repair of fiberglass/kevlar kayaks

Looking for a good, complete, and understandable book on repair of fiberglass/kevlar hulls, renewing gel coat, etc… have a number of very used boats that need attention and would like to do it myself but have no experience in this. Anyone know of a good “how to book” with pictures? There are lots for sailboats but I’m a kayaker!!

Thanks…

There isn’t one currently

– Last Updated: Oct-30-08 11:28 AM EST –

...which is probably why my fiberglass and gelcoat repair albums on Webshots have received over 300,000 hits. Instructions meant for larger boats with thicker hulls aren't useful for repairing thin-skinned kayaks. The procedures for repairing carbon fiber and Kevlar are no different than for repairs using fiberglass, with the exception that you can't sand Kevlar (use a carbide scraper to shape it instead). Check out my instructions at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

Possible source for the classic
Boatbuilder’s Manual by Charlie Wallbridge.



http://www.eagerplastics.com/bookboatbuilder.htm



I have NOT verified that this publisher is still selling the books.



Wallbridge covers the basic concentric, bias-cut cloth patching procedure, and many other things. There is good description of early, simple experiments on different cloth layup combinations. I do not know of anything in the manual which has been shown to be seriously false or misleading subsequently, though some innovations such as infusion were not used at the time.

Kayak Wiki
Here’s a link to some repair info on

Kayak wiki.

http://en.kayakwiki.org/index.php/Working_with_repair_materials

It’s been out of print for many years
Mine has a copyright date of 1986. Still, it’s an interesting read if you can find a copy.

But Brian, the point is this source has

– Last Updated: Oct-31-08 11:15 AM EST –

been advertizing the book in recent years. One of us is going to have to break down and contact them to see if they still have it.

I just checked their site, and they were still offering the book in 2006, so there is a good chance the book is NOT "out of print," but can be obtained from this source.

eagerplastics@aol.com