: Hi Julie,
: I was soon going to ask the same question that Brandon asked about repair,
: since my kayak was beaten up pretty bad from all of the rocks in the BWCA.
: This is somewhat of a mystery to me how it all works. Obvoiusly you have
: to at least sand off the varnish on just a blemished white spot so you can
: put on some epoxy. Do all white spots have to have a patch of fiberglass
: or just the more roughed up areas? And on the keel area of my boat I have
: 3 layers of glass, so could I just sand this area down smooth and reapply
: epoxy and not patching glass. I know once I go through this process it
: will all fall into place, but right now, as I said, it is a little
: confusing to me. Thanks.

: John in IN

If it is banged up to the point where the glass has pulled away from the wood or has significant damage, patch it. If you've just got little pimples & spots, just epoxy it. Any damaged spots smaller than the size of a quarter, epoxy it. Since you've got three layers of glass on your keel, I'd just sand & epoxy it. (Actually, unless it really needed it, I'd probably let it go until next year, but that's probably more of a reflection of what my life might be like this winter than anything else )

The key is to be able to distinquish between cosmetic damage and structural damage. Structural damage (hole in boat, area of delamination larger than a quarter) requires patching with fiberglass, cosmetic damage needs only epoxy (to prevent any water intrusion to the wood)& new finishing.

As Rob mentioned, you don't want to go so wild with patching that you add significant weight to the boat.... and you don't want to get into a pattern of spending more time maintaining the boat than you do using it. My rule of thumb is that if it isn't leaking AT ALL(either through the wood or water being able to seep to the wood), isn't falling apart, isn't in imminent danger of leaking or falling apart, it's definitely cosmetic.... and then it is a matter of personal preference about how much you can stand aesthetically before you deal with it. (After all, it is the bottom of the boat). With three layers of glass on your keel, you're undoubtedly fine, unless you rammed into a really BIG rock.

If you're still wondering, post a picture of the damage & you'll get a wealth of opinions about whether it is a candidate for a glass patch or not. When in doubt, just epoxy it -- and if it doesn't look right or you're not comfortable, then go back & glass it in the next couple days. It's ultimately a matter of how much you need and want to do to achieve peace of mind (at the cost of added weight, time and expense).

Julie Kanarr