Recessed Kayak Deck Fittings

[Bryan Hansel]

I've been working on recessed deck fittings for the Iggy, and planned on building them out of wood. I ordered in router template guides, made templates, built the wooded pieces, and the velcro on my sander gave out, so I couldn't sand the bottom of the fittings to make them round. Nowhere in town had a replacement and it looked like two weeks of waiting, but I noticed some foam in the shop that is used for arranging flowers.

I cut a piece of foam, pushed it through the holes in the deck and it went through forming the shape of the hole. I used my fingers to round the corners, and I had a perfect deck fitting mold. I coated the the foam with PVA, then mixed some thickened epoxy up with microballons and silica and coated the mold with a thin layer.

After this I laid up 6 layers of 5 ounce tight weave glass over the mold on the inside of the hull. After it was dry, I popped out the foam mold, used acetone to clean out any extra foam. Sanded, put a thin layer of thickened epoxy into the recess, and laid in one layer of 6 ounce carbon fiber.

After the carbon fiber dried, I sanded it flush with the outside of the deck, and the result is a strong, nice looking recess.

I'm using Valley fittings inside the recesses to hold the ropes, but other items could also work.

Picture of the kayak as it currently is and a close-up of the deck fitting recess below. Have to finish the skeg today, then next week join the hull and deck.

Cross posted with KBBB

[Glen Smith]

Quite ingenious Bryan! As they say "Necessity is the mother of invention".

[pawistik]

Hi Bryan,

I'm not sure I entirely understand. At some point you are incorporating a horizontal post that will hold the deckline in the recess? Is this done after the fiberglass/carbon fiber recess is made on the foam mold? Or is the post pot in place afterwards?

What am I missing?

Thanks,
Bryan

[Bryan Hansel]

I'm using Valley Sea Kayak deck fittings in the recesses. I have Valley fittings on my fiberglass kayak and have been very happy with them, so I figured out a way to make them work with my cedar kayaks. Link to Valley's parts below. Just scroll down their part page and you'll see the fittings.

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/partsaccessories.htm

So, the next step is to fill coat the carbonfiber, which I did in the afternoon yesterday, then drill a hole in the recess, put the fitting in and cover the nut with thickened epoxy to prevent leaks. A marine silicon would also work.

I got my Valley fittings with hardware from Seda Kayaks for $1.50 each. This could be done with a metal bar across the opening, but you'd have to lay in the carbonfiber very carefully. The metal bar would be inserted by poking it through the foam before glassing.

[sluggo]

Bryan, in the picture of the fitting is the fitting actually sitting upside down?