Krueger Composites

Unfortunately the owner of this kayak was in a very bad car accident. Thankfully she was not hurt but she couldn't say the same about her kayak. The boat and its roof racks came off of her truck and hit the road hard. The truck was totaled and it looked like the kayak had the same luck. It had almost every type of damage there is. It also had almost every type of repair needed. Injection of almost the entire hull, fabric lamination, filling, fairing, gelcoating, and finish!!! Composite boats can always be repaired. The owner of this boat has kayaked around almost all of the islands in the Charleston S.C. area. She has been on countless adventures on rivers, lakes, and in the ocean. She has had it for many years and she couldn't give it up. The owner can now get back out there on a kayak that looks great and is ocean safe!

Some clients are very particular about weight. They race these boats and many races come down to seconds. The lighter the boat the better it performs on the swells. I had to cut this hole to add carbon to the inside of the boat. I used ultralight carbon fiber on the inside and out side of the boat. I used a foam core material instead of multiple layers of fabric and epoxy. I used an ultralight filler to fill and fair the repair. The the long process of gelcoating and finishing the repair. In the end it added just over a half pound. Very light and very strong.

Gel coat cracks can occur on any composite material for different reasons. It is important find out why the cracks occur. This will help me keep them from coming back. Sea kayaks decks are flexible. The area of the flexible deck that meets the bulkhead inside of the boat is much more rigid. This causes a drastic change in the flexibility of the deck from flexible to rigid. In these type of areas cracks can form. After the cracks are sanded out and filled with glass I add different size layers of glass over the entire area. This is to gradually decrease the rigidity. Once the laminating process is complete the area is filled, fairing, gel coated, sanded, buffed, and polished. It is then a repair that will last you throughout the long life of your composite kayak.