Repairing and Customizing a Fiberglass Kayak: Part 1

The hull damage above is ugly but by no means unusual. Nor is it overly difficult to repair or beyond a first-timer's repair skills. Over the next several posts we'll watch Brian Nystrom transform the fiberglass and gelcoat damage above into a smooth and slick, strong and virtually invisible repair.

The first step is to understand what makes up a damaged sea kayak's matrix of gelcoat, resin, and fiberglass.

Gelcoat (the white layer) is the outermost cosmetic layer that gives fiberglass sea kayaks their color. The hull's outermost layey, gelcoat is the layer to worry about least. It's there to absorb scratches, dings, nicks. As in the photo above, be concerned with gelcoat damage only when a hard hit sends damage into the fiberglass and resin beneath the gelcoat.

Look more closely at the damage caused by bashing against a rocky shore. The impact scraped away a wide patch of gelcoat and damaged the fiberglass matting, which is clearly visible as a sort of fabric, below:

First step is to rasp, sand, scrape and grind a large ring of gelcoat around the damage in order to gain access to the fiberglass beneath the open gash and crazing.

Next of the straightforward steps is to repair the structural damage, then bring up the cosmetics of the repair to even the fussiest middle-aged sea kayaker's expectations.

It's in the rasping, sanding, and grinding stage that repairs truly begin. Like Brian, you need to be willing to grind down to and expose damage before you repair it.

Consider that the first step, grinding and rasping, is similar to that trip to the emergency room after you take a hard fall asphalt. First thing they do in the ER is debride and clean your wounds, usually with a stiff brush wielded with vigor. Ouch!

Same holds true for fiberglass hull repair. You have to clean and expose the damage before you can fix it.

To get started, muster up the nerve to cut, grind, and drill the bejesus out of your kayak - to view it less as a fragile shell, more as a form you can alter at will.

Here's the damage again with labels. Click on the image to enlarge it: