gouges in hull

Advice
#1

Hi, after using my perception as a landing craft to explore rocky river banks, it has a number of deep gouges. i am surprised they are not leaking.
i read a bit about their repair here & the consensus is to ignore them till they give probs (

which made me wonder, not everyone uses their kayak this way, PE kayaks could probably made at half the thickness (& weight) and still serve well launched from sand or from a dock. why dont manufacturers advertise the thickness of their hulls? or classify them in the brochure that they can survive a degree of rock hopping?
r

#2

Some of my deepest scars are from piling dodging on docks. Darn nails pipes and barnacles.

#3

It is somewhat self edited. WW boats are plastic and have very thick hulls, because they will have a lot of close encounters with rocks. Sea kayaks tend to describe their layups well enough that anyone with seat time can decide what balance of hull delicacy versus their use. The value of a heavier boat has traditionally been a thicker layer of sacrificial gel coat, so gouges are repairable.

Rec and transition boats are all over the place, but so are the users and where they paddle. It is also where you find the biggest number of new boat owners who are usually alarmed by the first scratches.

#4

I doubt that most polly boats–other than ww boats–are made thicker so they can withstand abuse; it’s more likely so they will be rigid enough and hold their shape.

#5

Also 1. where do you measure thickness? It varies with hull position . 2. It’s hard enough to get weight and capacity, and you want thickness?

#6

The thickness doesn’t just matter for gouge protection. it is also an issue for general strength. In the talk of the folks suing after wrecking their recreational boats in an OR river run had a lot on the gray thing that was removed. Part of that gray thing’s use was flotation, the other part was support. The support was needed because the plastic was too thin to provide much support on its own.

One of the local (to NorCal) shops bought a $150 9’ rec “kayak” from a big box to put it through its paces. When they got to trying to roll it, they showed how the combing and knee braces had huge flex (enough so that there was no way to really lock the paddler’s knees in) due to the thinness of the plastic.