Short day twosday, fun with Lyssa

Really educational fun too. Went to the lake, only to turn around and head home to the river. At the lake was mess of people using the boat ramp as ‘the beach’ and no where to park, I didn’t want to take a glass boat on the river, but I wanted the water time, and yeah, there is a rock or two that now sports some white gelcoat. Only a couple though, i was being careful. And I can fix gelcoat,,,, (nothing major, just a little rub spot,,,)

BUT, what I found was that someone had ‘trimmed’ the cockpit coaming,,, Why? Dunno, but I can imagine that it was because the coaming had taken some damage and they trimmed it back to make her more attractive for resale. I know it wasn’t the owner that I bought her from since he doesn’t use a spray skirt and if he had he would have known that trimming them is bad mojo for any moves. And he was straight up with me on all the other little details that I have been addressing the last week,,,

My leaks, and yes, I did find some and I made repairs, but the real leak was that coaming lip and my skirt. Once on monday, I noted that the right side near my hip wasn’t seated correctly, and I thought it was just a mistake on my part. Put it in place, keep going. TODAY though,,, I was really trying to push the limits of that edge and was laying over so far, my head was touching water, and POOF!!! that skirt popped off the coaming and water came rushing in. Checked the other side and it held; just that right side near my hip. NO ROLLS POSSIBLE AT THIS STAGE. Drained the water out, and brought her home, put Lizzy back in the rafters of the porch (she has some patches that need sanded down, but no rush there.) and proceeded to figure out how to make that lip wider. Used a peice of 1/2″ tubing too determine if just that one side needs attention. That lip on that side is roughly 1/4″ wide for an 8″ section. The rest was just fine: full 1/2″ width or more (the back edge is almost a full inch!) SO, Mix up some resin, cut some glass, 60 grit on the sander to rough up that area and I am widening it up. Tricky area to play in, and I made a mess of things and had to bust out the acetone to clean up on the deck where I was sloppy. And I can see where the person that trimmed the coaming was sloppy about it about it, there are scrapes along the deck right where the trimmed area is, in line with that edge: right where the edge of a sander would hit if someone weren’t extremely careful. Never saw it because I have been focused on the hull bottom.

And I have to isolate a leak in the skeg box. Found water back there and I pressure tested the compartment and had bubbles blowing out the skeg opening. Where the cable runs is my guess, but I don’t want to ‘guess’, I want to know and fix it right. Had enough bad Diag with Buffalo currently to make me cautious on things.

And the light has failed me for the day, so when I get the chance tomorrow (today for this delayed post), I am back on it, and Lyssa sits in the horses over night. Kayak hospital,,,,, Still love the boat: hell, I took her through the rapid area down on the river, and then turned around and attained the same. She handles amazingly well, ferries like a dream, and grabbed the lower eddy slick as could be. Its not even a class 2 rapid, but it has strong current and is good place to play and get some practice in. And in the case of longboats, a good place to get a feel for capabilities. Lyssa passed that section, but failed the hard edge/hipsnap test. I am rectifying that.