Fix Rotomold Kayak compartment leak?-

Is there a method to seal the compartments for a rotomold (plastic) kayak? I spent the afternoon practicing exits and rescue, so the kayak was upside-down a lot, and full of water a lot. Not sure if the water came in through the hatches or bulkheads, but there was quite a bit of water in the compartments. During normal kayaking I have not had issues. Any fix solutions?

Keep in mind that there should be a
breather hole about half way up in each bulkhead.

Before you reseal the bulkheads, you might want to pour water into the cockpit and keep checking the compartments to see just where the water is coming from -could be just through the breather(pressure relief) hole.



Jack L

sealing bulkheads on roto boats
If you do locate the gaps as Jack suggests, clean the area out good and we use Marine or Plumbers Goop to reseal bulkheads in roto boats. Goop has a little elasticity to it and seems to hang in for a season without breaking loose when the boat flexes due to temp variation. Again, cleaning prep is key since if the area is sandy and gritty nothing sticks to nothing!

Find out where it comes from
If you determine the water is NOT coming from the hatch covers, bulkheads, or drill holes for bolts, check where the rudder goes into the stern (if it has one).



My first new sea kayak, a CD Squall, turned out to have been repaired by somebody. I only discovered this after noticing a blobby area in the plastic right where a metal rudder pin went in the boat. It was very different from the rest of the plastic, so I compared it with the Storm that my husband had at that time. Night and day! His had a thin raised molding line but the plastic looked smooth and untouched-up. My rough blobs in the same area indicated that someone had used a plastic stick to try to seal a hole/crack there.



I don’t know if the “someone” was the dealer who sold it to me, or whomever he bought it from. But it was sold as new, and I suspect my case is not unique.

yes there is a solution
you first have to find out where the water is coming from. Lack of relief hole between bulkhead and cockpit can increase the pumping effect through any existing leak in the hatches. What kind of kayak/bulkhead/hatches?



In a foam bulkhead you can put in a relief hole by pushing a tiny straw through the bulkhead, like the kinds that come with a WD40 spray can

3m
3M makes a goop that works well with poly ethyl lene. This would seal any breaks around the inside surface of the kayak and foam bulkhead.

3m 4200 fast cure…
…rough up the areas to be sealed, wipe down with acetone before sealing.

NO dont use 4200
You want to use 3m dp8005 because its one of the only

adhesives that bonds to polyethylene.



See

http://www.stealth316.com/2-dp8005.htm

per the perception website
use a good marine sealant such as Lexel, 3M 5200 or Sikaflex.