I had to remove the seat from my old and much loved Impex Susquehanna and noticed that under the seat where the foam blocks rests against the fiberglass is starting to wear thin due to trapped sand. It also has similar issues where my heels rest against the inside of them hull under the footpegs.
I am considering getting a piece of Carbon kevlar cloth and covering the whole inside of the cockpit up to the hull/deck joint to fix the problem and make her good for another 12 (or more) years.
Anyone ever done this? Can I use epoxy to wet it out? Also, do I need to sand the inside of the cockpit to make it adhere to the existing glass?
Sort of I wore a hole through the hull under the seat of my Tempest. A plastic piece of the seat rubbed through the foam and eventually the hull. I filed down the plastic thingy and replaced the worn foam. To fix the hole I just bought a fiberglass patch kit and followed the directions. The patch is maybe 3" x 3".
Personally, I would fix the worn spots and no more.
as they said The folks that sell Keel Easy, have a product called Heel Eazy - two patches of vinyl tape that get placed under your heels to reduce wear and tear on both the kayak and your heels.
This would probably work under the seat as well.
Of course, vinyl tape can be purchased elsewhere, for example McMaster-Carr
I wouldn’t waste carbon/Kevlar, but you could use either Kevlar or a cheaper synthetic like polyester or nylon. Reason I wouldn’t use glass inside is that there’s a possibility of glass fibers getting into your heels. Not a strong possibility, but it’s there.
sweetcomposites.com
…has Kevlar, nylon, polyester. Epoxy. They’re ww paddlers and might give a word about patching inside wear.
not just me! Thought maybe I had really sharp heels. I had the same thing happen with my heels rubbing on the hull of my Impex Force 5. I put a thick coat of epoxy on her last year and its been fine.
Chris from Keeleazy here. We do currently sell to boat manufacturers for that very purpose. You can buy it by the foot at kayak pro shops around the US. If they don’t carry it they can contact us supplies or you can order direct at www.keeleazy.com
Had that happen to my boat My seat pan wore a hole in my hull, too. I sanded down the area and applied two layers of class/epoxy.
Rather than the foam block, after I reinstalled the seat pan, I drilled holes in the seat pan and squirted some of that foam insulation crap in there. That stuff expands and sticks, and my hope is that it formed a solid connection to the boat, that no more sand will get in there, and that there seat pan won’t be moving and grinding on the hull. Unfortunately, it should also make it difficult to remove the seat pan and check to see what’s going on under there, so if my logic is wrong, I’ll know it when the cockpit starts to flood!
I would not add a layer of material on the entire cockpit/hull area. You only need the layer on the wear spots, so why go to the trouble and add the weight of relayering areas that don’t need it?