Fiberglass Kayak and Paddle Board restoration??

[FishFighter]

I have an old-school 14ft Mulder paddle board (like the one Bill Earnst uses) that I want to do a restore on. It has some rough patches from the previous owner as well as some gel-coat cracking. I want to have the patches professionally re-done as well as have it re-gel-coated. Is this possible?? Can a marine/boat repair shop do this easily or do I need a specialist? It would be great to take to So-Cal for WSB as I have a place to store it in Camarillo. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[FishFighter]

BTW I also have a 15ft Malotte fiberglass kayak with front and rear stoage/hatches that just needed new ss strikes and catches. I may eventually want to re-gel-coat it as well.

[dr.ed]

My suggestion would contact some "old school" whitewater kayakers; most of us got very proficient at patching. i look at gelcoat negatively: weight & no strength.

Where are you?? If East coast there are people at Yough and Cheat and New River.

[FishFighter]

Im in Sacramento, Ca. There is a guy that does great work in Washington state but thats pretty far. I would like to stay within California. I have a total of 3 of these old-school fiberglass paddle boards/kayaks. One 14ft red Dolphin Scout sit-on-top/kneel that is almost brand new built in the early 80s single hatch, one 15ft Malotte sit-on-top/kneel, and the 14ft Mulder paddle board. The Mulder looks to be from the late 60s to early 70s, the Malotte from the mid 70s to early 80s. They are all dive/spearfishing nostalgia here in California and I think Im really lucky to have picked up 3 from various years and makers. What I really like are the hatch compartments. The Dolphin Scout and the Mulder each have one and the Malotte has two. They are large enough to put WSB and yellowtail in as well as all dive gear and more.
I know there are some guys on here that work in fiberglass and gel-coat and Im hoping they will chime in. I would like to keep the gel-coat since that is what they were originally made with. I know Phil Herranen has some scouts and moulds to make them but I dont think he does restoration work on the Mulder/Ryan style paddle boards. Maybe Icarus Pacific can chime in and give some leads as it sounds as if he was in the area (sac) where most were fabricated (Malotte, Royak, Mulder, Dolphin) and probably supplied equipment.
Here is a link to some history of these paddle boards/kayaks
http://abaloneten.googlepages.com/kayakdiving
I will try to get some pics up of all three later today when the sun comes up.

[Fagro]

My dive (freedive) buddy just picked up a Malotte ScubaScout. We were trying to get some history on it. It was in rough shape so right now it is at the glasser getting restored. If you have any links to pictures or other info on this model could you please post them.

Thanks

[dr.ed]

i remember the Mulder; nice. Another board i liked was the Mudshark. What would be AWSOME would to acquire or make some moulds and fabricate paddleboards in hitec materials: epoxy, carbonfiber, foam ect.

What do the scouts look like?

Good luck.

Patching on whitewater boats usually involves: sand down the damaged areas and beyond ( ~couple of inched or more); saturate a multilayered patch( largest on hull and smaller to outside); coat sanded area with resin & apply patch; squeegie out air and excess resin; also, cover with plastic wrap streach tight and tape edges(this gives a smooth surface) or let cure and sand and apply a Thin resin coat over patch. If there is a lot of damage or a big hole; a plastic or waxpaper covered piece of foam can be placed inside to give a "fair" surface for patch.( or shaped "fair" and then plastic covered)

You can also do an inner patch and an outer patch for extra strength. Inner patches have "Issues" sanding in confined spaces ect.

[FishFighter]

Here are some links to some pics til I get my pictures on here:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/in...c,14517.0.html

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/in...ic,5436.0.html

[Fis_Hunter]

Talk to Phil Herranen

[Icarus Pacific]

Go online and pick up Fiberglass Boatbuilding for Ameteurs. They usually have a copy or two at Tap Plastics.

As to the gel coating, unless you really want to drop some $, pass on it. The cost, weight and time to finish it are really more than I guess you want to spend. You could shoot them with a marine or automotive paint system, but they would last about as long as one trip up the beach.

As to the patches, a simple grind and matt/cloth will suffice with all of them, but be careful with the Mulder as they didn't have a lot of materials in them to begin with. You can PM me some particulars if you want.

[FishFighter]

Here are some pictures of the Mulder paddle board. As you can see its not in the best shape.
The crack is on the stoage rail where the hatch closes onto. There is also a small ding near the left grab rail. You can also see where it has been rough patched.

[FishFighter]

Here are some pics of the Malotte or should I say Vitog Olympian(???) There is one small patch on the side-hull and one small chip on the stoage rail. Other than that its in great shape and paddles like a dart.

[FishFighter]

These are pics of the Dolphin Scout style kayak. This has only been in the water 2x (once in a pool and once in a lake) and is practically new. It was built in 1986 and as you can see its wider than the others (stable). The front stoage reaches from the grab handle all the way to the foot rest. The rear has a small accessory stoage with deck plate. On top of the deck plate has a grooved area to hold tanks or another person (supposedly). Nothing wrong with this one.

[dr.ed]

Originally Posted by Icarus Pacific

Go online and pick up Fiberglass Boatbuilding for Ameteurs. They usually have a copy or two at Tap Plastics.
.................................................. ........As to the patches, a simple grind and matt/cloth will suffice with all of them, but be careful with the Mulder as they didn't have a lot of materials in them to begin with. You can PM me some particulars if you want.

imho Do Not use Mat!!! Use cloth! Mat is heavy; mat soakes up a bunch of resin and is not very strong esp compared to cloth.

Another whitewater technique: incorporate carbon fibers into patch esp big or long patches. A lotta strength.

[Icarus Pacific]

Whoa, hang on... We're talking about boards used in and out of the surf, drug up the beach, pearled into the beach and slammed around with tanks and other gear. NOT whitewater kayaks or squirtboats where the absolute minimum of weight is desired by some paddlers.

The Dolphin is a great board to put the wife or kids on. And if you put a couple of tanks in it and a camera or gun along with lunch, you're good to go. Just have a buddy there on the other end to help you lift and lug it. That's as nice a example as I've seen not being in a store window.

The Mallotte is a pretty rare board as this version was made only for a short time before being bought and made by Vitog. It's the best board of your three for versatility and speed as well as comfort being that you sit in it and paddle. It's a roller, so tow it out and in rather than trying to surf it. Trust me.

The Mulder has all the damage of all Mulders being as they were laid up light and had zero longitudinal stiffness once in the water. The cracks and holes are from the board hogging in the water at the point the board sags (hatch) and they also crack there from being on the racks and driving down the road- you could watch them flex. The hole in the nose is from somebody that tried to surf it in and stuffed it. The repairs are rough as you point out and to get that board to behave takes a bunch of work inside them that by the time you pay and clean up, I tell people to go get a Scupper Pro on c-list.

Matt is used as the bonding cushion between layers or laminates. Using just cloth to bond on a roughed up and prepped repair is akin to laying a piece of chain link fence on some smooth concrete- the weave doesn't sit flat and thus leaves voids that will pop loose. For cracks such as yours, go with s piece of 3/4 oz matt that you split into a finer section (feathering) and then a 4 oz cloth. Wet the two together on a piece of cardboard and lay it on and squegee smooth and dry. Brush on a thin coat of resin after to fill the cloth texture and call it a day. Then the bodywork starts and that's the point that this gets expensive and messy. And using carbon fiber in an application like this is a total waste of money, as carbon is best used with an epoxy resin or prepreg app that relies on an engineered shape to not have to have additional stiffeners applied, thus costing even more.

[FishFighter]

Thanks for all of the help guys.