Overly “helpful” people loading my kayak caused a significant scratch in the deck of my fiberglas kayak. I’m not one of those obsessive/everything must look new/neat freaks. I just want to know how to tell whether the gash/scratch needs to be “fixed” and, if so, how to “fix” it.
A photo would be helpful.
It’s fine…
Daylight?
If yes: fix
If no: paddle
It’s likely the gel-coat that’s scratched, not the glass.
D
Funny you should say 'daylight’
The damage was done at the end of a moonlight kayak trip (which was complicated by the fact that the full moon didn’t come out of hiding behind the clouds until after we had the boats loaded for home. I didn’t notice it until today when I went paddling again (after leaving the boat on the car overnight). When you say “daylight” – do you mean look up from the inside of the boat to see if the sun shines through?
If it is just a scratch
don’t worry about it.
If it is just a scratch through the gel coat(colored surface) and has not cut into the glass and you want to hide it, you can buy Gel coat touch up at West Marine in various colors.
If it a deep cut down into the glass and you want to repair it just use some two part epoxy.
While the epoxy is still wet tape a piece of saran wrap over it. The next day peel the saran wrap off and you shouldn’t even have to do any sanding. Then finish it off with either gel coat coloring or a bit of automotive paint to match. the original color.
A scratched boat is a well used boat.
All the scratches on my boats tell good stories!
Cheers,
JackL
Thanks for the help
I think it’s just a gelcoat scratch, where my “helpers” dragged it across the roof rack. I’ll check one of the “boat” stores around here. I don’t think we have a Western Marine. The scratches on my SUV still outnumber the dings on the sea kayak (and the kayak put some of them there).
In case you are looking them up…
on the net, it is “West Marine” - no “ern”
cheers,
JackL