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Amazing what some snooping round will find... The Quest needed attention.
With the upcoming Daiwa Hobie ABT round at Bemm in a few weeks I thought I would get my shit in a pile and organise a few things. Been awhile since I entered a comp and without the Pro Angler rig it was my original trusty rig that craved all the attention. I have used the Quest in tournaments before and it's actually a superb kayak to fish from, albeit without excess space and huge capacity.
With a 30l live well on the back the kayak needs to be in top condition, payload is getting alot closer to the limit with 30kg+ behind you. Over the last year I have noticed that the hull gets more water in the hull than I like, especially in choppy conditions. I figured most of the ingress (If not all) was coming from either the rudder tubes (Not likely) or through the additional 8" hatch I added not long after buying the yak.
After installing the x67c Lowrance transducer in hull I had some time up my sleeve and took the rear hatch off to see how well it was sealed. While we never added sealant at the time (Not necessary) I soon discovered the source of my problem, 2 elongated cracks running down both sides of the kayak were the hatch was installed. These definitely were not there when we put the hatch in, or soon after, but has fatigued through a weak spot in the hull after 6 years of continuous service.
Luckily I was keen to revisit my plastic welding skills and seal this puppy up once and for all. I still had the cut out we removed years ago, a fresh soldering iron and some all clear sealant. First I summed up my options and lightly clamped one end, donned my mask and set to work, slowly stitching one end. After a few minutes I had pretty mush finished the smaller crack and moved onto the larger one.
Cautiously I lightly moved from each side of the crack with the soldering iron to tack weld it into place, then set about adding additional fill and smoothing it out. I repeated the process on the inside, sanding with 400 grit sandpaper before giving it a smoother cool off with the iron. The joints and entire under hatch had all clear applied before screwing it back onto the top rear tank well.
The result was better than I imagine, not only was the repair invisible to the eye (Hidden by the sides of the hatch) even if it wasn't you would have hardly noticed, except for some additional sealant that seeped out (Cleaned up, purposely). I'm happy to take this as wear and tear, after all I have had this kayak for many years now and it's not the first major injury I have had to repair. Happy to report the Quest has made a full recovery, again.
For more information on plastic welding please click here.
