I just returned from a 3 day trip. My kayak sustained some damage from a shallow creek bed. I have 2 problems.
1)The hull has a rather large dent (size of a basketball) right underneath my cockpit where I ran in to a rock just below the surface and I was caught pivoting on top.
2) The hull has several scratches and fairly deep scrapes in to the plastic. Is there any maintenace I can do (light sanding etc.)?
Plastic Yak btw.
Don’t worry about scratches
as for the dent, set the boat in the sun for a few hours, maybe on the side, the dent should pop out.
Dents
The dent you described is typical of plastic boats when they hang up on rocks. I have a Corona with the same dent. Warm sun may help, careful application of heat from a heat gun may help, or filling the hull with hot water may help. Key word is may. The dent is actually a section of “stretched” plastic, and getting it to shrink back into it’s original dimension is very difficult. Best of luck!
Jim
I have
so many scratches in the hull I would be counting for years. Perhaps try hot water on the dent then dump out and put in cold water to stiffen,cotract the plastic. just guessing haven’t dented my boat. Although have put I up on logs,trees and rocks fairly often. Good luck.
Try this
I use a hair dryer. This is going to sound stupid but it works: I turn my Kayak on its side and sit on it while I blow it with the hair dryer. After about 5 or 10 minutes the dent straightens and then I grab a cold wet towel and place it where the dent was. I usually repeat this a couple times just to make sure I get it out all the way.
But the sun would work equally as well, I’m just too impatient 