Buying a new surfski with am small dent in the body of the kayak

Hi guys,

I am considering buying a new Fenn XTS.

The local Fenn dealer here offered me a boat that had two small dents in the lower part of the boat, at a significant reduction in price. It's super tempting...

In the attached photo, I have marked the positions of the dents (it's not the specific boat with the dents, just an illustration).

According to him, it has no effect on the boat's speed or maneuverability.

If you have any thoughts on this, I would appreciate hearing them.

Thanks a lot,

Israel

He's offering a significant reduction in price because that damage could be catastrophic to the integrity of the boat.

I wouldn't buy without inspection by someone who really knows about repair (e.g. Rangi).

mrcharly wrote:

He's offering a significant reduction in price because that damage could be catastrophic to the integrity of the boat.
I wouldn't buy without inspection by someone who really knows about repair (e.g. Rangi).

Thank you mrcharly.
In all honesty, he mentioned it is not an issue with the integrity of the boat, but rather a cosmetic one. The thing is that I don't know if I can trust this thing.

The dents are also not soft and feel like the rest of the boat when touched.

It's a difficult decision...

If there is not a soft spot and no cracks in the gel goat then I would feel completely comfortable buying that boat and paddling it in big seas and I would never even try to fix the dent. Those dents are cosmetic and happen easily when the boat bumps something small and hard like the bow of another boat or an elbow. On the stiffest lightest layups dents seem to happen if you even look at the ski the wrong way. Not a big deal.

zachhandler wrote:

If there is not a soft spot and no cracks in the gel goat then I would feel completely comfortable buying that boat and paddling it in big seas and I would never even try to fix the dent. Those dents are cosmetic and happen easily when the boat bumps something small and hard like the bow of another boat or an elbow. On the stiffest lightest layups dents seem to happen if you even look at the ski the wrong way. Not a big deal.

Thank you zachhandler, appriciate it.
I think I will go for it.

It's either that XTS or a second hand Nelo 540, and the 540 has a very bad market in my country.
Thanks again (:

You should have no issue with dents. They are quite common on non heat cured laminates. Highly unlikely to be catastrophic damage!

You could try heating the dent up with a hair dryer and then cooling quickly with a wet rag. It will most probably come out but a word of caution not to heat up too much.

Ranga wrote:

You should have no issue with dents. They are quite common on non heat cured laminates. Highly unlikely to be catastrophic damage!
You could try heating the dent up with a hair dryer and then cooling quickly with a wet rag. It will most probably come out but a word of caution not to heat up too much.

Thanks Ranga, appreciate it (:

If you want to check for delamination in the areas around the dents, you could try the coin trap test-- tap the edge of a quarter on the skin. Don't go crazy-- the lightweight Fenn layups are really thin. Delaminated areas will sound duller. At least this is what we do with aircraft and propellers made of cored compost if we suspect damage or see bulges. The dented areas probably have crushed core material and are not going to sound that great if you tap them.

Really clever username wrote:

If you want to check for delamination in the areas around the dents, you could try the coin trap test-- tap the edge of a quarter on the skin. Don't go crazy-- the lightweight Fenn layups are really thin. Delaminated areas will sound duller. At least this is what we do with aircraft and propellers made of cored compost if we suspect damage or see bulges. The dented areas probably have crushed core material and are not going to sound that great if you tap them.

Wow, what a great idea! I will try that.