Joined Ken and Lenora for a paddle today. Had to dig out my brand new $15 nylon spray skirt, because my usual skirt seemed to be leaking like a sieve. You wouldn't be surprised if you ever saw it! On my last RG paddle, I'd been shipping a lot of water and left early. I was glad when I landed and looked over my boat, there didn't seem to be any scratches deep enough to leak, so I decided a new spray skirt was becoming a necessity. So Ken and I launched from the SB and headed over to pick up Lenora at China Cove. By the time I got there, my boat was filling with water and no way was it coming from my spray skirt! We stopped at the beach and neither Ken nor I could find any obvious leaks, so I started wondering if it was my footpeg screw holes. Anyway we paddled on. Ken high tailed it outside while Lenora and I sped for the rocks. Extreme low tide and little wave action made for an uninspiring paddle. I did manage to get washed up high and dry by one wave and took a bit of time getting loose. At BAR, I paddled through a wash/crawl over on the outside reef. Just as I came out, a rather rogue wave gave Lenora a rough time, but she handled it with aplomb. I was able to find a washover near Chute Rock, but pickings were small, so Lenora decided to put in some miles and find Ken while I hung out by the rocks. After a while, I used the chute as a dry dock to get out and sit on the rock to wait for K&L. I finally gave up on them and launched for home, but they caught up with my when I hit the jetty. We parted ways with Lenora and ended up landing on the dock back at the SB. My boat was once again filled with a lot of water, so I planned to really go over the hull to see what was leaking, but as I got out of my boat, I could see the culprit. Although almost impossible to see on the outside because of all the scratches, inside against the smooth plastic is a 6 inch long crack in the plastic! It's just a faint line, but it goes all the way through just below the waterline at about knee level. Haven't ever heard much on the subject of repairing plastic kayaks, but my main thought is to drill a small hole at each end of the crack to prevent further splitting. Maybe groove it out and weld some plastic back in. Anyone have any experience with plastic welding? Sure, a brand new Delphin would solve the problem, but the way I've been playing lately, no new boats for me! Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger is a chemistry wizard, and can fix anything made of plastic. He's your man. Brad Quoting Mark Sanders <marksanders_at_sandmarks.net>: > Joined Ken and Lenora for a paddle today. Had to dig out my brand new > $15 nylon spray skirt, because my usual skirt seemed to be leaking like > a sieve. You wouldn't be surprised if you ever saw it! On my last RG > paddle, I'd been shipping a lot of water and left early. I was glad when > I landed and looked over my boat, there didn't seem to be any scratches > deep enough to leak, so I decided a new spray skirt was becoming a > necessity. > > So Ken and I launched from the SB and headed over to pick up Lenora at > China Cove. By the time I got there, my boat was filling with water and > no way was it coming from my spray skirt! We stopped at the beach and > neither Ken nor I could find any obvious leaks, so I started wondering > if it was my footpeg screw holes. Anyway we paddled on. > > Ken high tailed it outside while Lenora and I sped for the rocks. > Extreme low tide and little wave action made for an uninspiring paddle. > I did manage to get washed up high and dry by one wave and took a bit of > time getting loose. At BAR, I paddled through a wash/crawl over on the > outside reef. Just as I came out, a rather rogue wave gave Lenora a > rough time, but she handled it with aplomb. I was able to find a > washover near Chute Rock, but pickings were small, so Lenora decided to > put in some miles and find Ken while I hung out by the rocks. > > After a while, I used the chute as a dry dock to get out and sit on the > rock to wait for K&L. I finally gave up on them and launched for home, > but they caught up with my when I hit the jetty. We parted ways with > Lenora and ended up landing on the dock back at the SB. > > My boat was once again filled with a lot of water, so I planned to > really go over the hull to see what was leaking, but as I got out of my > boat, I could see the culprit. Although almost impossible to see on the > outside because of all the scratches, inside against the smooth plastic > is a 6 inch long crack in the plastic! It's just a faint line, but it > goes all the way through just below the waterline at about knee level. > Haven't ever heard much on the subject of repairing plastic kayaks, but > my main thought is to drill a small hole at each end of the crack to > prevent further splitting. Maybe groove it out and weld some plastic > back in. Anyone have any experience with plastic welding? > > Sure, a brand new Delphin would solve the problem, but the way I've been > playing lately, no new boats for me! > > Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Mark, Over at Boatertalk you'll probably find a lot of info on fixing cracked plastic boats. I've tried the warm duct tape/spoon method as well as welding with a hot knife and chips of plastic but none of those methods lasted very long. There was another method using some kind of roofing repair material. But I never figured out where to get that material. Bottom line is nothing sticks to PE for very long. Seems like a perfectly legit reason to buy a new boat. mike ----- "Mark Sanders" <marksanders_at_sandmarks.net> wrote: snip > > Haven't ever heard much on the subject of repairing plastic kayaks, > but > my main thought is to drill a small hole at each end of the crack to > prevent further splitting. Maybe groove it out and weld some plastic > back in. Anyone have any experience with plastic welding? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:54 PDT