Hull Repair

One of our kayaks fell onto an asphalt road and was dragged a while. A nice clean cut large enough to put my hand through was made through the tail under the rudder. When I went to buy a new Hobie yesterday the dealer had an old Hobie same color and model which was also damaged and he was kind enough to cut off the tail end for me to use to attempt to repair mine. I've been doing some research on plastic welding and I'm wondering if I should just cut the piece to fit over the damaged area and weld it on. Or should I use a plastic welder or soldering iron and some plastic rod to weld them together. If so, what type of plastic are the hobies made from? I don't mind spending a few hundred to repair a two year old Outback SUV hull to buy tools and supplies and I'm pretty handy with these type of things. Any advice from experience would be appreciated.

I'd say you have your work cut out for you.

3M Scotch weld DP 8010 works great. Polyprop. plastic is difficult, heat welding can make the plastic brittle and weaker. I would go for the layering plastic pieces in the hole from the inside using the DP8010 glue. Use a very light sand and alcohol clean on areas to be glued. May take a few tubes and multiple applications.

I had thought about using the scrap piece to pour a mold against, maybe using some resin. But I had seen some impressive results with the plastic welding online. I may just take it to a plastic fabricator I saw in town that does nothing but that sort of thing and get a price from them on the repair. Or it may not be repairable.