Where two halves meet inside and out

An often asked question of me is "what about the tape seam" and its one I love explaining.
Its the one part of the kayak that is susceptible to damage as most composiste kayaks are joined in the middle and that were it can get a bit tricky

The strongest way

 Basically there are two ways to join a kayak (composite that is ) one is a Chemical bond and that is achieved by laying a fiberglass tape along the join line and consolidating this with resin joining the two halves together .
On the below photo you can see the white tape seam just as I'm closing up the mould before joining,see that it goes all the way to the end--MOST IMPORTANT


To make a chemical bond this should be done on the same day and as soon as possible after laying up the two halves and after this is complete and because its done whilst the resin is all green the boat becomes one a true chemical bond and the strongest way to join a composite boat.
Ask your manufacturer or retailer how they join their boats.

If they are a retailer they probably wont be able to tell you because they dont know and the manufacturer shouldn't have a problem telling you if they do it the above way if they dont want to tell you  start running now !!!

The often way

 

The way most manufacturers join the boats is by making the two halves and that's about it, they then wait till you phone them up and ask for the blue deck and white hull.They then look around and grab them (if they are made) , they grab their sandpaper and if they are a good builder they will sand the two halves 

The sanding action will make the little glass fibers stand up and that's what your relying on for a join that and the hope the builder has done a good job of sanding and if they haven't ........ you will probably have a crack in your tape seam sooner or later

 The above way is called a mechanical bond and isn't anywhere as strong as a chemical bond

Watch out for

Some other bits and pieces to watch out for are

• what the manufacturers actually use for the tape seam and how wide,
• How far the tape seam goes along the kayak ,I have seen good joins but they only go as far as your arm can reach,ideally it needs to go all the way round the kayak from end to end 
• is it a smooth job or rough are their air bubbles? 

now that's just the inside tape seam next BLOG will be the outside seam