I’d like a 400X, 600X and 10X but
money and space won’t allow that to happen.
I think that the 600X would be preferred for the longer trips with fast paddlers on the big lakes, but I only do those a couple times a year and either the 400X, Sea Lion or Sawyer Loon should be good enough for those outings.
The 400X/Caspian Sea is wider and doesn’t allow as good of form, but is more stable and easier to enter and exit from shorlines where I can’t step in the water to enter the boat and have to get in straight from the bank. The 400X also has more foot room so I can just slip my overshoes on and get in the boat when paddling before work. The 400X is also a boat that I can share with less experienced paddlers.
Who knows, I might end up selling all my composite kayaks and get lighter weight royalex canoes instead so I can drop them without damaging them.
Thanks for the link to the folks at Geneva. I just may contact them for an estimate if I decide not to try the repair myself. They’re only a three or four hour round trip away.
Thought…
Just a thought, but a lot of manufacturers and paddlers will be at Canoecopia in Madison WI a little more than a month from now. I’ll bet someone would have room on a rack or trailer on their way back up north to get it at least close to QCC. Looks like they’re about 30mi south of Hayward WI.
Of course that doesn’t solve the problem of getting it back to you after finished, but that would be only one freight charge instead of two.
Time for humor
Sorry to hear about the incident but you should be over the anger, frustration, disappointment and shock by now so let’s add some humor to kill the rest of the pain. You knew the risk in buying the kayak.
Just put one of the canoe kevlar bow strips over it and it will be fine.
Reading these sad tales makes me appreciate rotomolded kayaks more and more.
Paddlin’ on
Richard
Bow seam is split, not just gel damage.
I thought that the seam flexed too much, too easily (the hull pushes in 1/4" with a light touch), in the damaged area of the bow seam for it to just be from the gel coat being chipped off, so tried slipping a thin piece of cardboard through the cracked area on the outside to see if it would go all the way to the inside, and it did go all the way through at an angle up toward the deck. So, the seam is split and the deck and hull are separated in that area. This means that I’ll have to rebond the hull to the deck before applying the gel coat and seam strip accent material to the outside.
I’ll send this additional info to QCC, since I still haven’t received the “care package” that they promised a couple weeks ago.
They’ve never answered any of my emails. The only success that I’ve had communicating with them is when I can connect with them on the phone, which is hit and miss.
I feel like they’re treating me like a second class citizen, since I didn’t buy the boat directly from them. This dosn’t encourage me to buy a new boat from them in the future.
Still… Not a Big Deal…
I thought we knew the seam was split a long time ago… Just epoxy it back together…
Didn’t know seam was spit until today.
From my discussion with QCC, we thought it was just gel coat seam accent strip cracked and chipped off.
Which epoxy to use on the seam?
Do I open up the split and squirt in the epoxy and then apply pressure from inside the boat with a foam wedge or something to keep the hull and deck together while the epoxy cures?
Should I attempt to lay down some cloth on the iside of the seam also after the epoxy cures?
1.2.3.
1. pick one source of information to walk you through it. QCC is a company that makes and sells kayaks. To walk you through a repair takes them from that task. Patrick is offering you high quality advice for free. Take it and start there. Don’t bounce around to different sources for advice.
2. lay out a sequence for repair and get the materials. You don’t have to get anything from QCC although gel coat for a match would be nice but it’s no gurantee it’ll match colorwise.
3. do it.
There are limits to any warranty
And this is stretching things a bit.
QCC provided a boat to P-Net for advertizing consideration.
Boat was won in the drawing by Person A.
Person A sold boat to Person B.
Boat was damaged while under control of Person B.
QCC’s website states "Simply put, if it’s our fault we’ll fix it and pay for it. If it’s your fault, we’ll still fix it, but you’ll pay for it. "
QCC’S original agreement, IMO, appears to be with P-Net and the winner of the drawing. Any consideration given to any subsequent owners should be expected to be out of the kindnes of their hearts. This is a no-win situation for QCC.
Jim
QCC is Probably Regretting…
Donating that contest boat in the first place.
Instead of getting a little praise they’re getting trashed because someone dropped the boat.
It would make more sense to get Ebay, Paypal or even P.net to pay for the repairs.
Just not getting this…
The boat needs the seam re-glued and a rather large gel coat repair. Other than that it's fine.
The person who has the boat doesn't absolutely need it to be on the water in the immediate future, so there is time to execute the repair.
A number of people have offered help on how to fix it.
Materials to do so can be gotten from any marine supply place like West Marine, who have a web site. If a store is within range, they also have staff who can provide repair advice.
Idiots like me have weighed in saying that they were able to repair a boat.
The continued state of no-progress isn't making much sense to me, regardless of who is or isn't answering what kind of communication.
Idiot-proof repairs
Buy a container of PC-7 epoxy. Also buy a container of PC-8 (white) Buy a double popsickle. Buy a piece of 120 grit sandpaper. Total investment
you have to remember
there was a turnip truck involved in the accident.
I’ve been lerking here for years.
