Damaged Fisha 555 Rod Holder

On 11/23 I yard-saled in about 2 ft of water at Rockaway. I had a gaffe hook in one of the flush mount rod holders and two ambush hoops on the rear deck. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics of what happened but the gaffe hook applied some torque to the rod holder. The rod holder broke off and the boat took some minor damage. I don't know much about fiberglass repairs. If anyone has any ideas on what needs to be done at this point to prevent additional damage, please speak up:) Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5HyCcYoUk08

Add epoxy . Rough it up add some chopped cf or fiberglass… add a heavy backing sheet for reinforcement. Use a roller. Idk why they don’t add some alluminum backing to their stress level areas. Of course this is done on the inside.

personally, I like to remove all damaged fiberglass, then build up from what is solid.

I would recommend contacting Craig Davis (NCKA handle: Ravensblack) he has been involved in auto body repair professionally for decades and knows his way around this stuff rather than utilizing the an “illusion of knowledge” often presented on YT. He is in Petaluma.

I would recommend contacting Craig Davis (NCKA handle: Ravensblack) he has been involved in auto body repair professionally for decades and knows his way around this stuff rather than utilizing the an “illusion of knowledge” often presented on YT. He is in Petaluma.

PM sent---thanks for the lead!

Scootymeboy mentioned he did body work. Not sure if that involved fiberglass?

Alex

personally, I like to remove all damaged fiberglass, then build up from what is solid.

That is the route I would go. Doesn’t look like there’s access to the inside either so a top down repair, and I’d build the area up around it so there’s more glass in that area. 

If you’re not as inclined to engage in the glass repair process, a call to the local kayak shop should yield qualified repair referrals.  Should be that expensive to pay somebody for a professional repair. 

Looks to me like you're up the creek.

(I apologize for that, but I couldn't resist...)

Good reminder why you should stow everything before you launch and land

My 575 had similar damage when I got blown against the old pier coming in at hmb with rods still in the holders

The rod holders on Stealths are one of the weak points in their design Basically just screws going into fiberglass

Good reminder why you should stow everything before you launch and land

My 575 had similar damage when I got blown against the old pier coming in at hmb with rods still in the holders

The rod holders on Stealths are one of the weak points in their design Basically just screws going into fiberglass

How did you deal w the damage?

To prevent additional damage stow everything you can and don't launch or land with items in your rod holders.

My used Stealth came with that same damage, to repair and reinforce the rod holders I cut a doughnut shaped backer of PVC out of a 4" white pipe cap. I then cut the PVC from the outside to the hole in the "doughnut" so I could "thread" the backer into the rod hold and attached it to the inside of the hull around where the rod holder mounts with epoxy mixed with filler.

This makes it much stronger but of course then it would cause even more damage if your roll with things in your rod holders so it's even more imperative to make sure that doesn't happen.

I think it's a good idea to learn to do these types of repairs if your running a crispy kayak.

Thank you for the reminders to stow my gear inside the boat. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to get three ambush hoops in there.

(I had been using the gaff in one of the holders, and lengths of PVC in the other, to secure the traps.)

To prevent additional damage stow everything you can and don't launch or land with items in your rod holders.

My used Stealth came with that same damage, to repair and reinforce the rod holders I cut a doughnut shaped backer of PVC out of a 4" white pipe cap. I then cut the PVC from the outside to the hole in the "doughnut" so I could "thread" the backer into the rod hold and attached it to the inside of the hull around where the rod holder mounts with epoxy mixed with filler.

This makes it much stronger but of course then it would cause even more damage if your roll with things in your rod holders so it's even more imperative to make sure that doesn't happen.

I think it's a good idea to learn to do these types of repairs if your running a crispy kayak.

"Crispy" Creme yakkin'...agreed on the get down and dirty learning curve...do it the Matt way and you will succeed...just don't f it up...just kidding'...

To prevent additional damage stow everything you can and don't launch or land with items in your rod holders.

My used Stealth came with that same damage, to repair and reinforce the rod holders I cut a doughnut shaped backer of PVC out of a 4" white pipe cap. I then cut the PVC from the outside to the hole in the "doughnut" so I could "thread" the backer into the rod hold and attached it to the inside of the hull around where the rod holder mounts with epoxy mixed with filler.

This makes it much stronger but of course then it would cause even more damage if your roll with things in your rod holders so it's even more imperative to make sure that doesn't happen.

I think it's a good idea to learn to do these types of repairs if your running a crispy kayak.

cool idea w the PVC doughnuts. can you describe the "filler" you mized with the epoxy? thanks!

I use this filler or the microballon version, you can thicken the epoxy depending on the application by adding more. In this case I thickened the epoxy to a nice Skippy peanut butteor consistency and was able to apply it to boath surfaces after inserting the doughnut but before final clamp up. I also pre drilled and taped the doughnut so I could use the rod holder screws to line up and pull everything together.

Dry fitting and using something like a large feeder washers shaped to the outside of the hull to screw the layers together cleanly was necessary.