Check your hull!

I have an old T-160 that I got used, and I beat the crap out of it.  i was going out last weekend with some friends, and as i was loading the boat on my trailer I had a thought to check the hull along the keel, as I'm always dragging the thing around.  I started pressing my index finger along the keel line on the stern and it started to feel soft.  In one spot the plastic was so thin I put my finger right through it.

I have never really done this before.  It was complete intuition, but I would have been F**ked as we were going pretty far offshore, and I'm sure it would have given out on me.  It was like paper thin.

A quick welding job with all the extra plastic i always save put me back in business.

So, if you've got an old boat, don't be as dumb as me.  Check the hull along the keel from time to time.

my 2 cents.

Dave

Good safety check ....  another key note is to look for cracks and check for drain plugs (and theur seals/o-rings).

great reminder, and I'm glad you caught in the nick of time!

Also be weary of buying used kayaks that are faded. It's usually a tell tale sign that it was not stored properly. (Kayaks stored directly under the sun) The plastic turns brittle and at one point the plastic will crack.

Good reminder Dave  Your age and wisdom is starting to show 

I want video! Bro, show us rookies the process of welding!!! Glad you found it then and not later!
  Blue- nice to see you are getting prepped to get out. Looking forward to your report(s)!

I want video! Bro, show us rookies the process of welding!!! Glad you found it then and not later!

+1

After rehabbing the T160 I did the DaveW inspect of the keel - Sure enough found an indent right at tail end, soft and pretty sure I could shove a ballpoint pen through it without much effort

This yak's pretty much vintage and has had plenty of use, but it's a spot you'd expect there to be more plastic rather than less, being a spot more likely to get the wear and tear

Seems like something WS might want to know about - I'll figure out some kind of skid plate

Will try to import photos

One thing I did a while back that has served me well was to find the portion of the keel with the most scratch marks and put a coat of JB weld on it.
The JB weld ends up taking the abuse and as it wears down, put another coat on.
Glad you found that thin spot before Mother Nature did Dave.

i bought a 3 foot roll of keeleasy hopefully to help prevent or minimize future damage to the keel

vin

I had been thinkingabout doing this for a while now, and Ihave been getting water inside that I thought was just a seal leak on top and not a big deal, so filled the yak with water today and..

its the transducer scupper hole seal leaking on the bottom and only on one side, so I guess I need to weld or seal it. Any ideas? anyone weld plastic? its a 2008 so am probably out of warranty

Welding plastic isn't that hard.  All you need is a propane torch and some plastic.  You can get "welding rods" from the kayak manufacturer, or use extra stuff from when you cut out a hatch or something like that.  Never chuck out poly scrap!

Cut a strip of the scrap about an inch wide and about an inch longer than the repair, which is where you'll hold the plastic with a pair of pliers (the bent ones work good).  The idea is that you want to heat up the scrap a lot and the hull only a little.  So light your torch an start heating the scrap while holding an end with the pliers.  Every so often lick the hull with the torch, but not much.  When the scrap is getting loose, heat the hull surface a little and then just fold the scrap over the wound while focusing the torch just above (on the scrap) where the wound and the scrap meet.

When you've come to the end of your strip, the part that you're holding with the pliers will still be hard.  Just stop with the hard part sticking up and and let the whole area cool.  Once cool, cut off the remaining plier hold tab and trim off the excess from the entire repair with a utility knife and a sureform.  You can even reheat the surface later to glaze it off.

Remember, the idea behind this task is to only heat the surface of the hull.......... but not down deep, so you don't distort the hull.  The repair strip, on the other hand, needs to get pretty melted.  For a repair on the scupper hole you'll need much skinnier strips.  I bet OK will send or sell them to you.

Dave 

Thanks Dave!

I watched a bunch of videos too, but got a little chicken since its in a structural and always submerged location. I thought I might botch it. Or it might not take the heat and flexing well.

Since its a pretty slow leak I decided to go with trusty Gflex epoxy by West Systems until I feel up for the welding task, I love this stuff for lots of other marine applications.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/gluing-plastic-with-g-flex-epoxy/

I took a slightly oversized wire wheel and buffed out each scupper hole on low speed for a few passes as to not create too much heat, but it may have been better to just leave a smooth surface by the info in the link above. I also did not heat treat.

Then cleaned with acetone (alcohol seems to react more with OK plastic in my experience).

I mixed up the Gflex and let stand/mixed for about 20 min to stiffen up a little before I applied, Used a brush applicator and coated each scupper hole. The Gflex bonded very well, Ifollowed up with a second coat after 12 hours lightly buffing the 1 st coat with a scotch brite pad and rinsing with water to remove any amines as recommended.

See how it goes!

One thing I did a while back that has served me well was to find the portion of the keel with the most scratch marks and put a coat of JB weld on it.
The JB weld ends up taking the abuse and as it wears down, put another coat on.
Glad you found that thin spot before Mother Nature did Dave.

Tote did you have to do anything special to ge the JB weld to adhere?

I noticed that JB Weld has a product called Marine Weld that is Water- and weather-proof... says it's "Impervious to saltwater, chemicals, oil, acids, and other corrosive materials"

U guys using the regular JB Weld or the Marine Weld?

Jonathan