with and electric car buffer. I chose to do this one by hand because it is my boat and I was not concerned about a high gloss shine. If you want a high gloss shine use an electric buffer and go over the area a couple time with the polish the add a couple coats of boat wax.

 Give it a good wipe down and a coat of wax.

I use a spray on boat wax. If you want a high gloss shine use paste wax and a power buffer.

This is the finished surface. If not for the light color difference you would not know a repair had been done.

This should help you get started on your own repairs. Or, if you are in the Washington Metro Area you can look me up. Reasonable rates but I have a real job so repairs will take atleast a week.

East Coast Paddle Festival (late recap post)

I posted about arriving at the East Coast Paddlesports & Outdoor Festival and then went silent. Even though we were in a site with power hookup so we could charge our radios and GPS and phones, the WIFI access was crap. We were suppose to have access throughout the area we were in but that was not the case. After we arrived at home things were busy.

So, about the festival:
We did not know we would be able to go until a couple weeks before the festival and all the masters classes were full with waiting lists. Not knowing if we would get in on classes we wanted we opted to take some classes offered by Sea Kayak Carolina. We did 2 days with Greg, Paula and Rick from Kayak Waveology and one day of surf with Dale Williams. Then we spent a couple afternoons checking out the festival and paddling in the pond. I also spent some time trying out NDK kayaks. My favorite was the new Latitude. It is a nice kayak and I like a smaller cockpit. I am to large for a Pilgrim but the Latitude was a good fit. The Explorer is also a nice fit but the cockpit is a little large and the HV was way to large. In the end though it looks like I will be getting a Romany Surf but that is somewhere in the future. Not sure why everyone is trying to get me out of my Point 65 boats.

Our first day with Kayak Waveology was more of an intro to rough water and coastal kayaking, a coastal tour so to speak. It was a nice overcast day and the conditions were good for a little rough water training. I was happy I had no trouble with the surf launch and I played a little in the surf when we landed at the end of the day. We also had a little fun in the tide race.

Here is a screen shot of our track. Created with Backcountry Navigator.

My wife took this very unflattering video of me playing in the surf at the end of our first Waveology class. Please remember this is the first time I have had my kayak in breaking surf.

Our class the next day was with Dale Williams. So, this was an actual how to surf a sea kayak class. Dale is a great guy and instructor. When I made a mistake he was able to instantly tell me what I was doing wrong. I really learned a lot in this class. My only regret is that we did not spend more time out in the larger outside break because a couple people in that class were not feeling up to it.

Here is what our track that day looked like.  Created with Backcountry Navigator.

Below is some video I shot during the class from the back deck of my kayak. I found that I need a better camera mount if I am going to shoot video while surfing.

 

The third day it was back out with Kayak Waveology. This time they broke the class into two groups. Paula and Rick stayed near the launch with 2 students that were not ready for the bigger water. Greg took me my wife and another student, who is also an instructor for whitewater, out into the larger breakers and over to the tide race. This class was more instruction than the first one we had with Kayak Waveology. We played in some fun conditions. I failed a roll in 3 to 4 foot swells and was towed out a little to do a rescue. I am blaming the helmet. I have never worn a helmet and rolled in a sea kayak. Then we were off to play in the tide race and I went over but this time I did not fail my roll (what a relief that was). We had on the water lectures and scenarios and I got to do a rough water contact tow across a channel with a 2 knot flow. That was fun. Even though you practice these things in calmer waters it is always good to practice in conditions. Then we went into a cove and landed and discussed our towing and rescue equipment we carry and went through some discussions on different towing techniques.  Lots of great information.

Sorry, no video from that class. But this is our track of the day.  Created with Backcountry Navigator.

After the class we went back to the festival and paddled in the pond. We also stopped off at the Masters Beach so I could meet Nigel Foster. We had a nice chat and he is a very nice and pleasant person. He offered me his paddle to try out. Not only does he design great boats but I was very pleased with the paddle design also. I put up a blog about planning to get one of his paddles. We are hoping to do take a class with Nigel at Sweetwater Kayaks. Or, maybe make a trip out to Washington to get a private lesson. When my wife met him a year ago she came home saying that he reminded her of me as far a personality, this is why I wanted to meet him while we were at the festival. 

As for the whole experience, it was great all in all.

We arrived on Wednesday and went to a get together at Sea Kayak Carolina. It rained. Thursday we volunteered to help with the setup of Sea Kayak Carolinas tent and display but there was little for us to do so, we relaxed at camp most of the day. It rained. Friday we had a class and visited the festival. It rained. Saturday we had a class then stayed in camp as it rained. Sunday we had a class then went to the Festival and met Nigel Foster. Then we went to dinner at The Triangle. It rained, sever thunder storms. Monday was a beautiful day. The air was fresh and the sun was out and we packed our camp and spent almost 7 hours in the car driving to Richmond.

When we got home I noticed some cracks in the gelcoat on the bottom of my kayak. Upon further inspection I found that I had stress fractured my hull at the front of my kayak. I can only imagine that it happened during the last class when I raced over an outside wave that appeared suddenly. It was about a 4 foot wave but the front of my kayak smacked the water hard as I came off the back of the wave. The repair is complete and will be posted in a later blog.

We survived and had a great time.