Hi Gini,

I would have to say that fiberglass boats are more easily repaired than wooden boats except in the case of light scuffing where they would be about the same.

A fiberglass boat that gets holed is a minor repair which can be done in an hour or so depending on the size of the hole. When I fixed heavy trucks we would repair the hoods for, at maximum, about 16-20 hours. These were hoods that had been on trucks that had rolled over or smashed into various objects while fully loaded. This time included repairs, fitting, priming for paint and included a lifetime warranty.

Now there is no way that a kayak repair would ever be this involved and after doing many repairs to kayaks and canoes I would say that the average time is around 1-2 hours.

Ian

: No one seems to have mentioned this (or if they did, I missed it), but it
: seems to me that wooden kayaks may be more easily repaired, both because
: they are wood and because they are owner-built. A friend's brother
: launched his newly constructed S&G kayak in Alaska last summer or the
: summer before and, while camping on a remote beach, promptly had a bear
: take a bite out of the kayak. Not sure what he did to temporarily shore
: things up (duct tape?), but he later repaired it without a hitch. And
: consider that, long term for all of us, when those fiberglass boats are
: getting dinged up and dingy looking, we are sanding ours, applying fresh
: varnish, and getting new oohs and aahs. Wood has long term restorability
: that plastic and fiberglass seem to lack. What's the oldest fiberglass
: boat afloat? And how does it compare to a well-maintained old wood boat?
: Anyone honestly think any of those fiberglass kayaks will become family
: heirlooms? Anyone honestly doubt that some of ours will? Just a thought
: ...