Any tips on this repair?

I pitch poled my well worn but much beloved Huki S1-X while riding a wave and did some serious damage to the bow. After excavating a bit it goes all the way down to the canvas. Does anyone have any advice about how to proceed (short of getting a new boat, ha)?

I was thinking about just doing a few small pieces of fiberglass over the canvas until I have it built up to the level of the rest of the boat, and then maybe some carbon. 

And the top and bottom half have separated in some areas on the bow.

I use the boat mostly for surfing and down winders, so a bit of extra weight isn't a huge deal to me.

Thanks for any help.

Just to clarify what it seems like we are looking at:  The seam burst open, buckling apart the layup?  What does the very front of the boat look like?  Did you impact the bottom or was this in deep water?  What's your budget?  If you are willing to spend a few hundred bucks then take it to a pro composite repair guy for a look see.  Sounds like you are relatively green at this sort of thing and I would recommend building up your amateur skills on simpler repairs before tackling something of that size. 

But if you are strictly DIY and keen to give it a go, try to find someone to help you out who has some experience since there are lots of small important details from start to finish that are beyond the scope of giving advice on the forum.  But yes the general idea is to sand out the area beyond the damage, "dishing" out the edge of the repair, kind of like doing a scarf joint, then lay in the cloth, try to use whatever the original material is so the flex is the same when done, apply epoxy, cure then sand flush, can use filler compound to fill in the tiny irregularities, sand down to desired finish and spray gelcoat or paint.  Last step is optional if this is truly a beater boat.  Don't try to sand the kevlar ( not canvas)  when you are prepping, it won't work.

Several small pieces of cloth won't give the same strength as one large piece to cover the area. 

FYI I am not a pro.  Others may chime in with more professional input. 

Thanks for the tips! I'm definitely green, but come from the world of surfboards, where we all learn by doing. Guessing it's the same in surfski but your post makes me think maybe it's more unusual. And this boat has always been my laboratory for improving my fiberglass and carbon skills. It came to me already beat up so there's never been any pressure to make the repairs pretty, which is nice, for me at least. 

As far as hiring someone, I think it would be a whole lot more than a couple hundred bucks, but who knows. 

The very front of the boat is in tact, just a bit separated. I was riding a wave that started closing out and I didn't eject in time, and I thought the area was deeper, and the nose hit bottom. It was gentle enough that I didn't even realize it at the time, it just knocked me from the boat. But when I got the boat back after a swim I saw the damage. 

The main thing I'm unsure about is bonding to the kevlar. Can I just lay the fiberglass right on top of the cloth? Any tips to get better adhesion and avoid delamination? My plan is to go the obvious route: scuff the kevlar a bit, then build up layers of fiberglass. Once I get even with the surrounding areas sand it down and glass it all together. Maybe a layer of carbon, largely to get a bit better at working with carbon.

Whats the green layer? starting from the inside, it looks like Kevlar, Foam Core?, Kevlar, Carbon. That sound right?

Epoxy binds very well to all fabrics, so you dont have to worry  too much about the inter-layer bond. Maybe Ranga or someone can chime in if there is prep that will aid in adhesion. I generally just clean a patch area well with acetone and sand with 60 grit sandpaper, but you do not want to sand Kevlar, as it will not sand and break apart, it fuzzes up and makes a royal mess of the repair.

One thing to note, if you do this in multiple steps (as it will likely require), make sure you scrub off the 'Blush' from the cured epoxy with Acetone before sanding or adding another layer. Blush will inhibit adhesion. 

Again, maybe a more experienced repairer will chime in, but since I dont see any fiberglass in the layup (though it may be there because it turns clear when wet out) like Swizer says I'd match the fabric so the patch has similar structural properties as the rest of the boat. I dont know if you should use kevlar and carbon or just carbon. Personally I avoid kevlar because it cannot be sanded and thus is a huge pain to fix if your repair is anything but perfect. 

I put together an instructional document for an old club of mine you can reference too. Best of luck! you did a good job mucking it up your post is timely, the ocean was flat yesterday but we had good 2.5ft @ 14sec long period swell. I was surfing the outside line of a pointbreak and had a lot of great runs, but got locked on one wave and by the time I tried to bail out it went quickly critical and I took a good pounding from a 4 footer. Your boat was in the back of my mind saying "mind the water depth!". luckily I escaped unscathed. Hope you can patch your boat up

Edit - Also, im curious if people would recommend adding in a new foam core (assuming that's what the green layer is) or just building up layers of cloth? I've never damaged something enough to require core-removal and repair like this does

Thanks for that. And yes, definitely planning to do this repair in multiple steps. I think I'll dive into that first step today though, thanks for all the motivation.

