Smile17 is my current kayak in regular use. She was built in March 2011 and has been a test bed for several ideas. A Pacific Action sail was fitted in July 2011 and subsequently shortened to clear the cockpit rim. Up until this point I had fielded many questions regarding the Nylon skins of these kayaks - Could they be coloured? - Can they be patched? - Could a new coat of urethane be put over old? - etc etc So in November of 2011 the following modifications were carried out by cutting the skin off the bow section...
(A) Fitted a new bow plate. When Smile17 was built I was infatuated with straight stems (don't know WHAT I was thinking). As soon as she was on the water I fell out of love with straight stems so she now sports a lovely curved nose.......
(B) Added an additional rib forward of the first deck beam to add strength to the mast mount.
(C) Added some width to the first deck beam. The Pacific Action sail mount rocks on this beam and the first attempt was a little to narrow.
(D) Dyed the cloth a nice shade of PURPLE!!
(E) Successfully stretched and stitched the new fabric to "old".
(F) Successfully layed a new coat of urethane over the "old".
So Smile17 is for sale, only to make space for a new boat with more ideas I want to try out. Offered complete with sail rig, spray skirt, floatation bags and paddle - all ready to hit the water for $1800 and I can freight to any major airport in Australia for approx $200. I'll also sell without the sail rig if you think that's beyond your capabilities (can always be aded later).
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