I have a Northwest Kayak Seascape Expedition. On a recent trip pressure on the foot peg resulted in the pan head screw attached from the outside tearing through the fiberglass shell and leave a dime size hole in the side.
I patched it with tear aid and covered with duct tape for the trip and it was fine.
I’d like to patch the hole, redrill a hole for the screw and put the foot peg back together.
I’m wondering if any special consideration should be taken to reinforcing the hole since it failed or if a gelcoat patch (the size of the hole) would suffice?
Would it be possible to relocate the mounting screw for the foot peg? I’m presuming it’s on a sliding track, but maybe I’m wrong (I guess I could go look at the one in my Northwest Discover). Recalling patching damage to old school fiberglass whitewater kayaks back in the 70s, I suspect a hole that large is going to be a weak point for further stress unless a pretty hefty reinforcement is made, and building up the surface for that would make it hard to re-mount the peg flush.
Can you post photos of the damage from the outer hull and inside the cockpit to illustrate what you are dealing with? Below are shots of the footpeg track in my Northwest. Hard to tell without removing the track assembly if that mounting post that holds it out from the hull could be repositioned to an intact part of the hull:
Good idea to change the mounting hole. I think that is probably the best idea. The foot peg is on a track very similar to yours. Mine has the aluminum foot pedals.
I’m assuming I will gelcoat the hole. Then drill a new hole 3" to 4" away from the existing to ensure no lateral cracking. Then mount the sliding foot peg track.
Glad to help. Hope that works. It does look like you can drill out the track and reposition the attachment bolt.
Not many of us out here that have Northwest kayaks any more. My first kayaking guru had one that was stolen from his deck in Connecticut some years ago and that was the only NW I had ever seen – I lucked out finding this solo (that had been retired from the fleet of an outfitter in Puget Sound) 2 years ago in a Craigslist “barn sale” ad for $300. It needed some TLC (new deck lines, backband and a couple of the hatch retainer straps) and I need to touch up some chipped gelcoat, but it’s quite a nice boat.
Guessing you may already know, but Topkayaker is a good source for parts and hardware for mods and repairs.
You could temporarily nest a big stainless fender washer with a rubber washer over the hole on the inside and outside of the hull and use a longer SS bolt to connect the track at the original point of contact. Would look pretty funky from the outside but would distribute stress to the adjacent material. I would still be concerned that the hole weakens that immediate area and could lead to cracking it similar stress was applied to the foot peg.
You could probably sand off the gelcoat and epoxy down to the fiberglass and patch it internally and externally with Kevlar. You would need to find a patch of at least 2 x 2" and pre-cut. Kevlar is almost impossible to cut without special scissors. Might be tricky punching the hole for the bolt. Do this before applying the patch.
A stainless fender washer epoxied to the hull on the inside would minimize the stress and movement of the bolt unless that prevents the track from mounting evenly.
The screw holes on my kayak were sunken inward, as if the screws were pulled on very hard from inside the kayak. I didn’t like the look, so I went with the fender washer approach. I ground down two sides of the washer to make it look more like a custom piece versus just a round washer. I also happened to have some blue elastomer sheet to use as a gasket, which matched the blue hull/deck seam on the kayak. i think it looks pretty good.
