Hi all; I just recieved my new Point 65N Mercury kayak and it was delivered with a cracked retractable skeg. It has a piece cracked off right where the control wire attaches to it. Broke off in two pieces right along the wire connection eyelet on the upper part of the skeg. The skeg itself still deploys as the spring is still tensioned but stays deployed unless I hold it closed with a rubber band (!!!). Point 65N has a video on how to clean the spring mechanism but not on how to drop the skeg and reattach the control cable.
Anyway…my question to you all out there is: Does anyone know exactly what kind of plastic the Mercury skeg is made from and exacty what would be the best/strongest adhesive to reconstruct the damaged skeg by gluing back together the broken pieces?
Thanks
Gerard
Did you get the Merc from a place that has humans that have experience with the workings of the Skeg system? I’d call there first. A replacement part may be better in the long run than a glued repair.
Contacting the company you bought it from is always the first direction.
If that doesn’t work: most kayaks with retractable skegs use an after-market product, like the Kajak Sport kit.
That kit has a slot on the skeg that slips over a dowel. They come out easily so you can clean them.
Most of those skegs are made from a phenolic plastic that is actually hard to break.; it also doesn’t stick to glue hardly at all, so gluing it will always be suspect. It would be safer to drill a hole and re-attach the cable to that.
Marshall: Thank you for the reply. Yes I contacted Point 65N , the manufatcurer of the kayak but it’s been 2 days and no response yet. I ordered a replacement already. It’s a spring-loaded retractable skeg built-in to the rudder, a very cool design.