Hull water damage

I recently picked up a CLC 18' kayak on craigslist. After about 5 times on the water I have an area on the keel where the plywood is turning black. It is about a 2" wide and 8" long area. I assume there is a leak in the fiberglass. How do I go about repairing it? Do I need to replace the plywood? Or sand through the fiberglass to let it dry, then reapply fiberglass? How long until the plywood will rot?

 

Thanks for the help.


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RE: Hull water damage

Same thing happened to my boat, dropped it too hard on the stern and the last three inches of the bottom panels separated. I located the crack and used a little saw to widen it. Then taped off 3/4 inch section on either side and about 8 inches beyond the crack. Sanded off the varnish and gave the epoxy a good roughup, no need to take the underlying glass off. Stuffed the widened crack with thickened epoxy and capped with dynel strip and filled the weave with graphite/cabocil filler. The black strip hides the discolored wood. Painters tape kept the edges clean. You’d have a hard time sanding the discoloration out of the wood without cutting through layers of ply. It’s marine plywood but I think this is a issue you want to tackle sooner rather than later. Shouldn’t take more than a couple hours.

Good luck,
e

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