: I see a lot of black kayaks and wonder the logic. I owned a black
: Nordkapp and had to be careful touching it on a hot sunny day,
: not something you wanted any tender skin to contact. It was
: prone to raising the hatches to the point of bursting but the
: worst thing it did was structural. On a warm day but not really
: hot, I noticed the hatches sucked in rather than out, odd. Then
: I noticed the bulkhead lines on the outside of the kayak her
: pronounced and I had not seen them before. It was as if the
: outer shell increased in size and left an indentation at the
: front and rear bulkhead all the way around the hull, very
: disturbing.

: This was the one time I left the hatches on but could see it as a
: major problem over time. Pinholes in the bulkheads could have
: prevented but a lighter color would have eliminated the
: possibility..

One thing to remember is most (almost all?) production kayaks are built with polyester or vinylester resin which deflects with heat around 350-400 degrees F., like Dan said epoxy starts suffering around 120 degrees. Big difference in production boats and ours, black on one of the esters "might" start causing problems, with epoxy the same summer temps can cause permamant damage.

Bill H.