u/Scav54

I wanted to post some pictures of plastic welding a crack in the hull.

My Outback cracked at the high seat post area and while the area is now well supported by my seat support plates, I still wanted to repair the hull.

First thing I did was drill out the ends of the crack to keep the crack from expanding.

I used a cheap Amazon plastic welding kit to melt in some “wavy staples” and added some plastic over the area to get it water tight.

It’s impossible to get behind that area of the hull so adding some weld in staples seemed like the way to go.

I was in a bit of a hurry so the repair isn’t as visually appealing as it could be but since the seat support plate gets installed over it, I wasn’t too worried about the look.

Links to the products used:

Seat support plates:

https://blue-baum.com/products/hobie-outback-rear-seat-support-plates

Plastic welding kit:

https://a.co/d/0gXYKRdY

Plastic welding a crack

I wanted to post some pictures of plastic welding a crack in the hull.

My Outback cracked at the high seat post area and I while the area is now well supported by my seat support plates, I still wanted to repair the hull.

First thing I did was drill out the ends of the crack to keep the crack from expanding.

I used a cheap Amazon plastic welding kit to melt in some “wavy staples” and added some plastic over the area to get it water tight.

It’s impossible to get behind that area of the hull so adding some weld in staples seemed like the way to go.

I was in a bit of a hurry so the repair isn’t as visually appealing as it could be but since the seat support plate gets installed over it, I wasn’t too worried about the look.

Links to the products used:

Seat support plates:

https://blue-baum.com/products/hobie-outback-rear-seat-support-plates

Plastic welding kit:

https://a.co/d/0gXYKRdY

I broke a seat control line on my PA14 on the water a couple of months ago.
It was the back line and the way it broke I couldn’t fix it on the water so I got to pedal laying down for 20 minutes. No fun

I wanted to buy replacement cords for back and bottom of the seats but no one had any in stock.

I decided I’d make my own and so I ordered some 1/8” spectra cord (actually Samson blue, but it all looks and works the same), learned how to do a brummel splice for the end and replaced both my control lines.

The original Hobie line is silver but I wanted to change it up and made mine in black.

I saw that some other guys were looking to replace some of their control lines and couldn’t find any and so I added them to my website. Best thing is, I am cheaper than Hobie 🙂

https://blue-baum.com/products/hobie-vantage-seat-control-line

I am a Hobie guy, always wanted a kayak with a fin drive and I’ve picked up a couple of Pro Angler and Outback kayaks over the last couple of years. The thing with Hobie is that hull cracks in certain areas are kind of expected at this point.

So my question to you guys with kayaks of other brands is this:

Are other brands having cracking issues as well?

Outback Hull Cracks

I picked up a Hobie Outback with a small crack in the seat post area a little while ago and after seeing all the other reports of cracks, I figured I’d come up with something that would solve that issue for good.

Some of you might be familiar with the support plates I offer for the Pro Angler seats and while the geometry of the Outback is a lot more challenging, I think the design came out great.

These seat plates distribute the forces of the seat across a much larger area. The plates are 1/4” thick, which means the seat geometry doesn’t change noticeably.

I am offering them in grey and black and they are 3D printed in PETG.

https://blue-baum.com/products/hobie-outback-rear-seat-support-plates