Looking for advice on maintaining my fiberglass kayak

Hi everyone,
I’m fairly new to kayaking. I bought a fairly old fiberglass Impex Montauk. Got it for a pretty good price (I think!), but I’m just now starting to wrap brain around the fact that fiberglass doesn’t last forever, and I don’t really know the best ways yet to maintain it.

A few specifics:

There are no leaks as best I can tell, but I do see a few places that have taken some deep-ish gashes, making it appear that the fiberglass has been damaged in certain, small locations. Do I try to add patches to these places now rather than waiting to spring a leak when I’m out on a trip? And if so, I’d guess the best way is to add a patch from the inside, right?

Another question: the prior owner actually painted the boat, which I’m realizing now is NOT what you’d typically want to do (and a major reason why I got the boat for such a good price?). The paint job looked pretty cool, sort of a ‘winter camo’ look, but the paint is getting pretty scuffed up now, so I"m wondering if now I ought to try to sand it all off??

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!!

Andy in Raleigh, NC

Pictures are best some close up.

1 Like

I paddle a Montauk. Hope you will like the boat. And yes, pictures, please.

Have you taken the kayak out yet? Make sure that you like the kayak before you put too much effort into fixing it up. I have an Impex Montauk in my fleet (picked it up as a package deal).

Some people love this the Montauk, calling it “sporty”; for me, I’m accustomed to a CD Solstice GTS which is bigger and more stable. I found the Montauk too low in the water and tippy. Now, if the Montauk had been my first kayak, maybe I would have gotten accustomed to it…

Spend some time with it before you do anything. You may choose to keep it, and then refinishing it will be a labor of love. Or you may choose to flip it, in which case you’ll have to decide whether it’s worth your time to refinish it and maybe get more money for it.

In my case, I did some minor refurbishing and will be putting it on the market in the spring…

great idea on the photos; I hope to do that soon and post again; thanks!

I definitely like my Montauk a lot so far! I hope to shoot some photos and post again; thanks!

good perspective and thanks very much! take care!

I like mine a lot too, though it’s my first non-plastic boat.