Crack 3/4" wide?

Hi prevy, 

sorry for your pain/accident.  but it sounds very repairable.

there are two issues that will impact how you approach this repair.  1)  do you have a bright hull or painted hull?    and 2) do you have easy access to the inside of the hull.

regardless of the situation above, the main goal of the repair is to ensure that the repair is waterproof on the inside and the outside and the secondary goal is to make it look as nice as possible.

what you are describing, sounds as you say, an impact that 'cracked' or knocked in the plywood which makes up the hull.  it is small enough that it does not appear to in any way, create a structural issue....so like i said, its about ensuring waterproofness of both sides (the inside and outside) and trying to make it look nice.

the easiest way to make it look nice and deal with this is to coat the entire crack area with wet epoxy and somehow push and hold the wood in place while that initial wet epoxy cures.  if you can get there from the inside and push it out by bracing a stick or something on it, that would be my first choice prior to drilling a hole and pulling it.... as that will look nicer especially if the hull is bright.  

once you basically have the piece glued back in place, you then want to sand and remove some of the glass on the outside and reglass it.  you also then want to remove any broken glass on the inside/sand the existing glass to good glass and  put a glass patch over it on the inside to ensure it is totally waterproof.  again, if the boat is not painted, you will need to be a bit more careful then if the boat is painted.  but its essentially the same process.

if you don't have any access to the inside, the approach changes a bit but send a note if that's the case as it gets a bit trickier to explain as well as execute.

i hope that helps

h

ok...so i see your picture.

does not look like there is any glass involved and it appears to be on only one side (the crack) vs going through the hull?

based on what i see here i would advise a slight variation of what i told you above. 

i would slightly thicken the epoxy with a bit of cabosil or cell-o-fill and push it into the crack.  you can pump the crack a bit to ensure you pull the epoxy into it.  then cover the crack area (wet epoxy) with saran wrap and then somehow wedge a small block over it to push the crack closed and create a flat surface.    you should be able to arrange someway to brace this block if this is the inside of the cockpit.  when the epoxy sets, pull the block and saran wrap off and you might not even be able to see the repain unless you look really hard.

anyway, that should do the trick.

if you want to add a bit of strength...though i don't really think it is needed, you could create a patch with 2 oz glass cloth to go over the area.  2 oz is more than enough and you will bareley see it because its almost like paper in its thickness and wets out clear.

h

   Thanks!!

   Hiya @Hspira

I've had a hole punched in the side of my Kaholo SUP when the wind blew it over onto a piece of wood.

Would you be able to elaborate on what the approach might be given I don't have access to the hull interior ?

Cheers

   H, 

Are you suggesting to clean out contaminates before epoxing the crack? 

Hi Shiso,

Oh my….that looks nasty.

Is that the deck or hull that got cracked?  You mentioned ‘punched in the side of my kaholo sup’  but the picture does not look like the sides?

If you could take another picture stepping back a bit so it is clearer where this is, that would be great.

The good news is that this is fixable…..but its not really possible based on what I see here to make the repair totally disappear.   But you can make the repair very clean.

My initial impression (without seeing a picture that tells me more about where this is) is to approach it as follows:

• I would cut out a rectangle where it got punched in (smallest rectangle that can surround all the damage)
• I would then confirm no damage to any of the internal structure.
• I would then build a little shelf of epoxy coated 4mm okoume and epoxy it to the underside of the open hole. …creating a shelf for the final piece to sit in that will close up the hull.
• I would then take a piece of 4 mm okoume the exact size of the rectangular hole …that is epoxy coated on the inside…and glue it to the shelf you created in the previous step
• Sand it and the surrounding area a bit so that the repair is flat and fare
• Glass over the repair and fare it into the older glass.
• Varnish….and call it a day…or some other graphic depending on how you feel about the aesthetic of the repair

The key thing is to restore the inside of the boat to being totally coated with epoxy to prevent water/moisture from getting into the wood.

The only other approach that comes to mind, is depending on where the crack is, do you want to put a beckson hatch opposite it or on top of the damage?   A lot of folks do put a hatch for storage and to allow the board to breathe/ensure it is dry.  However, it is dependent on where the damage is.  But if that works, you would now have an access point and could just push the bits into the right position and epoxy from the back side  then glass the inside of the repair and do a standard glass repair on the outside.

I hope my explanation is understandable/helpful.

h

  That is all super helpful thankyou, the crack is in the hull. I'll consider both options!

Thank you so much!