Hello,
I have a boat I converted to a c1 and it find it to be just a touch tight on my legs in one place in the cockpit. If I take my hands and pull the cockpit to the side it feels far better. It has been suggested to me that I heat the boat up and strech it out a little bit. Does anyone have any expirence with this? Suggestions/tips???? Do's and don't's when it comes to this.
Thanks in advance.
Dave
Streching a cockpit
Moderators: kenneth, sbroam, TheKrikkitWars, Mike W., Sir Adam, KNeal, PAC, adamin
From a prior posting:
Regarding the use of a heat gun to expand a cockpit, I have only done this once, so take this for what it's worth.
I simply marked the edge of the cockpit on my Redline in the areas that were hitting my thighs. I knew that I wanted to move the edge of the cockpit up and away from my legs in these areas. So, I messed around with various pieces of wood until I found a way to pry against other parts of the boat and put upward and outward pressure on the cockpit edge in the correct place. A 2' piece 2 x 4 jammed into the chine area of the boat worked pretty well, if I remember correctly.
Once I had the pry method figured out, I simply took a heat gun to the area. It turns out that the heat gun that I have is more than capable of melting the plastic, so the goal is to keep the gun moving and to avoid overheating. You need to heat a larger area than you want to move, working the gun in slow circles over the entire area. When the plastic is too hot to touch, it will start to become pliable. As soon as it can be moved, put the pry method in place and start prying. If the plastic does not move easily, heat a little more and try again.
The first side kinked a little. The hard edge of the 2 x 4 dug into the plastic. Also, the plastic was a little too hot and soft. No big deal on a beat-up boat, but I would have been bummed if the boat was new. The kink has no effect on the performance of the boat and cockpit rim. I massaged the area with more heat and softer pry efforts, and it turned out ok. The second side was better, because I knew more about what I was trying to do.
I ended up gaining 2-3" in cockpit width next to my thighs. The boat is on loan to a paddling buddy who took it to the coast, so no pictures are currently available.
I simply marked the edge of the cockpit on my Redline in the areas that were hitting my thighs. I knew that I wanted to move the edge of the cockpit up and away from my legs in these areas. So, I messed around with various pieces of wood until I found a way to pry against other parts of the boat and put upward and outward pressure on the cockpit edge in the correct place. A 2' piece 2 x 4 jammed into the chine area of the boat worked pretty well, if I remember correctly.
Once I had the pry method figured out, I simply took a heat gun to the area. It turns out that the heat gun that I have is more than capable of melting the plastic, so the goal is to keep the gun moving and to avoid overheating. You need to heat a larger area than you want to move, working the gun in slow circles over the entire area. When the plastic is too hot to touch, it will start to become pliable. As soon as it can be moved, put the pry method in place and start prying. If the plastic does not move easily, heat a little more and try again.
The first side kinked a little. The hard edge of the 2 x 4 dug into the plastic. Also, the plastic was a little too hot and soft. No big deal on a beat-up boat, but I would have been bummed if the boat was new. The kink has no effect on the performance of the boat and cockpit rim. I massaged the area with more heat and softer pry efforts, and it turned out ok. The second side was better, because I knew more about what I was trying to do.
I ended up gaining 2-3" in cockpit width next to my thighs. The boat is on loan to a paddling buddy who took it to the coast, so no pictures are currently available.
Cone Bone
randy@artisansgroup.com
randy@artisansgroup.com
Having helped my kayaking mates make more foot room in there boats (after I put there seat back in after a quick play as a C1) We found it best not to heat the area where the wood will be touching but instead heat the area around it and when the plastic looks like it has a shine on it, it moved easy but was still too hard to damaged the main shape, but easy enought to push up.
I remember reading about how to do it on the net somewhere but I have never been able to fine that page again. It said about the best way to cool it but I can't remember which way was best, we tried both ways and couldn't see any differents. Just remember when the plastic cools it will srink a little bit, so it may be a good idea to remember that while doing it.
Hope that helps, Wayne.
I remember reading about how to do it on the net somewhere but I have never been able to fine that page again. It said about the best way to cool it but I can't remember which way was best, we tried both ways and couldn't see any differents. Just remember when the plastic cools it will srink a little bit, so it may be a good idea to remember that while doing it.
Hope that helps, Wayne.