Unfortunately, making money on a project like this is unlikely. Just getting cost of materials back can be hard. Stripping the boat down and refinishing it is a big project, with a fair amount of material expense. I would look at it as a potentially interesting challenge where you will learn a lot. You should be able to sell it for more than you paid for the kayak.

If that way of looking at does not work for you, you could just do a quick and dirty rehab. Sand out the places where the glass has broken/worn away and spot repair them. Then give the whole thing a good sanding and a quick revarnish. It will look nice, but not fabulous, and it will be usable and will be more appealing to a potential buyer. Sell it for a reasonable price.

Since most of the potential buyers don't understand the difference, the price difference you could easily get between a full restoration and a quick rehab probably would not be that great, but the time and material you put into it would be a lot less with the quicker rehab. The uninformed public is usually not willing to pay the premium for the more difficult procedure.

You can clean it up a bit and sell it easily as a pretty kayak to anyone who wants a cheap kayak, or you do the full treatment on it, then try to find someone who needs a beautiful, noncompetitive K1 and is willing to pay extra for the privilege.

Thanks so much, Nick! Very glad to know the reality of it (especially from a pro boat builder/designer ) before I plunge into a big project like this.

The "quick and dirty" rehab option sounds like a good plan. Although I do wonder (per my other recent reply, I think to Scott) if I could have a fun exercise boat if I glue a couple of long keel strips to the hull, just for doing straight lines across a pond back/forth, purely for burning calories.

This boat I think would be really fun for someone who lives on a large body of flat water, like the Charles River. The Potomac is just way too rough due to tides, currents, and wind, even down where I am. I would love to sell this boat as-is (cheap) to a real boat guy/gal who knows what the boat is and would enjoy her for her intended purpose. But that probably won't happen, so I'm going to find a way to enjoy her myself, even if I have to sink a few bucks into her.