Neglected to mention that the damage measures about 10.5" X 3.1".

 I am not an expert but that is certainly repairable.  If you are going to varnish the hull the repair will be visible but you will probably be the only one that notices.  If you are painting, just glue the piece in as best as you can and sand smooth.  If need be, fill any areas with epoxy/wood flour and sand again.  Once you glass and paint, nobody will ever know.

Just a quick anwer here so you are not stressing.  I bet one of the experts will be along shortly describing the best way to repair.  

Hi LTM,

I agree with mark's comments.  relax.  just glue the piece back as tightly as you can. wth a little bit of epoxy and cab-o-sil and you will be fine.

if you paint the hull...which is very common....nobody will ever know and it will look just fine.  a varnished hull finish is something you will have to wait until the end to sort out if it works for you.  

my only other comment is that once the hull is assembled and when you are putting in your fillets and glass, i would put a piece of fibreglass cloth over the repair on the inside to the extent that the glass tape/fillet does not cover the entire repair area.  i would probably want it an 1 1/2 inches proud of the repair line you see on the inside.  the outside is already getting a layer of glass....so no concern on the outside.

all the best

h

You can use a waterproof wood glue like Titebond III instead of thickened epoxy to make the repair less visible.

Next, fill any depressions with unthickened epoxy and sand smooth (#120 paper). Then apply the glass on each side as Howard says.  You might have to look real hard to find the repair.

Laszlo

Thanks for each of your remarks.  This is my first time working with 4mm ply, and I'm just generally clueless about boat-building, except for what I read in the CLC kit cookbook & the clever CLC videos.   So, it's a relief to know I can repair my accident, rather than replace the part. 

Since the damage resembles a shark-bite, maybe I can save face in front of the locals, by claiming a shark-attack before the kayak is assembled.

why not just buy two new boards from CLC and replace them? I messed up one of my bottom boards and was able to replace it (and the other board it was glued to). Might be a bit on the pricey side, but since your boat is not together yet, might be worth the extra money to have it perfect.   

Larry,

What Lazlo doesn't know about building stitch-and-glue boats is probably not worth knowing.  All I can add is that when building your first boat, paint is your friend.  If you don't plan to have a lot of brightwork, you can fix virtually any mistake so no one but you will ever know about it.  It's very liberating and saves a lot of anxiety.  http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/finishing-tips/painting_polyurethanes.html

Cheers,

Dick

A note of thanks for everyone's help on this, since I was able to repair the damage.  I initially clamped the broken piece in place with Titebond III, allowed to dry and subsequently filled the gaps, on both sides, with several layers of epoxy.  The attached image looks ugly & irregular with discoloration and several layers of visibly broken ply, but the epoxied surface turned out smooth & firm, and since I was already scratching my head about whether to paint, it is a relief that the project was saved with minimal expense.

Thanks again,

Larry