- Remove hatch covers when transporting.
- Unless the kayak is being carried in a customized rack, we advice fastening the kayak upside down on a padded roof rack.
- The bow and stern should be tied to the front and rear of the vehicle.
- Try and park the car in a shaded area. The surface temperature of dark coloured kayaks can increase as much as 20 degrees more than white surfaces.
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- Always leave boats in storage with hatch covers removed.
- Always store out of direct sunlight and ideally under cover.
- Always sponge your kayak dry, as kayaks will absorb water from the inside.
- Store the kayak upside down.
- Do not store the kayak on a wet or damp ground as it could cause osmosis.
The biggest cause of breakage with this type of seat is probably due to the foam below the seat needing replacing. This foam provides a lot of the structural support for the seat and over time it compresses allowing the seat to flex. To prevent this, glue new blocks of foam under and around the seat, the more the better. To repair the seat you glass behind and gel in front.
Equipment needed: Allen key set, hand router, acetone, adequate safety equipment, 40 grit sandpaper, wax, gel and hardener, resin and hardener, fibre glass matting, marker pen, masking tape, brushes.
- Using an ALLEN KEY, undo the Grub Screw (Anticlockwise) in the Skeg Slider at the side of the boat. Only undo it enough so that it no longer grips the old wire, not all the way out.
Grind off all the old Gel from the inside of the cockpit.
Wipe clean all the surfaces with Solvent (Acetone etc.)
With the boat upright on stands, place the new rim in position and hold down with masking tape.
Make sure there is sufficient gap underneath the rim for the spraydeck (use pieces of foam underneath rim to get the right gap).
Turn boat upside down.
Fixing Rim: Fill the space between the cockpit rim and deck. We use a mixture of Gelcoat/Pre-Gel/Catalyst or you could use a Methacrylate Adhesive e.g. Plexus MA300 or Adekit A300.
Once filled, check under the rim for any excess material which may have leaked out of any gaps and remove whilst wet.
If using Gel coat, leave to harden overnight. If using glue allow a couple of hours to fully harden.
From the inside:
- Sand the area around the hole. Remove any dust and clean the surface using acetone.
- Cut out 4 pieces of chopped strand mat that overlap the hole by about 2″ (50 mm) all the way round.
Never try to gel coat repair shallow scratches. A thin layer of gel coat isn't structurally strong enough to prevent itself cracking off. Either deepen the scratch using a small blade or grinder, or leave it. Unless the scratch goes through to the glass matting it won't harm the boat.
Some earlier Kari-Tek plastic skeg boxes have come partially loose and started to leak. This procedure is for fixing the leak and making the skeg box to hull joint stronger to prevent any future leaks.
Sand down the old Sikaflex (There is no need to remove it all)
Remove any dust etc.
Place the OLD rim into the deck & Wipe some furniture or car polish around the area to the side of the rim. ( This makes it easier to remove any glue which is squeezed out of the sides later. Make sure NO polish gets on the surface where the new rim will sit !!!)
Apply a bead of Sikaflex around the area the rim will fit.
Press the new rim into position, and move it around a little to make sure it is bedded in properly. Do NOT apply too much pressure, as this will squeeze out all the glue.
Too clean off the excess glue, you have two options.
Wipe it off straight away using clothes (MESSY !!!)
Wait until it is dry (About 15 Hours) and trim the inside with a Stanley Blade & the outside with a BLUNT Chisel. Use some solvent to clean any stuck glue.
Glue – Sikaflex 252
Important: The new rim needs to be PRIMED before fixing with:
Sika Primer 206 G+P
If the leak isn't obvious you need to increase the pressure in the boat to force air out of the leak. You can do this by taping a large plastic bag around the hatch rim of the suspect compartment. Then make a hole in the bag and use it as a bellows to increase the pressure in the compartment. Your boat may have a tiny hole drilled in the bulkhead to equalise pressure, you will then need to tape this up from the inside of the compartment you are testing.
The hardest part of a repair to the surface of a coloured fibre glass boat is matching the colour shade. Even "factory colours" don't match exactly after a boat has been in the sun for a few years. The best way to match the colour of your boat is to use a colour match gel coat kit. (Internet search engine tip: Enter colour match gel coat kit + your area).
- Equipment needed: Seat, adjustable plastic side parts and four bolts, backrest, foam seat pad, Allen key set, acetone, tape measure, cloths, spatula, mixing board, heavy weight (small bag of sand), adequate safety equipment, ITW Plexus MA300 glue / methacrylate SS 605 glue.
Equipment needed:
Hand pump recess moulding (our recess fits the small hand pump with a metal shaft by Prion), large piece of paper, pencil and marker pen, methacrylate adhesive with curing agent, acetone, cloths, a hand router, 40 grit sand paper, adequate safety equipment.
All the Kari-tek skegs are available as a retro fit kit complete with instructions on how to fit them. For more information please see the Kari-tek website.
- Place the foam pad loose on the hull of the boat
- Twist the seat and place it on top of the foam pad
- Line up the centreline of the seat with the centreline of the boat
As we don't do these skegs anymore, unfortunately we don't stock the parts. You can get the plastic slider from P&H with the grub screw and the steel slider bar from Valley. You will have to drill out the hole in the top of the slider so it fits the grub screw and the transverse hole so it fits on the steel tube.
The rope can be replaced with any rope that works in the cleat. We use 4 mm nylon. Kevlar strengthened produces the best results. Where the rope enters the boat at the back it can cut a groove into the fitting making it stiff to use.
