> That just doesn't add up to me. It looks to me like the picture
> is showing the raw weave of the glass itself. That is not a problem
> that would come about from vacuum or pressure, but a problem of lack
> of resin. A vacuum increase would collapse things and fracture them,
> not simply raise some grain in the glass cloth.

The white specks were definitely caused by the compression of the glass/epoxy matrix just aft of the rear hatch. The deck on this kayak is rounded and as the vacuum pressure increased and the deck began to collapse, the fibers were placed in compression. The weakest points in the glass/epoxy matrix under compression are those points where the strands take their sharpest bend -- at the intersection of the weft and the wane, and it is here where failure will first occur. The checkerboard pattern of the ruptured and raised glass fibers corresponds to this intersection; in fact, it is the outermost fiber that failed first because it is actually experiencing more stress than the inner fiber. The inner fiber would have to fail by rupturing inwards or towards the hull; this is not as likely to happen because the wood helps to buttress the fiber, thereby reducing its’ tendency to fail -- the epoxy would more likely pull away from the wood before this inner fiber ruptured. What do you say -- have at me gentlemen!