[Nancy More]

Just found a crack in the top of my Kevlar Nimbus kayak.   Does anyone have any recommendations on a top repair person to take this to?

Thanks for anything you can provide.

Topic

[Nick Heath]

btw, Nancy, in response your question this time, for top quality work on all boat related laminates, I’ve heard Blackline Marine near Sydney are excellent. 2300 Canoe Cove Rd, North Saanich, BC V8L 3X9. No personal experience of them but their reputation is high. I’m not saying there are none locally, however.

[Nick Heath]

Here’s a thought. Kevlar (aramid) laminates are thinner and more flexible than glass fiber laminates, but I believe they mostly use the same top layer of  gelcoat, which itself  is not structural. It is quite common for a kevlar laminate to have a surface crack that is only the surface layer and has not affected the underlying structure. You still need to repair it, because you don’t want water penetrating the structural layer and weakening it through delamination.  How similar the gelcoat is in both laminates I’m unsure: standard gelcoat and standard fibreglass use a polyester resin whereas the kevlar laminate needs a more expensive, more hazardous epoxy resin, which normally does not bond well with a (cured) polyester resin, but I expect the builders get around  this incompatibility by adding the epoxy-bonded layers to the mold before the gelcoat has cured, hence getting a v solid bond.

Sorry – this might be pure b.s. and is certainly more than you wanted to know!

[Mark Stoakes]

We (Club Locarno) often  use Coast Outdoors for kayak repairs. You can book a repair on line. https://www.coastoutdoors.ca/service/repairs/

[Peter Kearney]

Steve  – Nimbus on Quadra

Go to the source.

Peter

[Lynda Froese]

Hi Nancy!

What a coincidence – I just discovered a crack in the top of my Nimbus today as well! Could you please let me know  here if you find someone, and I’ll do the same for you? I’m hoping to get mine fixed before June 13.

 

[Author]

Replies