Kayak - Maintenance & Storage

Annual Inspection:

Before you put your kayak away for the season, and prior to a long trip, a thorough inspection is recommended. Using a flashlight put your head inside your cockpit & hatches to inspect composite kayaks for stress cracks, which look like spider web cracks on the inside. Please do NOT confuse an outside only hairline gel-coat crack (cosmetic) with a real stress crack (structural). Check for leaks by filling your boats cockpit & then hatches with water, tilt to one end and look for seepage. Sometimes impossible to find leaks are found by filling the hatch compartments, firmly re-attaching the covers then turning the boat upside down. Leaks are often due to: bulkheads separating due to stress, loose hardware and occasionally poor factory workmanship. Inspect composite kayaks deck & hull seams and cockpit combing seams inside & out for stress cracks usually caused through lifting or improperly transporting boats. Check all rudder & skeg system cables, foot peddles, tracks and all fasteners regularly for wear. Remember, replacing a rudder cable at home is much easier then dealing with a snapped cable during a big water excursion. Replace frayed perimeter lines, rudder lines, and bungies and grab handles, tighten any loose hardware and replace any corroded fasteners. Inspect your seat system; back band and thigh brace padding for wear. This is also a great time to upgrade or custom fit padding to your individual needs (ask Frontenac outfitters staff what upgrades best fit your boat(s).

General care for your kayak:

Wash your kayak thoroughly inside & out after each use. We use an environmentally friendly household dish detergent, non-abrasive kitchen-cleaning pad and a soft cloth. Special attention should be paid to flushing sand and grit away from tracks, foot braces and out of skeg boxes. Acetone is great for eliminating tough marks or stains; (On composite kayaks), it can be picked up in your local automotive department. If you can not find Acetone try using nail polish remover as it contains some Acetone. NOTE: Acetone should NEVER be used on Poly or Thermoform Kayaks as it will melt the material. A UV inhibitor (UV Tech, 303 Protectant) will help protect plastic & composite finishes from fading, think of it as sunscreen for your boat. It is also important to treat VCP hatches, gaskets & all rubber materials to maintain supple watertight seals.

Frontenac Outfitters does NOT recommend waxing your boats hull. Although waxing will do no harm, it actually decreases hull speed, and it interferes with the UV protection application of 303 Protectant.

Gel-coat Repairs for Composite Kayaks:

Unless scratches expose the kayaks cloth we recommend to ‘NOT’ seek repairs, instead think of scratches on composite boats as “love bites” - gentle reminders of past excursions; the deeper the scratches, the better your stories! However, exposed fibreglass or Kevlar cloth could “wick” water into the cloth, which could in time begin to separate the boats cloth & gelcoat layers. A simple fix is to fill the area with 5- minute epoxy, for a more visually appealing repair we use gelcoat.

Note: All gel-coat scratches will show white, regardless of the boats colour.

Gel-coat Repair Materials: Gel-coat (custom ordered by us to match from the boat manufacturer), hardener with MEKP (automotive), rubber gloves, kitchen stretch wrap, electrical tape, 100-grit (dry) sandpaper, 300, 600 & 1000-grit automotive (wet) sand paper.

Gel-coat Kayak Repair Procedure: Wipe the repair area with Acetone, rough the area with 100-grit sandpaper for better adhesion, mix gel-coat with hardener (Mixture needs to be procise) & fill area. Using kitchen wrap with sticky tape ends stretch to smooth the gel-coat & remove air bubbles. When dry, wet sand the area to blend with 300 & 600-grit paper (a 2nd or 3rd gel application may be required). For best results wet finish sand with 1000-grit paper.

Repairing Composite Kayaks - Small Holes & Spider Cracks:

Looking inside your boat, if spider cracks or holes are clearly visible, your kayaks integrity may well be compromised.

Hole Repair Materials: Fibreglass or Kevlar cloth, epoxy resin, hardener with MEKP, (automotive), rubber gloves, and kitchen stretch wrap, electrical tape, 100-grit sandpaper, 400-grit automotive (wet) sand paper and cardboard.

Small Hole Kayak Repair Procedure: Rough the inside of the kayak with sand paper to prepare. Attach the cardboard backing with wax paper to the outside of the repair area as a base to repair onto. Saturate the cloth with the mixture of epoxy & harder & apply cloth to an area 2 inches larger than the impact region. When dry, apply a 2nd slightly larger application. Gel-coat the outside of the repair area and wet sand per above instructions and paint gel-coat onto the cloth on the inside. For composite repairs larger than discussed above please see your boat dealer about returning your craft to the manufacturer for professional repair.

