K1 - Skin unwelding?

[sroberge]

Hi, (p.s. You can now see the pictures below that I posted after this first post when I attempted to describe the issue. I also have now checked it further for leaks by taking it apart and filled it with water up to the first strap from the stern and it leaks at a rate of 20 onces or 600 ml per hour. This leak is, at least, from the extremity of the stern, as it seems to get out of the beginning of the permanent plastic part covering the end of the stern where the rudder attached. It does not seem to leak further away from the stern but I am still investigating that).

I am about to take my K1 on a kayaking trip abroad and something looks wrong about it.

If you know what is going on, I would appreciate your advice.

I can't attach pictures to show you how it looks as the files are too big. However, I will try to describe it as best as possible and I could send pictures to you by private e-mail if you want.

Basically, I see a green line now between the deck and the hull parts of the skin starting from the stern and ending about 3 feet from it. It is half an inch at first (next to the stern) and diminishing to nothing at the end (toward the cockpit). This green line is the material of the deck part which used to be covered under the fabric where the loops and straps are attached to. It happened in my basement as I put it together dry to double check the kayak before the trip.

It is a 2000 model when the deck and hull fabric were both changed to urethane, allowing the deck and hull to be welded together to create water-tight seal know as the Sealskin Technology.

From the 2nd last picture at the bottom of that page http://feathercraft.com/welding/, it seems that the welded seal is not affected but only the gluing of the upper part of the seal over the deck part of the skin. In fact, this picture looks a lot like my kayak now where the green line will be on the vertical part just above the horizontal fabric where the loop is attached to.

However, I am worrying that the seal is going to unseal next. It may be safer to take my 1998 K1 with the older technology.

Thanks a lot for your attention and I would welcome your views.

Stéphane Roberge from Ottawa

[Jeremiah]

Hi,

I have a Feathercraft Big Kahuna made in 2000. I am trying to picture what you have described but unfortunately my kayak is in storage. There has always been an edge of deck material along the seem that gives it an "unfinished" look but I guess that was the result of what must have been a very complicated bit of genius to create the Sealskin result. But something has happened to alarm you that I'm still not understanding. I wonder if the seem has only partly separated. Maybe if you turned that section of the skin inside out you could get another look at the integrity of the seem and decide that everything is okay (hopefully).

[sroberge]

Hi, here is a lower resolution picture where the green line is showing. Thanks a lot for any views

[sroberge]

here is how the green line ends toward the cockpit

[sroberge]

Now the side without the scary green line

[Jeremiah]

I'm wondering if that green line is actually the yellow deck material that was folded into the hull material to form the waterproof seam and now there is some seperation. Hard to imagine because a welded seam is supposed to be stronger than a glued seam. I know it's a pain to do this but I would still want to turn that stern area inside out to examine the seam from that perspective and give it some hard tugs to see if it wants to separate any more.

[sroberge]

Hi Jeremiah,

As suggested, I turned the stern area inside out to examine the seam from that perspective but the sponson envelop was in the way and I could not see the seal. I decided to not undo the sponson envelop to not get it worst for now. However, I gave it a good shake and it seem strong. Furthermore, the seam where the green line is, as described to my amendment above, does not seem to be leaking.

Here is the amendment for ease of reference:

(p.s. You can now see the pictures below that I posted after this first post when I attempted to describe the issue. I also have now checked it further for leaks by taking it apart and filled it with water up to the first strap from the stern and it leaks at a rate of 20 onces or 600 ml per hour. This leak is, at least, from the extremity of the stern, as it seems to get out of the beginning of the permanent plastic part covering the end of the stern where the rudder attached. It does not seem to leak further away from the stern but I am still investigating that).

Thanks again for your help. It is good to not fell completely alone with that since Feathercraft's website indicates that Doug is away until February.

Stephane

[Jeremiah]

Hello Stephane,

I didn't think about the sponson sleeve being in the way. Sorry to put you through that. I did go back and re-read all of your posts. When viewing the diagrams from Feathercraft's website, it looks like there is a substantial amount of material used to form the deck to hull weld. So maybe the "green line" is just a slight separation and not a concern. I find it very interesting what you've done with your water experiment. I have the same rudder mount on my Kahuna. I'm wondering if my kayak would do the same as yours as far as leaking water through the mount or if this is related to the "green line" issue. Perhaps the only one who would know if this thing with your kayak is of any concern would be Doug Simpson. As far as I know he is still providing some support for Feathercraft owners.

Good luck with your search for an answer. You have a great back up kayak if needed!