I just pulled my Hemlock SRT of its rack in the garage by accident. I am heart-sick about it. There is fairly substantial damage to the hull. It apparently hit to corner of the work bench and scraped off the gelcoat and made a crack that is visble on the inside about 4" long. The outer fiberglass is visible where the gelcoat cracked off. There are other cracks too that are not as big, at least one that cracked off the gel coat in another place. The gel coat is cracked in several places that does not show up on the inside of the hull.
If anyone can direct me to information on how to try and repair this damage I would appreciate it. The hull is a composite kevlar & fiberglass. I would be happy to try and take some digital photos, if that would help some knowledgeable person give me some guidance.
thanks
ouch
Sorry to hear about the damage to your SRT.
I recommend that you have it repaired by someone that has done it many times before…repairs are often inexpensive (I had three holes repairs in my Blackhawk Zephyr for $60!).
I think you should talk to Dave Curtis at Hemlock about it. If you are close enough to take it to him…maybe you can ask him to fix it. Or - he’ll talk you through it. Dave’s a great guy.
Someone experienced can make it look almost perfect again - and it will be 100% funtional.
That hurts!
I had cracked my SRT hull on some rocks while was doing some eddy work on some pretty strong current. I missed a peel out and dumped, (the SRT rides pretty low in the water without bags) and it headed downstream bouncing off submerged rocks. So I know how sick you feel.
I called Dave and took a 5hr. drive so he could fix it. I checked locally and they wanted twice as much to do the repair. I figured the guy who built it would be best to repair it. He did a great job, was finished quickly and was very reasonable. I would try Dave if he is fairly local.
Mike
Wow bummer !
but it really dosen’t sound so bad with a 4" crack and some missing gel. Call Dave and see what he recomends. I know Colorado is just a little to far of a hike for a drive so maybe he can talk you through a fix or recomend a place or person to fix it. Good luck…you have reminded me to take extra care when I’m working around my boats.
Curious… Did it crack clean through
on the inside, or is the fabric just stretched and crimped along a 4" line?
thanks everyone
it did not crack clean through, just crimped, but pretty badly at the one 4" line.
I only wish I lived near to Dave Durtis so he could repair it. Anyone driving back east want to transport it??? long shot at best…
love to help,
but i’m in florida, and i ain’t going up north for at least six months:) surely the canoe gods will smile on you soon though.
call Dave
There’s a guy in the Ann Arbor area that can do a fine job…7.5 hours closer to you than Dave.
I’ll bet that if you call Chicagoland Canoe Base they would know someone…another 4 hours closer to you.
There must be others that can doa good job. Maybe fish around in your local paddling clubs for a contact or - do call Dave - he’s such a great guy - he might know someone close to you.
Or - I’ll just bet that he’d send you detailed instructions.
Try the forum at Noahs Marine
These folks are really into kevlar and carbon fibre and glass building.
SRT
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Since you’re obviously too far to bring it to his (Dave Curtis) shop, I’d do what has already been said & give him a call. He is a great guy & being that it’s one of his boats you have, I’d bet he’d be more than happy to offer any help. He’ll probably need to see some good pics of the damage, so get that digital camera warmed up. Can’t hurt to call him to see what he says. Good luck…that’s a great boat you have!
Thanks again
It is times like this that I kind of wish I lived out east. The paddling resources seem to be easier to access. But, you guys don’t have prairie grouse to hunt, one of my biggest passions. That is another forum though.
I used to have a web site bookmarked that showed a sequence of pictures that a Pnetter posted on repairing a sea kayak stem that was seriously damaged. I thought I might need it some day, but that was about 2 hard drive crashes ago, so don’t have it saved any longer. I don’t suppose any of you might know who posted that on their web page?
I will take pics of the damage and email them to Dave Curtis. He has been wonderful to me everytime I had questions for him. I seriously thought about that Peregrine on the classifieds! Too cool many boats out there, too little money.
try
ericnyre on this board. I think he should have a source local to you in colorado
Don’t be discouraged
Repairing composite hull damage is not that difficult once you know the basics,actually it’s kind of interesting. This website has some good info on repairing holes.
http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom
and also try this one.
http://www.greatlakeskayaker.ca/
Cheers
Bert