: I installed a skeg in my cedar strip kayak over the winter and just tried it
: out yesterday, only to find that I have a leak. After about half an hour
: in the water I got about a quart of water in the rear compartment.

: The skeg is from Onno paddleshop. The cable tubing comes installed on the top
: of the skeg box and is heat sealed and further clamped with a SS
: hoseclamp. I'm pretty confident that the leak is not coming from there.
: The only other part of the skeg/skeg box assembly that could possibly leak
: is the SS bolt that serves as the axle for the skeg and goes through the
: sides of the skeg box. The instructions that come with the skeg say to
: either epoxy around the bolt and nut heads to seal it, or to use silicone
: sealant, which would make things easier if you ever had to remove the
: bolt/axle. I used silicone sealant.

: Looking at that area, it's possible that I didn't get enough sealant around
: that bolt and maybe that's where the water is coming through. If that's
: the cases I can easily remedy it.

: The only other way for water to get in is where the skeg box is
: glued/filleted to the kayak hull. I examined my fillets and they seem to
: completely cover and fill the hull/skegbox seam all the way around the
: skegbox, so I would think that is waterproof, but then I got to wondering.
: I used fast cure resin for this fillet, and since fast cure resin blushes,
: could blush cause the bond between the fillet and skegbox/hull to be
: non-waterproof?

: I used U.S. Composites epoxy and thickened it with plastic mini-fibers from
: Jamestown Distributing.

: Thanks for any help you can provide.

I would be 99% willing to bet that the leak is coming throught the hole for your skeg axle.

Et