I never thought I would post anything, but this is just too much. Why not blame the lumberyard, or better yet the company that put down the concrete floor in the garage because it's too hard!!! Come on guy, YOU BROKE YOUR BOAT!! You made a bad choice by putting it on a rack that you were not finished building, it fell, now it's broke. YOU did that, why should QCC even give you the time of day?? QCC owes you nothing. The people on this board have given you all the information you need to fix it, now, FIX IT.
To everyone else, this is a great board.
They are right you know
My repair sat for a few weeks while I pondered a way out of doing it myself. I boat the gel coat at West Marine then started making excuses why not to start. I invested 50 bucks in the stuff then procrastinated. It is done now and I am sure it will be redone later, by me.
Kayaks don’t have to be pretty and the battle scars show you’ve been using it as intended.
Just tell people you were surfing a big wave and saw a shark about to eat a little kid. Not thinking of your own safety, you skillfully guided your QCC400 into the head of the shark at the last possible moment, sadly damaging your boat. On shore you were met by cheers from the crowd and a Hawaiian Tropic model. The rest is none of their business.
Fear will stop you dead in your tracks; get the goop and go.
I think that you’ve misread some posts
or are attributing some things that other’s have written for things that I have written. You’re not the first to do so. There are a lot of posts, so it can be confusing. I agree with most of what you wrote - I think that I wrote some the the same things that you did at some point. QCC doesn’t owe me anything except to follow through on what they promised and I think they will help me find a solution.
I originally contacted them for guidance for the repair after others on this board suggested that I do so before attempting the repair myself because QCC would know the best how to repair their own boats and would have the materials readily available. I didn’t ask for anything else. They offered to send a repair kit. I’m still waiting for the kit that I was expecting to receive a couple weeks ago. That’s that.
After today’s successful email correspondence with QCC, they’re going to put together a quote for the cost for me to ship the boat to them for repair, in case that’s the route I end up taking. I’m exploring all of my options.
I’ll also be networking locally to try to locate either a professional or skilled layman that may be able to either repair the boat for me for a fee or be on site to mentor me through the process as I do it.
And, yes, I do plan to take up Pat’s generous offer to discuss the repair with me to have a better idea of what would be required in this particular case. I emailed him pictures of the damage a couple weeks ago.
I have also reviewed bnystrom’s repair links and they will also be a helpful reference if I do indeed try the repair myself.
I don’t have funds available at the moment to either ship the boat to QCC or to pay someone else to do it. That may take a few months. I am evaluating which boat(s), paddles or other gear I can sell to raise money for this repair and am also considering this boat as is and the buyer could repair it as they prefer.
I currently don’t have an appropriate location to perform the repairs myself, but am still looking into options. The only means I have for ventilating my rental storage garage is to leave the big door open (no windows or exhaust fan) and that won’t work in the winter in IL and isn’t very good for security, since the garage isn’t next to my house. This storage garage is also very crowded with “stuff”, so I’d need to find a temporary home for some of the stuff during the days that I’d need to have the boat layed out for the repair process.
Yes, I appear to have over extended myself financially to purchase this boat - even at the discounted price.
Yes, maybe I shouldn’t own composite boats if I’m not set up well to repair them myself and often don’t have funds available to pay someone else to repair them.
Yes I’m frustrated and depressed over this.
Yes, it’s only a boat and it was only money spent on a boat that is now broken before I’ve even had a chance to paddle it, but that money represents over three weeks of my labor for my employer. For me, that’s a lot of resource and energy input. For others, it may not seem like so much.
Yes, I feel like an idiot for getting myself into this situation.
Yes, I’ve earned many of the jabs and digs that some of the posters have taken at me. Some were off target.
Please accept my apologies if I’ve inadequately answered some the questions asked by posters above or if I have inadvertently offended one or more of the above posters.
I appreciate the offers for help and informative links that have been offered.
So do the repair when it warms up?
I still think that you are looking at the repair in a more complicated fashion than is necessary.
I wasn’t
Jabbing and I can relate to the income thing, my livelihood depends on the home building industry and I AM BROKE. My little investment might as well have been a week pay because I am self-employed and haven’t paid self in weeks.
My boat was new to me and with a hole in it and I was sad and mad about it, but just mad enough to fix it. I think I even offered to send you a few bucks for your trouble.
My point was to offer a gentle nudge in the direction of taking a chance on the repair yourself. I have been following.
I wish you luck, heck, I wish me luck too.
Dan
Maybe I am making it more complex
than it is. It seems pretty involved to me.
Maybe there are some videos out there that show someone evaluating similar damage and peeling off the slabs of loosened gel coat, which would be helpful for guidance. There are some pretty long cracks in the gel coat - up to five or six inches - that extend from the chipped areas.
You stated that it took you about 8 days to do your repair. I have to keep that in mind when trying to identify a satisfactory work space.
Thanks for your support.
BElles, thanks for your support.
I wasn’t referring to you regarding the jabs and digs. Keep up the enthusiasm.
Even in the storage unit…
Pull the boat out of the unit, put it on something like two deck chairs and do a layer of whatever. Brace things so they stay put and slide it back into the storage unit to set. Then go back in a day or two and pull it out for the next layer.
The work time it took me was much less than 8 days. The elapsed time was from doing three layers and letting each dry, plus time when the boat was ready for the next layer but I had other commitments.