jeffcasey Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Boat: 12(?) year old "Formula" Diamonte (same as Impex, but bought in Canada instead of US), kevlar. Horribly misused over the years.Damage: hull is "caved in", with a deep crease about 8-10" long, directly across the bottom of the hull, about under the knees....It looks like a deep crease that cracks/penetrates enough that water would leak through some, but I didn't put it in water to check -- it is so structurally suspect that I think it would jackknife if separated from the stiffer glass deck. (Come to think of it, the hull **has** separated from the deck on a couple of occasions, messily patched).Is it junk? The kevlar is quite a bit more compliant than ordinary glass, and I am afraid that if I glass in a repair patch from the inside, it will simply transfer the stresses to the edges of the patch and re-crack there. If nobody has any better ideas, I'm going to try to patch w/ glass nonetheless, and carefully feather the patch out in all directions to spread the stresses. (the kevlar noticeably gives in seas, much more than a glass boat does, not as much as a cloth boat).I'm not in a hurry...I'm back in Nevada, boat garaged in Winchester...but I hope to try a repair on my next trip out (mid Aug). I'm in the information gathering stages now. I know that Brian Nystrom has a wealth of info on repairs and patches, but can't find a website link. I'm sure many of you have at least $0.03 worth of useful advice here as well, and I want to hear all of it before I mix the first epoxy.I could give a damn about the gelcoat -- there wasn't much left on the boat anyhow. I also don't care much about cosmetics, as any of you who paddle with me could certainly attest. I do want to fix this boat, however....there is a lot of both customization and sentiment poured into this silly piece of flotsam. On the other hand, if the wise fools out there advise me that this is a symptom of embrittlement signalling the end of safe paddling with this kevlar, I may take that to heart and find something new (or bring back my feathercraft to MA). Help please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Being somewhat familiar with your long-suffering boat, I would probably just take the path of least resistance and reinforce it from the inside with fiberglass. I'm not sure the boat has much life left in it and that should be enough to extract the last gasp or two. Here's a link to my Webshots stuff. You'll find glass repair info, should you decide to do a full repair, rather than a "Band-Aid". http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.