WS Tempest 170 skeg leak

Help! I dropped my loaded plastic Tempest on the beach with the skeg deployed. This caused the skeg to punch the nut that the skeg wire runs through up through the skeg box. This is the sternmost of the two nuts that hold the skeg, the one the wire runs through. Now, I have a hole in the skeg box that the nut used to fit in. The hole is too big to simply put the nut back. Someone MUST have done this before and fixed it, yes?

I did a successful skeg box repair not too long ago. Check out the thread:

https://forums.paddling.com/discussion/2936193/repairing-skeg-box-leak-documented-with-pictures

You do good work; unfortunately, my Tempest is plastic. So, not really gonna work.

LOL… Yeah, different kind of repair entirely. I missed that “little” detail.

No, no, you’re good, I just added the fact it is plastic.

Some pictures might help. First thought is to use a large washer on the nut, plus some good sealant.

The nut was inside the plastic skeg wall. It is the nut that the skeg wire screws into. The fall knocked it up and out of the plastic, allowing the nut to freely lift away and allow water in. I need to strongly secure the nut so the force of screwing in the skeg wire doesn’t pull it out. So, some way to securely hold the nut down in the damaged plastic inside the skeg box so that the force of screwing in the skeg wire doesn’t pull it out. This is at the bottom of the skeg box, so a narrow slot. I will try to get picture.

Sparky, it is the exact damage your pics show, but in a plastic boat. The same screw hole as your skeg box. In my plastic boat, there is a nut embedded in the plastic of the skeg box. This popped out inside the kayak, so can’t secure it now as there is no plastic to keep it from lifting out with the skeg wire.

they make poly repair drip candles. Wonder if you could reset the nut by dripping the candle around it. They use to work on my skis.

Using my imagination here, but is there room down in the slot for a rectangular plastic plate with a hole to accommodate the threaded part? You could use an appropriate adhesive (Gflex epoxy?) to stick it in there and seal it at the same time. It wouldn’t need to be more than 1/8 or so thick. Find donor material from a similar plastic item.

Inside the hatch you could do some reinforcing but it would only need to be structural, not water tight. Maybe just goop it a little with the Gflex.

EDIT: Reading again I see that the nut is cast/molded into the housing. I’d forget about trying to fix that and look at ways to have a compression fitting on the inside with a nut securing it on the outside, in the slot. Some of the plastic inside might need to be cut away to have enough space.

Sparky, yes, I finally gave up on re-molding the nut into the plastic hull. After a series of mishaps (old metal+saltwater do not make this easy) I have freed the nut from boat and skeg wire and am off to get compression fitting or some such. Wish there had been an easier way.

Unfortunately the way that things are manufactured to a certain price point means that they aren’t designed to be fixed. Most things are, to a large extent, considered disposable. I’m sure this is of no surprise to most people.

You get ahead when you can find creative ways to fix things despite their non-repairable designs.

Sparky, where did you get the skeg wire compression fitting? As you know, it is very tight in the skeg channel and it will take a narrow fitting to work.

OK, reread your repair post, I see what you did, there, making a fitting in a box. Hmm, can’t do that with plastic. I will use some neoprene bonded sealing washers between the nut I dug out and the water side of the skeg box to form a (hopefully) water tight bond. Also, upgrading the rusted rotten hose clamps on the plastic skeg wire tube to stainless clamps.

From memory, I believe it was a 1/4" brass compression union. Standard issue at any home improvement store, plumbing, or possibly automotive supply. There are also plastic versions available. Original on my boat was plastic.

I recall drilling it out to 1/4" (?) so the skeg tube/sheath slid nicely through it. I used the compression nut and olive on one end and threaded the other end into the block I made for the top of the skeg box. In your case, I’d find a normal nut that fits the threads and use that to attach it from outside down inside the skeg box channel.