Advice for newbie

Hi All,

Firstly any advice is useful as i'm completely new to the surf ski scene. I've recently purchased a Honcho Guevara and am learning from scratch alone as i'm in Mozambique, however the water is not too bad and relatively shallow where i'm learning, but i still have a lot to learn! Obviously i spend a fair amount of time 'falling off' but this i expected and it is certainly helping me practice the remount more and more which i think is really important for me. However my main point is that when i've been out for a couple of hours or so and head back into the shore i have to remove the rubber bung and drain a large amount of water from inside the hull! Maybe i'm missing something, but i didn't think water (to this amount) would be able to get inside as it's sealed.... Please help...

Marty

duke916 wrote:

rn...i have to remove the rubber bung and drain a large amount of water...
Marty

Remove it and blow gently some air with your mouth inside the hull, if your ski is watertight then it should keep the pressure, if your ski is not watertight find where the air escapes... and get it fixed.

Hi,

Sorry no advice on your problem, just to say that I'm paddling on an epic v10s in Mozambique. I'm based in clube maritimo in Maputo. Where are you? If you're around here we can meet somewhere.

cheers

Matteo

Apart from checking fro obvious holes and cracks, check the cockpit drain. If the footwell has not bonded to the hull properly, you can get a lot of water in through here. Block the inside of the drain and suck on the outside. You should get no air coming out. If you get a mouthful of resin flavoured salt water, I'll tell you my favourite way to fix the problem. Stuart

Firstly huge thanks to Xpat & Hiro, on inspection i found that the internal to the cockpit drain has a rather large crack around it on the inside, so at least i found the problem. Now for the fix, any clues or ideas on the best method?

Matteo, i'm also based in Maputo and live down on the front so if you want to catch up let me know, but as i said i'm completely new to the surf ski, so still learning. However i'm keen to get in the water at any opportunity.

Thanks,

Marty

Hi Marty, not sure what you mean by "the internal to the cockpit drain " but if you post a photo I'll try give some advice.
Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Very difficult to get a piture to show where the damage is. Basically there is a large crack around the internal part of the cockpit drain (between the cockpit and the outside hull)which is where you originally described. It goes all around the internal part of the drain hole and is obviously where the water is getting in (in huge amounts. I have for the moment repaired it with marine silicone, however i am interested to know if there is another method which you would advise.

Thanks,
Marty

Marty,
I had the same problem on a boat I had. I also tried silicone to no avail. I ended up matching up a drill bit with the diameter of the drain hole and used it to clean the old silicone and old cracked epoxy out. Let it dry out really well then recoat with a good marine epoxy. You may want to coat half the hole at a time to let it soak in as best it can with the boat on it's side then flip and repeat for the other side. That method has worked well for over 2 years now and can easily be repeated if needed in the future. Hope this works for you.
Dave

OK, here goes, pretty much as txbuckeye says.

First make sure the area is dry by getting as much wat5er a possible out of the ski, flooding they area with acertone and drying with a heat gun. After you have done this, don't roll the ski so that the repair area is at the lowest point to prevent water gathering again.

Clean the area well, picking out any loose debris.

Cut a piece of tape the right size to fit inside the venturi drain and cover the hole from the outside. Stuff the venturi drain with paper towel to hold the tape in place.

Get a piece of plastic tube about 30 cm long and slightly bigger diameter than the drain hole. Tape it over the hole carefully using strong tape like duct tape.

Now here comes the tricky bit. Fill the tube about half way with epoxy. Thicken it till its about as thick as mayonaise. Blow down the tube until about half of the epoxy in the tube is gone. Flex the hull at the same time to open any gaps.

Let the epoxy harden and break the tube off - it may need a tap with a chisel. Drill the hole out again, using a slightly smaller drill bit than original and remove teh stuff from the venturi.

Should be fixed.

Instead of blowing down the tube, you can put a vacuum cleaner over the drain plug. But be careful not to make a 100% seal as you can collapse the ski very easily.

Stuart

I've not tried it yet but I've been wondering how some of that penetrating epoxy that they use on ships to "restore" wood that's deteriorating would work in a situation like this. It's basically a very thin epoxy that soaks into the material easier. Maybe, if compatible, it could be used to pre treat the area?

From what I've seen, the gaps can be quite big and unthickened epoxy just drains through, which is why I thicken mine up first with microfibres or microbaloons.

Thanks it is really very useful tip for a starter