Oof, that sucks.

With a lot of work I'm sure you could make it almost as good as new. Almost, but not really. With a little effort you would make a perfectly usable kayak.

I would just press the breaks back together. Tape them in place and then put a layer of fiberglass on the inside. Then sand the outside so there is a hollow at the cracks. Then overlay several layers of glass. Sand it smooth Go back inside and clean up the joint by sanding away the largest bumps and add some more fiberglass.

In a couple days you can get a perfectly good boat. If you don't like the looks, give it a nice paint job. Trying to fix it up so the wood work really looks good will take a lot of effort and won't result in a boat that is any better.

If you want a blemish free boat, build a new one from scratch.

: Yes, they can break catastrophically, at least under extreme conditions (my
: experience is off the water). Let me pass on a tip/reminder I wish someone
: had passed on to me before I learned it the hard way: When transporting
: your boat, ALWAYS check the tie-down work of someone you're travelling
: with. A guy I was car pooling with left excess bow tie-down strap dangling
: underneath the car. When (its not if, but when) the car tire drives over
: such a dangling line, it exerts tremendous downward pull on the bow. In an
: instant, your boat will be toast. Don't believe me? Check the photo below.
: The boat rested on the car roof on a cradle, which provided a very nice
: fulcrum, right in the middle of the boat (Pygmy Osprey). I don't know if
: this had any effect, but the boat had bulkheads (very solid), and the
: cradle was smack in the middle of them. The rest of the boat is still
: solid as a rock, but the damage in the middle is pretty bad: all 8 hull
: strakes are sheared, split, or cracked, 3 of 4 deck strakes have minor
: damage, and the cockpit coaming is cracked on one side. I don't think it
: would have mattered if I hadn't had the bulkheads, but perhaps it might
: have.

: Based on comments I've received from other kayakers in the area, this is a
: not uncommon problem to which ALL boats suffer major damage. I know of two
: fiberglass boats in my area to which this has happened, so this is not an
: indictment of wooden boats.

: I'm still trying to decide whether to start from scratch or to rebuild this
: puppy. The deck and coaming are easily reparable. My current thinking is
: to replace up to 24" of every hull panel, one at a time to maintain
: the stresses and shapes in the hull as much as possible during repair.
: This will take lots of time, but hopefully less than building a new boat.
: Any thoughts from anyone with experience repairing S & G boats?

: Bob