Hi, my kayak just got a small hole and I was wondering if I can use a epoxy to repair the kayak by myself. I was looking in west marine that they have different products like marine epoxy, fiberglass Self Adhesive Repair Patch, WEST SYSTEM #101 Repair Packs, among others. Any advice on what can I use to repair by myself the kayak would be appreciate it.
hello i 've done such repair on my V 10 elite with epoxy. in fact i used low cure Araldite which gets prefectly dry in 24 hours. fast araldite isn't waterproof.then i put a piece of plastic film (used to cover food).if there is too much epoxy you remove the film, remove somme epoxy and tighthen the film again. strong as new!
Hi there,
depending on how large the hole is you may want repair the hole with fiberglass cloth (or carbon fiber) and epoxy resin. The repair with resin alone will probably do the trick in the short term. the resin without the cloth tends to be brittle. If the hole is on the hull of the boat and in the water when you are paddling you may want to "go big" and make a proper repair using cloth and resin. As far as which product to use... you can spend quite a lot of $$ when buying epoxy. Stay away from anything like "5 minute" products that have a quick cure time. They are not as water proof. Be sure to follow the instruction with the product. West Systems has a great Line of products. Also when preparing the area to be repaired, it should be clean and dry. Its not easy to rinse out skis especially if there is no hatch and just a drain hole. In any case get some fresh water in there drain the boat out and let the boat sit " hole side up " so the area to be repaired is as dry as possible. Lightly sand the area to be repaired. Careful not "frizz-up" the kevlar!