Repairing Polyethylene (Plastic) Kayaks:

It is unlikely you will face major repairs with polyethylene boats as they are very impact resistant but small plastic holes can easily be plugged with hot glue or Ptex candle (sold in ski shops). Clean the repair with rubbing alcohol, and then apply duct tape to the underside of the hole. Over fill the hole from the topside with glue or Ptex and allow cooling, and then using a razor blade cut the repaired area flush. Although impact resistant, plastic is soft and therefore is very much effected by stress &/or heat usually caused by leaving your boat in the sun's extreme heat or tying it down incorrectly for transportation.

Repairing Polyethylene Kayaks Hull Distortion: Simply placing your kayak upside down in the sun & allowing heat to build up & rise will often eliminate hull distortions. In severe cases, fill the distorted area with hot water (not boiling), the combination of the waters weight; heat & uniformity should repair your boats shape by leaving it for a couple of hours.

Repairing Polyethylene Kayaks Foam Bulkheads: Over time a kayaks foam bulkheads may tend to separate from a plastic kayaks due to repeated hull stress or heat buildup. A re-application of a quality marine sealant should again provide watertight storage.

Repairing a Kayak - Skeg Jam:

Skeg jams often occur when a small pebble, sand or other obstruction has jammed the workings. A good water rinse will usually correct the problem. The most skeg problem occurs when the paddler forces the skeg control down (backwards) as it “kinks the cable”. When this happens the cable must be replaced with a new skeg cable, custom ordered by us to fit that kayak model.

Note: by proactively drilling a small hole into the bottom corner of your skeg & adding a small 4” line provides access to manually pull a skeg down to repair.

Kayak Rudder Repairs:

A rudder line falling off the cam track, a rudder being bent, a down haul line or rudder cable caught up, broken or missing hardware are the small & easy to fix problems most normally associated with rudder failure. Foot Brace Jams are usually caused by sand or grit or loose hardware. Flush the area with water (a pressure washer works great) then applying a light spray of WD40 to lubricate moving parts normally fixes.

Kayak Storage Inside:

Inside storage is preferred if available as prolonged UV exposure and snow or ice buildup can shorten the lifespan of your kayak. Store your boat hull up, on parallel bars, evenly spaced under the bulkheads or about a 1/3rd of the way from bow and stern. For large cockpit recreational boats position the cockpit combing so it rests on the storage bars. For Sea & Day-touring kayaks position bars so they contact the hull between the cockpit and any hatches. Build an L-Shaped storage system, attach to a bearing wall and add nylon slings for a simple way to store kayaks. A sling & pulley system is also an effective and easy way to storage boats. Place two 3-inch nylon slings around the kayaks underneath the bulkheads and hoist up & out of the way DO NOT Store your Kayak by suspending your kayak through the grab loops at either end of the boat as such suspension can cause the hull to bow. DO NOT store poly boats on the floor on their sides as it may cause a flattening or deformation to the kayaks side. Please ask Frontenac Outfitters staff about the systems we stock!

Kayak Storage Outside:

If you must store your kayak outside suspend a tarp over the boats leaving the down wind end open to ensure circulation, DO NOT wrap your boat in a tarp as it trap holds moisture and may discolour your kayak.

Kayak Maintenance Prevention:

Frontenac Outfitters staff is pleased to teach you how to enter / exit your kayak from beach areas, deep waters and from docks. A few of our tips will go a long way to eliminating most normal kayak wear & tear. We will also show you the best way for you to carry, put down & auto-transport your boat(s).

Excursion Repair Kit:

We suggest: Wrapping a wide mouth Nalgene bottle with duct tape & Red Green would be proud! Add applicable replacement hardware such as; self tapping crews, bolts, locknuts, cable swags, extra skeg or A kayak field repair kit is an invaluable tool and it might just save a trip or a life, so in making one we rudder cable, rudder track bolts with plastic washers) and ensure a quality multi-tool which includes a knife and correct driver bits is present. A tube of two-part epoxy/resin, tube of Aquaseal, tire patch kit, sand paper. A lighter or waterproof matches, fishing line and garbage bag may also be good additions.

While we are sure to have forgotten some things, Christine & I hope you enjoyed Frontenac Outfitters Kayak Maintenance & Storage Article.
We offer a complete array of maintenance & storage accessories to help.

Please call us should you have questions or article recommendations @ 1.613.376.6220

Happy Paddling,

Larry & Christine Showler, Owners
Frontenac Outfitters Canoe & Kayak Centre

Last Updated: Sept. 08

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