Odd bits and maiden outing

Odd bits
This shows the footrest assembly laminated in place against the bow bulkhead, which I must say looks a bit rough in the photo.
Three things remained to do:
"Hot coat" strip round the join
A hot coat is gelcoat with wax in styrene added so that it does not remain tacky on the surface as gel coat normally does, and with alot of catalyst so that it goes off before it can run. There are no photos as the whole procedure had to be done really quickly: masking tape was laid down either side of the join where there was a small gap between the deck and the hull (behind which is the joining strip that was laid inside when the two halves were bolted together in the mould). The boat was laid on edge one side at a time and the hot coat painted very loosely and quickly along the whole length of the boat and right round to the outside faces of the bow and stern and then the masking tape removed immediately. The strip was gelling each time I was peeling off the second strip.
Filling the end spaces at bow and stern
I used about 100 grams of resin in the bow and a little less in the stern. The resin is catalysed etc and then filler and glass threads added to give it some  thickness and strength, and with the kayak on end poured through a hatch recess straight into the bow or stern. The bow got very hot as there was nowhere for the heat of the exothermic reaction to go so the bow of the boat was placed in a bucket.
Drilling the ends and fitting the grablines
Normally I would drill a 6-8mm hole and feed the decklines straight through, however as the end pieces were still hot I used a 4mm drill and fed the decklines through the thin line I took through that. To be drilled out fully later.
Maiden Outing
As I was out for less than an hour I though "voyage" was an overstatement hence "outing". So as not to miss the end of a good post election "News Quiz" on the radio I took my time changing, and the rest of Penzance Canoe Club had disappeared by the time I got on the water. These are the notes I wrote later:
1-1 1/2' sea, short coming into Mounts Bay from just West of South with the occasional swell too from the same direction and a good F3 wind blowing across from the west.
Uncomfortable
Bucket seat is too narrow and too low (or too low and too near the rear of the cockpit), I would have caught my back if I had tried a roll.
Felt nice and stable. Seemed quite hard to push through the water - but all the same did seem to clip along quite nicely (no GPS).
Poor directional control in a sea, went all over the place. A little better once used to the handling. Needs a skeg or less rocker.

Weather-cocked badly with wind on beam and rear quarter but not on the bow quarter.
Nice and dry deck sheds water effortlessly. Not a drop in the cockpit whole trip. Also seems to slope right down to the water due to the low sheer making it easy to get the paddle in close to the boat.
Went well into a chop. The wave piercing bow worked really well, didn't slam but pitched a little, not slowed.
Surfed waves effortlessly but hard to control direction

Discussion
Overall Impression
 I was clearly paddling a kayak designed for rough water maneuverability in rivers, but the longer I was on the water the more I adjusted to quicker responses required in a sea that moved the boat around a lot.
The inadequate bucket seat which cramped the tops of my thighs prevented me from pushing the boat along and control with my feet. Weather-cocking was an issue but not as much as I feared. Although the V'd deck is quite high the sheer was so low as to give little to catch the wind.
Remedying the Faults
Abandon the suspended bucket seat. Use adjustable floor mounted unit with back strap. Fair hull and fit a retractable skeg. Can enlarge the cockpit later.
First of all though I need to build a paddle and put a window into the workshop.

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