thanks chip
I like it. Thanks to everyone for their responses. Gives you something to think about. Helpful stuff all the way around.
Seems to me, you need “or two”.
Don’t you definitely need 2 bulkheads to actually decrease the space that water could get into?
If you have 1 bulkhead fore and 1 aft, I assume the rest of the boat is wide open (ala, stick your head in one cockpit and can see through to the other). In which case, adding just 1 bulkhead would only separate the space, not decrease it at all.
yeah
count that a rhetorical flourish
I don’t even see the room
With leg room for the aft paddler, how much room is there? It looks like leg room will be encroaching to within less than a foot or so of the fore paddler. Could be the pictures, but this doesn’t look like a stretched tandem with a third hatch (possibility). Even if it were, a bag is the solution unless you need the storage between paddlers.
the picture is the best I could do
The best I could find on line. Mine’s actually a Seascape 2. The one in the picture is a point five, a shorter boat. One of the advertised selling points of the bigger boat is its volume for oversized stuff. I suppose I’m a wuss, but I plans to use it with the kids; would like to bring its seaworthiness up a notch, just in case.
You’re adding two gray things?
I know someone who would be very proud of you.
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thanks
Any idea on a source for the foam? The Seascape 2 is huge, you know. I suppose you just walk into the back room. No minicell foam in my back room! 
Bend a stiff wire around outside
I added front and rear bulkheads to eft and back bulkhead to t-bolt that way. I used 4 in thick white ethafoam wwith 4in plastic drain plug(Hardware store for $5) but standing boat on end is tough to make the water go out drain. Taper the foam like a wedge so it shoves in better. Cut with steak knife or electric. Held in with 3m 77 glue and you can glass the foam because it will absorb some water and stink but it it safe. Much less apt to hurt your back trying to empty water out of boat full of water.
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one more way
Had to make a foam plug for a rather complicated geometry at work.
We took a plastic bag, placed it inside the opening with some cardboard backing and filled it with with expanding foam. Once the foam set, we cut foam thingy crosswise, that gave as really good profile of cross-section, which we transferred to the plug.
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You have to be careful with that stuff
– Last Updated: Mar-17-10 9:54 AM EST –
People have split seams in kayaks that they "foamed". If you're going to use it, I would suggest making a rough cardboard template, then spraying the stuff around the edges of it only. That will produce an exact template of the inside of the boat without any risk of damage. Either that, or apply the foam in thin layers.
BNystrom, Have you ever done this ?
How would you neatly remove your foamed in place cardboard bulkhead in order to trace it ?
how far apart will the bulkheads be?
I’ve made adequate templates with a stack of 3x5 cards stapling one next to the other overlapping inch by inch and stapling through three or four cards at a time. Once you make a 1/2 template you flip it for a complete one.
http://www.sweetcomposites.com/ Sweets Composites sells it in two different densities. The density most folks are familiar with is the softer one.
If the space is two narrow and you want storage you might consider glassed plywood ones glued into a minicell ring (reduce stress risers).
When you made the template for the minicell you can cut it the size of the drawing with the understanding it’ll be about 1/2" oversized. At least that’ll give you the option of trimming it down instead over overestimating and having gaps. The inside seam and other protuberances aren’t evident on the exterior.
One thing that will help a LOT in the installation is the same thing commercial manufacturers do, cut a recessed slot about 3/4" in from the edge about 3/4" deep. This will make the edge of the bulkhead more conformable to the interior. It may be that you only need to do it to one side. The amount of sealant/adhesive I used was MUCH less when I did that compared to earlier ones that attemped a perfect fit but poor cutting resulted in sealant filled gaps.
I don’t think that kayak has a flat section in the deck for a commercial hatch, getting a VCP oval hatch to fit there would be a good attempt.
