scratches give your boat charachter… this is fact.
but too many scratches leaves you sunk up a creek with a paddle lol. thankfully im not to this point yet.
this spring I bought a nbrand new old town dirigo… nice boat, heavy construction… its holding up well to the abuse i put it through. (boats are made to be used, not babied 
yesterday I set my boat up on the picnic table to clean out some spiders and leaves that found residence since I used my boat last weekend (stored uncovered, outside) and noticed that the very back of my boat has been drug across so many ozark river bottoms this summer ( I paddle 1-2x per week, and it has been a dry summer 
that I can see daylight through the normally opaque hull. its just on the very back, bottom of the keel. about 1/2-1 inch wide and maybe 3-4 inches long.
I need to fix this asap before it wears through, I doubt my boat would perform as well with a hole in it…
also do you think that that is a little excessive on wear? id say comfortably that ive probably used the boat about 50 times since early spring. its a common occorence this summer to find shallow water on the river and drag ass a couple times. I always carry the boat, never drag it on the ground at the put in/takeout.
just some thoughts:
I figure that others will counter my ideas with other, but here are some of my thoughts.
I don’t think the wear sounds over board except that it was for what, one season? I have had my cheap plastic kayak for a couple of years, I drag it all over, I run into stuff, pull it on shore, I don’t beat it hard, but I am FAR FAR FAR from babying it. I don’t see light through it yet.
I don’t know much about hull repair, but I figure that putting on a skid plate kit or something similar will sure fix you up right. Just fiberglass up a nice large patch to cover the wear spot.
I put on a coat of turtle wax once or twice a year on my plastic boat. It fills in the little scratches and makes the bigger ones smaller. Well at least for a bit. It may not be the best, but I haven’t had a problem yet.
Well that isn’t much, but maybe it will get some others to yell out ideas. Hopefully with more experience backing them.
Good luck, keep us posted, post some pictures,
Liveoutside
fiberglass won’t adhere
to the poly. In fact, not much of anything adheres well to poly. You could cut out a plate as suggested and use small machine nuts and bolts(stainless steel) to attach the plate to the hull. Use 100% silicone caulk inbetween. You can get a plate by cutting out a 55 gallon plastic barrel. By heating it up, you can form the shape to what you need.
I wonder about the wear though, you’re certain that it’s really that thin? Can you push on it and deform it? Most poly is somewhat transparent
Plastic repair
I’ve found a product called Rec’Repair that has rocked my poly world. It adheres really well, is easy to work with, and inexpensive. I would recommend using this as a skid plate.
http://www.rutabaga.com/product.asp?pid=1020827
thanks so much for the advice
ill get pics tonight and post up tomorrow to see what yall think.
like someone said above, it is the very bottom back part of the keel and could be a defect I just noticed.
the entire bottom of the keel is equally scraped up, but just this part is wearing thin so im guessing the defect+heavy use have both contributed.
and I use the hell out of my boat, but its not like I drag it around. with the low water levels all summer I encountered many of the spots where you drag bottom, but can still make it through without getting out to portage. id say that happened 1-2x per trip all summer.
YOU DRAG YOUR KAYAK!!?!?!!?!!!??!!!
Why would you do that to your Baby?? I never do that with my Pamlico 140, i’ll never do it. Dont you take pride in your kayak, isnt it your most prized possesion?? Mine is. My kayak just has some hair thin stratches, no gouges.
Consider…
Keel tape…used on bass boats etc…covers the keel for those nose in beachings…a small strip on the stern, even AFTER a repair will prevent a reoccurance.
http://www.foreandaftmarine.com/KG-20201.htm
lots of places have this, Academy Sports and West Marine, also Bass Pro shops.
pamilco_14
thanks for the reply, but IMHO thats the same as having a corvette and never accelerating a lil too quick from a stoplight.
or maybe having a gun you dont shoot
i could go on and on with bad analogies lol
its a boat… USE IT!!!<br />
<br />
my kayak is one of my favorite possesions, and it gives me so many good times, but you can bet a dollar I use it. Scratches are inevitable, unless maybe you paddle lakes only, and your takeouts are all grass.
it gives it charachter!!