Re: I understand :(

Posted by Mike Hanks on Nov 22, 2006

I am having to do a similar repair down in Tacoma. My aft roof rack came off at over 60 mph, I had no bow lines since I was only going a couple of miles. OOPS!!! Thankfully no one was injured.

Two kayaks flew off my track and hit the road hard, then skidded to a stop. The other kayak held on to the rack but drug along the road until I came to a stop.

The skin on frame that flew off did quite well. A little duct tape and it was paddleable. It needs some minor patching, then it will be good as new. S-O-F kayaks are very tough!

The plywood kayak that flew off mainly broke at the sheer clamp. The filleted joints faired better, and there was some minor damage where the wood was not glassed on the inside, and this was with 1/8" luan. The cheap 1/8" plywood held up well, but the sheerclamp joint was the weakest spot. The coaming is partially ground off, and half of the deck rigging was torn or ground off. The bow tip is badly splintered for a few inches, as that was the part that hit first. The worst part is that this kayak is not mine, it is one that I made for my brother, and my dad had borrowed it for the trip to California.

I plan to cut the deck off, and inspect the hull, making repairs where needed. I think I will strip a new deck, as my brother wants more room in the kayak. I may remove the sheer clamp and do a filleted deck to hull joint. Some careful cutting and regluing, and the tip will be fine. I will make a glass or carbon coaming as I like them better and they are very easy to make. I figure that even with a strip deck it will take me less than 40 hours. If I did a staight patch job, the whole thing would be done in less than 20 hours.

The third kayak that was drug from 60 mph to 0 mph, ground through the three layers of 6 oz satin weave s-glass on the stern and into the wood, but not all of the way through. I was able to make a quick patch with 5 minute epoxy and some glass tape, and it was fine. I need to redo this with regular epoxy, for the long term, but the patch worked great.

I would offer to help you, but my shop is too full right now (two kayaks and a canoe under construction, in addition to the one that needs to be repaired), plus my time is usually spent with my kids. Check on the kayak building bulletin board http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi There may be someone there who wants a project.

In Response to: Seattle-area repair shop? by Chris Wiklof on Nov 21, 2006

Replies:

• Shear Clamps by Chris Wiklof on Nov 22, 2006
  • Re: Shear Clamps by CLC on Nov 22, 2006
  • Re: Shear Clamps by Mike Hanks on Nov 22, 2006