Dent removal - plastic ski

Hi,

New to SurfSki.info (and surfskiing). I'm based in Fremantle, Australia.

I have a Finn Afinnity that's developed a dent in the hull. It was caused by too tight a strap on a roof rack.

Hoping someone would know of a simple procedure to remove the dent?


Cheers,

Dave

I don't believe there's an easy solution to that. Try calling Finn Kayaks direct in O'Connor just around the corner. They may be able to suggest a resolution.

Try a heat gun over the area and then blow in the drain hole. If you can access the dent through the inspection port just push it out. If you don't have a heat gun, some black plastic over the dent and leave it in the sun, then push or blow it out. I have used a compressor to pump a bit more air in....just don't go overboard.

Hi Dave.

Using boiling water over the area also works well.
Im my experience, as Dicko mentioned, being able to keep some pressure in the hull to 'blow' the dent out makes things easier.

Hot water inside the ski may provide both heat and pressure to push it outwards?

I had one that did this. I just hung the ski from the handles on hot day in the sun and the hull took its shape back.

You cant store any plastic ski or leave it in the sun upside down. If it rests on the bow and stern (due to the rockered shape) the hull will ripple as the plastic warms up and the boat sags.

I now store plastic craft on the side and haven't had this issue since.

Most of my plastic kayaks have had such dents develop at one point or another. You should use saddles like Yakima Mako to carry them and not tighten them much (these saddles have a rubber traction strip that makes it really unnecessary to strap hard to keep the boat in place). Still, in hot weather air just sitting there a long time the boat will dent even if not strapped. Normal. On my kayaks some careful heat gun use and some weight well distributed inside fixed them as new. Some bumps just disappeared on their own in the sun when the kayak is just left on its own. Without access to the inside to push the dent out, you might have more difficult time fixing yours.

For storage, I don't just drop the ski on a skinny wall rack or on the ground - it will dent or change rocker. Use straps to hang it from the ceiling with even weight distribution and rotate it from time to time to change the way it weights itself against the straps. This works for me in a 4-season location out of the sun, might not be good enough in a hotter place...