Hobie Hull Repair?

[Romo]

Last night I was out catfishing and came back to the single lane ramp late. As I was pulling in a bow fishing boat zoomed up behind me at the ramp so I dragged my kayak about 50 feet up the ramp and out of the way so those guys could get their truck and trailer down. I pulled my truck up to my yak and loaded it on but when it was on the rack I noticed a pretty sizeable chunk of plastic missing out of the keel on the stern. I mean it looks like someone took a hot knife and pressed it on there. It's about the size of my thumb and at least 1/2 inch into the plastic.

First of all WTF my old hobie I dragged over everything and never had a problem and now I have this one for a month, don't use my wheels one time and I get this huge gouge?!? It looks pretty bad to me and I'm a little scared it might crack the next time it hits anything. I'll take a pic later when I get home but has anyone successfully patched/fixed anything like this before?

[ski357]

Last night I was out catfishing and came back to the single lane ramp late. As I was pulling in a bow fishing boat zoomed up behind me at the ramp so I dragged my kayak about 50 feet up the ramp and out of the way so those guys could get their truck and trailer down. I pulled my truck up to my yak and loaded it on but when it was on the rack I noticed a pretty sizeable chunk of plastic missing out of the keel on the stern. I mean it looks like someone took a hot knife and pressed it on there. It's about the size of my thumb and at least 1/2 inch into the plastic.

First of all WTF my old hobie I dragged over everything and never had a problem and now I have this one for a month, don't use my wheels one time and I get this huge gouge?!? It looks pretty bad to me and I'm a little scared it might crack the next time it hits anything. I'll take a pic later when I get home but has anyone successfully patched/fixed anything like this before?

Pictures would help, but it might be fixable depending on where specifically the hole is located.

[Cowpokey]

As I was pulling in a bow fishing boat zoomed up behind me at the ramp so I dragged my kayak about 50 feet up the ramp and out of the way so those guys could get their truck and trailer down.

No good deed goes unpunished.

[Slobber Bob]

If you have any scrap kayak plastic leftover from any modifications you may have made, I would think you'd be able to melt some of it into the gouge to fill it in depending on how severe it is. I've used the heat gun technique to fill in two gouges that were leaking in the keel of my Ocean Kayak and a rebar puncture to the top of my bow. You just have to be careful not to heat up the kayak plastic too much could you could easily do more damage than you originally had.

[buzz]

If you have any scrap kayak plastic leftover from any modifications you may have made, I would think you'd be able to melt some of it into the gouge to fill it in depending on how severe it is. I've used the heat gun technique to fill in two gouges that were leaking in the keel of my Ocean Kayak and a rebar puncture to the top of my bow. You just have to be careful not to heat up the kayak plastic too much could you could easily do more damage than you originally had.

...and if you don't have any leftover plastic from you yak, those white cutting boards are HDPE as are plastic bottle caps and milk jugs. You also might try contacting Hobie. Tell them what happened and what you are doing and maybe they can provide you with the scrap plastic you need.

[Memory Maker]

Contact Doc Irv .......... He found some stuff that fixed his. He tried a lot of stuff but this is the only thing that really fixed his

[Laxdawg14]

When I was in hs I worked at a canoe and kayak shop. We installed a lot of skid plate kits on canoes, not sure if it will work on a kayak but I don't see why it wouldn't.
It was felt with a resin to coat on it and when it dried it was rock solid!

Just a thought

[M1A4ME]

Has anyone tried the plastic "welders"? I remember reading a few years ago about their use to repair the various plastic spoilers, flares, noses, etc. on cars. I almost bought one around that time to work on a spoiler on my son's Camaro but then we finally found one (those 91/92 front spoilers/air dams are hard to run across at a decent price).

Just curious if that equipment/technique works.

[Romo]

Here's the pic. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't there but I swear this was only dragged 50 feet over concrete. I have no idea how that divet got in there or why the plastic scraped so bad! It has been on wheels every other time out. I'm hoping that since it's a thicker part of the plastic it isn't gonna be a huge problem but I'd sure like to fix it.

[buzz]

It may have been only 50 feet, but your yak was fully loaded. I'm guessing its a result of the pressure from the extra weight.
Not sure about the divet.

[hookmeup]

As the others said, you can use the leftover plastic from cut-out mods.

If necessary, you can get a repair kit from Hobie. They sell sticks than can be melted down and a heat gun and/or hot butter knife used to mold the plastic. If you hunt around the various kayaking sites buy/sell forums you might be able to get one cheaper than retail.

[plastic boat]

plastic weld it. Everyone with a kayak should learn how to do it. There are instruction videos on you tube and you can get the plastic welder from Hobie with some color sticks. it seams like all the local Hobie dealers have them in stock. or if you have some matching plastic from any cut outs you have made you can get a plastic welder cheap from Harbor freight.

Hobie welder with plastic rods $66.00
Harbor freight welders are $16.00 to $75.00

[Rockchaser]

I have been doing a lot of hull repairs on my old Outback lately. I used a soldering gun and left over plastic on some small spots but for my big cracks and a hole I could put my thumb in I used Gflex epoxy and fiberglass cloth. I have to say I really do like the stuff. They do offer a few different types so make sure you get the plastic epoxy.

[Laxdawg14]

someone should make the color sticks to fit into a hot glue gun....
maybe they do I don't know, but that would be nice

[Salty Dog]

I tried the Harbor Freight plastic welder and found them to be quite sensitive and very slow. I bought a high end heat gun with various tips, purchased rods from Jackson, and have performed successful plastic welding. For deep long thin gouges I use duel element solder gun and melt the plastic.