Temporary tape or glue for testing

What are good choices for affixing foam (minicell or otherwise) to the interior of a glass boat?



The LV Explorer I ordered arrived at the shop a few weeks ago, and NDK did not get the order right (nothing new, from what I’ve heard). The boat itself is well-built, based on a close inspection by the shop owner. They got part of the custom stuff correct (color, no drilling for footpeg rails).



But they screwed up on the custom front BH placement and the hung seat I spec’ed. The BH turns out not to be that big a deal, and I was almost 50/50 on choosing between the hung seat and the foam seat. The foam seat could actually be better for me, because I may want to place it slightly further forward anyway based on some comments I read from other small paddlers using this boat. That, plus it gives me more clearance to lie back on the rear deck, as in the Tempest 165 which has more length than usual from the back of the seat to the rear coaming edge.



Anyway, I will need to do more outfitting than I thought I would now that I am going to put a foam seat in. I need to play with height (will want to raise the seat), and I need to play with fore/aft placement. I was going to use duct tape (or maybe Barge Cement) to do the testing but it’s messy. Any other suggestions for the same purpose? I will also need to use it to build up and (temporarily) attach foam footrests placed against the front BH.



We go pick up the boat soon and I want to bring all the outfitting stuff with me as we are making a paddling vacation out of this errand.

how about hot glue?
I use it for layups and to hold patterns for woodworking frequently. It holds fairly strong, especially certain types, but it doesn’t penetrate materials which allows it to break free without damaging the glued material. Should adhere well to fiberglass too.

just curious
where are you picking up the boat?



:wink:

You
don’t need anything to hold the mini-cell on the bulkhead…just cut out a piece that fit’s snug…leave a small tunnel cut out at the bottom, for water collection and drainning.



The seat can also just sit in there for temporary use, to experiment with height or forward placement…the backband will place You…use it’s adjustments



after all it’s just a test to see…



http://www.geocities.com/roym52/kneetubes.jpg



Best wishes

Roy

Carpet tape
Double sided carpet tape.



Rubber cement.


Just place the seat in and
put some foam scraps of proper dimensions behind it to fix its position relative to the rear bulkhead.



I’m in precisely the same situation, testing out my foam seat in my P&H Outlander and found that this arrangement is very stable - the seat would not move forward, as you are constantly pushing it back while paddling, nor would it move sideways as the bottom is contoured to the boat and mine at least has a very shallow V that means it stays in the center.



That should be good enough to determine the position. Granted, the seat would fall out if you have to wet exit and may get out of position during rolling…



I have some Scotch double-sided foam tape that is not strong and may use that next time after I’m pretty sure but not 100% certain where to put the seat. This way I have a semi-permanent way of attaching it that should not dama ge the boat and probably will not damage the foam either (or of it does, it will be in a very small area that would not matter once the seat is permanently glued-in.

glue
I just put a foam seat I made and covered with neoprene in my QCC. I didn’t want to glue it in permanently in case I ever need to do a hull repair. I used 2, 5"x2" pieces of industrial velcro, (hardware store) and glued the velcro in place with PL-400, (hardware store). PL-400 is a deck glue for gluing plywood to floor joists. If you put the velcro in parallel with the hull you have an infinite range of positioning bow to stern. Give the glue a week to dry, and it’s solid as a rock.

If You Use Double Sided Tape
you should be able to remove any sticky residue with either WD40 or a product called Goo Gone.

just don’t lose it on the way there
With double sided tape, I’ve seen outfitting get lost in transport. Just something to keep in mind. Maybe a cockpit cover?

Duct tape or RTV from auto parts store

Whitefish, Montana
Glacier Sea Kayaks. That is the closest NDK (SKUK?) dealer to me. It’s still a long drive, but the paddling there is beautiful and the shop owner is down-to-earth, honest, and a pleasure to work with.



I gave up on plans to return to BBB for more lessons this year, due to the injuries. Next year!

Details
I don’t want a solid-all-the-way-across foam footrest because I like having stretchout room between my feet. So rather than jamming in a piece of foam, I will make two footrests built up long enough so they’ll rest against the front BH. I’ll try to contour the sides of the footrests so they sit flush against the sides, too. But there will be a nice space between them to let my legs sit straight when needed, or to carry a Pelican box with camera.



The seat needs to be somewhat affixed, because I would like to do some rolling practice while I’m up there. When I built my S&G, I used Velcro tape glued in with a little Barge Cement. Unfortunately, the seat still came out during a rolling session. I was doing fine, when suddenly I slid down in the cockpit and failed that roll. When I wet-exited, I saw the minicell seat floating gaily in the water. The good part was that by then I knew what seat position I wanted so I just cemented it directly to the hull floor when I got home.

Parallel strips
I did the same thing when I built my S&G, but I used Barge Cement on the Velcro tape. It worked for a little while but then the Velcro separated from the seat during rolling.

Thanks for the ideas

– Last Updated: Jun-18-08 1:09 PM EST –

I'll go there armed with Velcro or carpet tape AND duct tape AND rubber cement AND scraps of minicell foam as well as big pieces. The double-sided carpet tape sounds like a good choice.

Also, I think I'll buy some cheaper foam to do the first test with. Once I know shape, size, and location with that, I will make a final version with minicell foam.

Oh, yes, we always bring cockpit covers on trips. The summer t-storms can dump a lot of water into an open, upright kayak.

Sorry
I didn’t realize that You were actually outfitting the boat and then testing the boat. I thought that You were testing the outfitting…different game



Best Wishes

Roy