We here in Northern California (I'm a bit north of SF) have been getting that same south swell. Hasn't been much up here but I'll take it! Sad to be entering our summer doldrums after a pretty fun winter.

I thoroughly miss my ski. Here's a pic of it in better days:

That's one peak over from the one that killed it. Where I killed it gets focused on a sandbar that's a good half mile off shore, and it *looks* like a normally breaking wave but is in fact basically shorepound way out in the middle of nowhere. I can usually pull out in time, but all it takes is that one failure and here I am with a broken boat.

Most important part of the repair is what you CANNOT see, INTERNALLY! 

If you don't repair the internal structure you are wasting your time, exactly the same as a cracked stringer on a surfboard. I usually cut a deck section out and repair from the inside, all the structure and strength is done internally, externally it is just lipstick and mascara!

Ranga, can you describe how you 'repair it from the inside'? How do you support the patch and get the new layup tight and confirmed to the existing hull? and wet out? or deal with extraction of temporary internal supports (if used)?

 I've done a lot of surface repair but am curious about the correct way to repair damage that goes all the way through as I've never attempted it
Thanks!

It is unlikely that the internal structure is still in one piece by the amount of damage that I see. To make a ski strong you have to keep the shape from deforming. I bet you can squash the sides of the hull at the seam, this should be rock solid, should NOT move at all.
Basically you cut a section out of the deck and then repair the damage and the stringers inside and then replace the piece you removed.

Very interesting. How do you then re-attach the top to the bottom?

Epoxy the top on again and then fiberglass on the seams where you have cut.

Well after a few days and many many mistakes, the boat is almost ready for the water again. I've been doing glass maybe 3 times a day and then a round of heavy sanding at night, then continuing the next day. It's been a good rhythm, and what started as a complete disaster is now, well, at least seaworthy. I hope so at least.

When I excavated the side I had a large enough hole to peek inside, and I definitely don't have any structure inside the boat, on the bow at least. From what I can see it's just a shell. I guess this boat has a different construction? This is an older Huki S1-X if that matters. If I do need to add some re-enforcement I was thinking about glassing on a bit of wood on top of the bow, like an external stringer. Is that a completely ridiculous idea? Keep in mind that this is a beater boat mostly used in the surf and on non racing down-winders. I literally couldn't care less about racing, but I do like the lightness of the boat to help catch waves.

Attached is a pic of it waiting for a good round of sanding. I'm sure it's obvious from looking at it but no one should look at this repair and learn from it, except to learn what not to do, ha. But it's all super solid and will look a lot better after 30 minutes of sanding. I sure wish I didn't wash with water too soon causing that cloudiness in the glass, but oh well. The other side is a lot neater, will post when it's all done. If I did it again I'd do a much better and neater job, but this was a fun way to explore fiberglass and carbon fiber.

After I take it for a few test drives and confirm that all the glass is bonded well I was thinking about spray painting it gold. Any thoughts on that? Is there a good reason to go with gel coat? My thinking is that even if regular spray paint doesn't adhere as well, I can always just spray over any scuffs.

Lookin' good.
Gold spray paint will be super classy.  Safe, too- It's a well known fact that white sharks hate gold...

Don't worry I know it looks like absolute sh!t. But my next repair won't. And I don't have to spend $1200 on a new boat yet, which is a nice bonus. And I love this old boat, nice to save it from the dump. 

Good job on getting it done.  20 years ago I broke my first ski into 3 pieces in Mission beach San Diego.  Heartbreak!  Was a real bear even getting the mess out of the water.  Got it back into service a few pounds heavier a couple months later, wound up spraying the thing hot pink. 
Viva La Beater Boat!  

Ha awesome. This boat came to me as a beater too, it really is a nice way to learn. No pressure. If I do pull the trigger and buy that gorgeous S1-X that's been on Craigslist near me for $1200, I'll at least know how to keep it from becoming a beater a bit longer now.

Can't wait to get this thing back in the water, been months since I've been on a ski. Final rudder system repairs and then it should be paddle ready tomorrow morning.

Well that repair worked really well. It definitely added a bit of weight but not so much that a hack like me would notice. 

But then yesterday I was paddling out at our local and there was a set coming and I sprinted to make it outside and took that last wave a little too fast and got launched off the back just a bit higher than I've ever been launched before and when I landed something wasn't quite right.... The ski was almost split in half under the seat! Oh well, here we go again. 

The good news is it didn't break on any of my old repairs, ha. And one of them was a buckle near the same spot, do at least my repairs are holding. 

Good to get all the hooliganism out of the way on a beater boat. My first cheapy beater boat is being repaired at the moment after hitting a rock and shearing the rudder shaft and tube right off.

Well put. 
When I'm done I plan to write HOOPTI just below it's brand name HUKI