I recently picked up a CLC 18' kayak on craigslist. After about 5 times on the water I have an area on the keel where the plywood is turning black. It is about a 2" wide and 8" long area. I assume there is a leak in the fiberglass. How do I go about repairing it? Do I need to replace the plywood? Or sand through the fiberglass to let it dry, then reapply fiberglass? How long until the plywood will rot?
Thanks for the help.
Same thing happened to my boat, dropped it too hard on the stern and the last three inches of the bottom panels separated. I located the crack and used a little saw to widen it. Then taped off 3/4 inch section on either side and about 8 inches beyond the crack. Sanded off the varnish and gave the epoxy a good roughup, no need to take the underlying glass off. Stuffed the widened crack with thickened epoxy and capped with dynel strip and filled the weave with graphite/cabocil filler. The black strip hides the discolored wood. Painters tape kept the edges clean. You’d have a hard time sanding the discoloration out of the wood without cutting through layers of ply. It’s marine plywood but I think this is a issue you want to tackle sooner rather than later. Shouldn’t take more than a couple hours.
Good luck,
e