golly
this term “playing in rock gardens” as a definition of use sure can get tossed around. Like composite ww boats the idea isn’t to land on rocks,rocks are hard and hurt,but there’s a range of durability that’s acceptable to the task at hand. The thing that gets me about tough Brit boats is the wasteful use of lower strength polyester resin and gel coats with mat fiberglass. If I had the choice I’d rather replace the gel coat with paint and under that put multiple layers of s-glass laminates in vinylester. Using lots of mat and cheap resin isn’t exactly worth paying $3000 for given the alternatives.
Are you pouncing on your poor
kayak? No wonder you’re having problems! You need to practise reentries with someone!
There’s a varied bunch of boats that my
friends paddle. Some of us are in “snobby Brit boats”, others are in US boats, others in Canadian, and still others in Finnish boats.
The person who returned the QCC 700 bought a CD Carribou instead.
I hope the QCC boat works out for you and that you get a lot of pleasure and enjoyment from it.
For me, I prefer to not have a boat that flexes when I put someone on the front deck or back deck during rescues, practice, etc.
But that’s why there’s both vanilla and chocolate.
HaHaHa…
Funny, the 'bou was
my number two pick after the Q700 for fit and feel. Good paddle.
Funny also that I got an email from a Kevlar 'bou owner last night who had read this therad and checked his deck. He shall remain nameless (unless he chimes in himself), but his decription of the 'bou deck in same place was “beach ball”.
follow-up
After some deliberation at their end, QCC offered to replace my boat. This was incredibly generous but seemed far beyond what was necessary. I turned them down and talked them into trying a repair first. Upshot: another layer of kevlar in the weak area, and perhaps a foam pillar back there too. I’ll be doing the repair myself (QCC is sending materials), so if anyone can direct me to a good instructional website, I would appreciate it.
Larry
Wow!! Although I’ve got to admit
their offer doesn’t surprise me a bit!
My hats off to you Larry for not taking them up on it and prefering to try a “fix” first. Its that kind of service from them, and practical customers like yourself that keep them offering service and a warranty like they do!! If you can’t fix it to your satisfaction, then at least they (and you!) know you did everything to correct it before you took them up on their kayak replacement offer!
I wish I could offer some repair advice, but there are others on this board far more qualified than I who can help.
Good luck and thanks for posting about your experience.
TrippS
Been hovering around this thread…
to see what happens.
Nothing against QCC at all…
Larry, a single ply of Kevlar (ASSuming it is the weight I think its going to be) might not stiffen the boat up to your liking, the foam pillar will but will only take up space and bring out all those other soft spots 
fore and aft of it. Most likely you need a bit more material.
Happy to talk you through the repair if you need help.
patch of 11oz unidirectional glass?
under the deck?,so many choices.
Carbon cloth
If the repair is going to be done on the inside of the hull ask QCC what they think of useing carbon cloth by itself or a blend of kevlar and carbon. Carbon cloth is typically used to stiffen a hull and kevlar to keep it from splintering or shattering under impact.
Brit boats
Not going to critique Brit boats because I don’t have a lick of time in one. I have read up on kayaks from sweden, france, britain, south africa, canada…etc. (Seems like the only german kayak of note is the Keppler inflatables. ) These are probably all good kayaks. It was just provocative to hear an unspecific critique of the Q700 like that. So many here say such good things about the boat and I have no doubt about its quality.
The first water I put the 700 in will probably be ocean side at Key Biscayne, winds permitting. And I am going to try the cowboy rescue right off the bat…190 pounds of slippery, novice kayaker is going to slam on the stern deck in 5 feet of water.
you might want to put up digital photos
of the cracks. I don’t know what kind of car rack/carrier you have, but I know that alot of spiderweb cracks, and stress fractures to the gelcoat on composite boats happen from cranking it down on the roof rack. Not from a defect in the boat. Is the stress cracking in an area where the boat is tensioned in a saddle, craddle, hully roller, or otherwise? If it is, you may have found your problem right there.
KJW
Actually the owners of the British
kayaks are snobby, not the boats, our boats are pointy!
www.kayakforum.com
although most folks deal with epoxy there,and you can use epoxy on vinylester (but not the other way around),you can get lost of useful help. Also I’d suggest doing your cowboy/scramble closer to the coaming as you’re closer to getting in as opposed to having the kayak slide away from you. When you get on the kayak are you able to grab the coaming or are you starting farther aft?
cracks and rack
I have a Thule rack with saddles on a station wagon. I did think about this as a possible issue, but the straps go over the boat far forward of the area with the cracks. The area in question is only about 30" forward of the tail,
And I would be glad to post a photo, if only I knew how (!). Otherwise, I guess I could email you directly.
my attempt at scramble
Several of you have asked what my attempt at a cowboy scramble looks like, so I suppose I should say something. Originally, and following something I read, I was coming up over the tail of the boat (no rudder). When I got my NDK Greenlander (with tail – yikes!), that was no longer possible and I started doing it from the side, similar to a paddle-float rescue minus the float. When I got the 600, I probably tried a few from up over the tail and suspect that was what did the damage. Generally, I do them from the side now but suspect from what a couple of you said that I may be starting too far aft. Will work on that this spring, once the water is liquid again. (And for the record, I end up in the water at least as often as I end up in the cockpit!)
you’d be surprised
where cracks appear from the roof rack, I had them all over the stern area of my P&H Quest from cranking the roof rack. But this may not be the case with your QCC.
you can email the photos to me, I’d like to see them. try to make them small though, 500x500 pixels, and not 1024x768!
Too far aft
– Last Updated: Mar-14-04 12:49 PM EST –
He said aft of the rear hatch. Pretty unlikely it was rack straps!
It sounds like it is a very similar type of cmpression fracture pattern though.
I would like to see pictures too. If you have digital pic you could post on webshots, yahoo photos, etc. Easy.
Kwikle, I'd REALLY like to see picture of the damage you described on you Quest! You sure that was from the rack?????
same here
I was taking an open bay class a few years back where we all jumped in and did pf rescues,under the GG Bridge with quite a few 4’ standing waves in a strong flood tide,the back deck of my Express expressed displeasure with a loud crack sound upon re-entry. It turns out that the 3" interior seam tape on one side ended right below the turn of the deck so it flexed well right at that point. I glassed some more tape there and let it go at that,more cracks showed up in time elsewhere from different point stressses,the point is that it’s not the end of the world to have cracks develop or that it indicates insufficient durability. I’ve seen “tough” Brit boats lose BIG chunks of gel coat or crack where a piece of mat was barely bridging an area.
yes
It was from a specific incident going over the mackinac bridge where I had an overexuberant paddling buddy crank the straps too tight.
I don’t own that kayak anymore though. I sold it to get my silhouette.