Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

New SOT fell of rack on highway and now has a large hole (see attached photo).

Dealer states repair would damage the integrity of the boat far beyond what would make it safe to paddle.

Has anyone had success with or can recommend repair process for damaged kayak. Any help would be appreciated.

we use WEST SYSTEMS G FLEX . on our rental fleet.

Do you still have the piece of plastic that came out of the hole? I would recommend welding the piece back. I happened to have schooling on plastic welding. If this is a Linear Poly boat I can weld it. However no matter how good of a job is done welding it will not track as well as it did when it was new. Also I would not be able to weld it from the inside so I would use welding strip instead of rod to make sure it would hold. Personally as much as I would like the business you would not be happy with boat.

If you got it from a full service dealer, I'd talk to them some more, they still might be able to help.

I've seen more than a dozen boats hit the road; I've never seen one split like that. Even if it was clearly abuse beyond normal limits, a good dealer might be able to talk the manufacturer into a replacement at a significantly discounted cost. This of course depends on the manufacturer, too - even the best dealers are limited by what the manufacturer is willing to budge on.

Cowper wrote:If you got it from a full service dealer, I'd talk to them, they might be able to help.

I've seen more than a dozen boats hit the road; I've never seen one split like that. Even if it was clearly abuse beyond normal limits, a good dealer might be able to talk the manufacturer into a replacement at a significantly discounted cost.

This is definitely worth a shot. I've seen a boat skip across the highway at 65mpg and slam into a ditch, but you could hardly tell it happened. Perhaps a manufacturing issue.

Oh...and it wasn't my boat, strapping, or vehicle.

Cowper is right on the money here and that's just what we did in the interest of safety for the end user. Good job Feel Free Kayaks!