Repairing pinhole in Kayak keel

[Marc N]

I dropped my kayak as I was getting it off the roof a few months ago, the stern was already on the ground and the bow fell about 3 feet onto rough concrete.

Other than a few scratches, I thought, no damage done...

So after two more trips I was fiddling, 'messing about in boats', the best fun, and discovered abut 1 litre of water inside the boat.

I put this down to water ingress from me using a firehose, to wash down the yak and car combo when I get home, salt removal, you know the sort of thing...

So this trip I made sure the interior was dry, and after fishing, back on the ramp I discovered about 500 ml of water, after a 5 hour trip, not serious, but worth fixing.

I can't find the hole, even after half an hour of peering through my best glasses at the keel and bottom.

At first I thought, you know, tape keel protector stuff, easy... Expensive...

And whilst I was consulting repairman Google, I found a post from this very board,

For protection we run a ~30 mm wide strip of carborundum epoxy along the keel or at least a metre from the stern forward. Also some at the bow, about the same length. It is a 2:1 ratio mix epoxy and is like toffee. Mask off the area and cover the rest of the kayak with plastic. Blob it on and then meld it by lightly rubbing back and forth with a very wet (glove covered) finger, shaping the epoxy along the keel. I have an 2 litre ice cream container of water beside me as I work it. Use plenty of water.

When we hit rocks we leave grooves in them.

We use Norski's (http://www.norski.co.nz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) though I can't see it in their brochure. Abel Tasman Kayaks used to coat their rental's keels with it.

An alternative is to use standard epoxy and fill it with carborundum powered.

Good on ya Mac50L

[AndrewRawlingson]

Can you fill the hull with water to find the leak?

[Marc N]

Can you fill the hull with water to find the leak?

good point I'll do that tomorrow

[Marc N]

Can you fill the hull with water to find the leak?

Thanks for that suggestion, I did so and found no leaks, but, my yak has a a gunwale rope secured by inset fittings, and all of the gunwale rope, nuts, are mounted inside the moulding of the hull, so no possibility of water ingress.

Except for two, which, in the interior are attached to the retaining cords, that retain the hatch covers, preventing loss.

When I tipped the yak over, to empty the water, I noticed water streaming from these two fittings, one at the bow and one at the stern.

When I launch, I take the yak, trolley near the stern and put the bow in the water, whilst I take off the trolley, then lift the stern, into the water and away..

The bow gets submerged enough, that it would account for the 500 ml of water found in the hull, from the bow end gunwale rope fitting.

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gunwale rope fitting now with Selley's All Clear



But I'd already ordered the Norski Epoxy Carborundum

So, please don't judge the workmanship, despite having worked with epoxy before, I was unprepared for the sheer, heavy, putty like, consistency of the stuff, I smoothed it as best I could, but as I'm just going to drag it, on concrete and rocks, it'll scuff up in no time

And the wood at the stern, was my gnarly old wood, replacement, for the provided, plastic sacrificial keel strip. It now has an Epoxy/carborundum hat.

Again, don't look at the workmanship.

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k03.jpg (191.89 KiB) Viewed 270 times

[Mac50L]

So, please don't judge the workmanship, despite having worked with epoxy before, I was unprepared for the sheer, heavy, putty like, consistency of the stuff, I smoothed it as best I could, but ...

I warned you !!!

That finger well wetted to meld the epoxy. Admittedly it will still most likely finish up as shown in the picture. BUT, the kayak with grooves or the rocks with grooves? I'll take the latter.