Boat repair advice

Hi Folks,
Hope someone can point me the right direction.
I have somehow developed a crack in the bucket of my ski near the hip. It starts up top and is about two inches long. I had a friend fix it which looked great but the crack showed itself again after first paddle. I don't think it's too drastic but needs to be fixed.

Questions are:
will I have to cut a hole to access inside the boat to fix it properly or should I just use a much thicker fiberglass sheet and live with the eyesore? Am I opening myself up to a world of hurt trying to fix it from the inside and would it not end up making too much of a difference anyway.

Also, if we don't get the paint to the super smooth gloss it currently is will this have a noticeble effect on speed?

Appreciate it's hard to give advice on a job you can't see but was wondering if anybody has dealt with a similiar issue.

Thanks
Marcus

Take it to someone who knows what they are doing. It will cost bugger all more than doing it yourself. Post where you are and someone will give you the name of someone good.

I'm in the Whitsundays, doubt anybody is in this area.

I know bugger all about fixing ski's but I've heard that cracks can develop in the gel coat that doesn't necessarily mean there is any structural compromise.

Would be very informative to those who know about these things if you could post a picture.

There is some very seasoned paddlers down my way that have ski's with cracks all through them and they paddle them in big downwind conditions, so obviously they know which cracks need attention and which are cosmetic.

Here are a couple of pics. After hearing that this could be just a gel coat crack I might even leave it and see what happens.

A sea kayak repairer shoud be able to do an invible repair on that crack. I have had both gel coat cracks and structural cracks repaired by a local kayak builder. Didn't cost much.

Problem is kevlar is flexible, gel coat isn't. Kevlar will also absorb water, you really want to get that repaired somehow. At the very very least, put some super tape over it to keep the water out. We have Norton Bear tape here that is super grippy and can even be used to repair holes in kayaks, temporarily. I did two weeks on a long trip with a hole in my sea kayak with the tape over it and it never leaked. My V10L also got damaged during the summer series earlier this year which left exposed kevlar, the tape sealed it up until the end of the series when I had time to get it repaired.

give marty strecker a ring at XYLO blades/check on the net, I am sure he will have a contact in your area.Thats if he is still in mackay, i know there are lots of outriggers in the area that would have required repairing.

Regards

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thanks for that bit of shit spam George ! (not)