I bought this P&H Baidarka (Beh-Dar-Ka) Explorer Sea Kayak together with the Seaward Quest –– both in need of refurbishing. I think they were outside for some time, exposed to the sun, heat, rain and fallout from a house painting. All the cording would disintegrate in my fingertips, reminding me of that scene in The Andromeda Strain.
First things first: Remove all the deck roping followed by a series of power-washing to get the crud off and see what I was truly dealing with. Then remove all the hardware, old foam padding and decals, which I was very pleased the decals came off much easier on the Baidarka then the Quest using a rubber wheel on a cordless drill (love this method).
My greatest challenge was addressing the weird melting/crack issue on in the aft deck as if it had been heated up just before a trove of coconuts dropped onto it, cracking the fiberglass and severely distorting the ridge-line. I was not sure how to deal with that aspect without disturbing the paint surface.
I ended up using a heat gun from the inside until the surface felt quite hot and pliable, then using a 1″ PVC pipe (cut to the height of the cargo space), I pushed up and held it in place until the fiberglass cooled down and held its shape. I did this several times in various places until the center ridge-line and sides were back into position, luckily not disturbing the painted surface. However, this left me with the crack right through the deck to deal with. I sanded the area down to the glass cloth, then applied a couple of layers of new cloth with some dye in the resin (although not a perfect color blend on this run). I then sanded it down smooth and covered the spot with a nice Union Jack vinyl decal.
With a good compounding (multiple passes) followed by a lighter compound wax mix, the color popped. I chose a blood orange deck bungee to accent the violet/purple color and kept the design of the rigging (with mods) that the original boat was probably shipped with. Along the front, I kept a non-stretch black roping and used a trucker hitch, which the boat had when I received it. This allows for tow line use if needed.
The Baidarka Explorer was designed by Derek Hutchinson, and was used in the first successful crossing of the North Sea (can’t imagine – what an ambitious adventure). The Baidarka has a very pronounced V-shaped hull with a cutter shape from bow to stern–– the tips on both pointing toward the sky. The upturns are Hutchinson’s interpretation of the skin boats of the Aleutian islands, where the Russian name of those boats being, ‘Baidarka‘.
This is a touring boat, designed to carry large loads. Despite this boat’s narrow width, there’s plenty of room for camping gear and food. As with most touring boats, the true balance and stability come when the boat is fully loaded and it is sitting nicely on its soft chines.
It is an incredibly easy boat to roll because of the higher peak on the foredeck.It has a built-in Chimp bilge located directly behind the cockpit that works perfectly and pretty quickly
Length, 17 feetWidth, 21 inchesWeight, 52 lb
I Paddle 4 U 