Regarding your goal of making the kayak more survivable for rescues I gotta say that the amount of water the double will ship is so huge even with bulkheads I wonder if it’ll really make much of a difference if the capsize happened in the kinds of conditions that can dump such a stable and fat double. My $.02 would be to have TWO electric pumps for both cockpits since it is unlikely that even two people will be able to hand pump out enough water AND brace before the next wave to prevent it from rolling over again. Two cheap and portable Attwood Waterbusters can be adequate although an automatic one would be better.
a few thoughts
Jerry Smiths suggestion for a canoe float bag in that space got me to thinking it would be worth some exploratory efforts to determine if a bulkhead really makes a difference.
Find conditions that have waves and are safe to practice rescues and go through the options BEFORE cutting foam and fiberglass. Maybe have a couple friends to spot you. Try rescues as it is, with a large space filling float bag and with sea socks.
I’m just guessing here but I think you’ll find that the amount of water the cockpits take on is the significant factor and not a couple feet between the two cockpits that bulkheads will displace. In a self rescue the kayak is going to be flooded maybe 6" or more, look at the volume that middle bulkhead will take up compared to the entire space between the fore/aft bulkhead and I don’t think it’s going to be more than about 15%. I’m thinking if there’s 12’ of cockpit length and your middle bulkhead takes up 18"-24" that’s not insignificant but it’s not huge.
Whereas sea socks would be a huge difference, you could jump back into totally flooded cockpits and it would be a small amount of water compared to the entire 30" beam flooded for 10".
You’d still need to do it in a bag or…
– Last Updated: Mar-18-10 10:53 PM EST –
...cover the inside surface of the boat with packing tape so you can get a clean release. Thanks for bringing that up, as if you just sprayed the stuff on the inside of a fiberglass boat, it would make a serious mess. With polyethylene, it might be OK, since not much of anything sticks to it.
A joggle stick
A joggle stick is the traditional solution for getting the shape right
http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/joggle-stick.html
Though I’d probably cut my first one cheap poster board
Foam bulkheads
On several kayaks I have used the grey 1/2" thick dense closed cell interlocking foam that is used for floor protection around athletic equipment. You can cut it to shape with heavy duty shears, it is much cheaper than thick minicell foam, and you laminate two layers for stiffness. One sheet is also more flexible than a thicker piece of foam if you have to fit it thru a front hatch to place it.
- Trim one sheet of it to size in the hull.
- Trim a second piece of foam to size either a little larger or smaller depending on whether the hull tapers larger or smaller.
- Roughen the two mating surfaces of the foam that will be bonded in a later step.
- Bond the first foam bulkhead to the hull with 3 M 5200 .
- Wait a week and then bond the second foam bulkhead BOTH to the hull and to the first foam bulkhead. Bonding the two foam bulkheads to each other stiffens the final bulkhead consierably.
- If you have a large opening to inset the bulkheads thru ( I didn’t) like a cockpit, you can bond the foam bulkheads together first if you like before mounting in the hull.
- For a tandem I am not sure one bulkhead between cockpits is much help if you have to bail out and both cockpits fill with water. My older Wilderness Systems echo tandem had a thick ethafoam bulkhead with grooves that wasn’t even bonded in and it wasn’t useful so I removed it.
Heck you could use an old boogie board
too if you want.
Joe check out the 5200 Fast Cure … 2 hours tack free and 24 cure … Saves some time. Performance fine for bulkheads.
Silicone works perfect too though not everyone’s gonna agree on this one.
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I was surprised to see ONNOpaddle post until I realized this thread is 10 YO 
It caught me a bit offgaurd, too.
As for the last post, I use insulation board in kakak, but only for padding out existing bulkheads. There are two problems with using it as a bulkhead material:
- It will only flex a small amount before it cracks
- It will compress permanently when any significant force is applied to it.
Reinforcing it will help, but using flexible materials for reinforcements is not the best way to go. Ideally, you should laminate 1/4" plywood on each side using epoxy and epoxy coat the plywood to seal it. An alternative would be to laminate heavy fiberglass to each side, again using epoxy, as I’m pretty sure polyester resin will melt the foam. A third option would be to laminate the foam to a thickness of at least 3", so it has more strength, but that will require tapering the bulkhead significantly to get it to fit.