Repair Split in Ride

[Donna Endsley]

I have a W Ride w/Rudder. Where the rudder is attached at the screws the boat has split. Right now the splits are about 1' in length. Can anyone suggest how I can repair this??

Thanks

[CJ Siebler]

The boat can be welded to repair however I would take it to your local dealer or send pictures to Wilderness Customer service as it may be covered by warranty.

Kayaks generally do not "Split" like this. I would be interested in seeing some pictures as well. Its hard to say what caused it or how to fix it without seeing it for myself.

[Donna Endsley]

Boy I never even thought it might be under warranty. I will get some photos and send out. Thank you.

[Donna Endsley]

This is the crack where the rudder is. If you think I should consider talking to the dealer about this, he is no longer in business, but sold it to another person. I am going to send these photos to him as well and just see what he thinks. We both have the Ride that has the set up for an airtank, he has had his longer than I have by several years and doesn't have a single problem with it. We had the rudders installed at the same time by the same company and his doesn't have any issues at all....

[CJ Siebler]

That should be a fairly easy repair on those cracks. My original post I was thinking of a newer ride where the rudders are installed through the very end of the kayak, not bolted to the topside of the deck like yours is. It is much easier to understand the split on your system as opposed to how they are done on newer kayaks.

Your local shop I would hope can do it for you, possibly even at no charge. Either way they should be able to do it, My shop would generally charge about 20 bucks for this repair.

There is also a recent thread on these forums about welding plastic if you wanted to try it yourself.

[Donna Endsley]

I want to thank ya'll for your input. After the braces were removed it was apparent there were some real issues and so my local kayak shop submitted it to Wilderness and they have me a new boat waiting for me to pick it up. I am so glad to know what Wilderness stands behind their warranty. My husband and I are buying two new boats (shorter for river runs) to our to our fishing boats (the Rides which by the way, we are buying him a new one so we will both have the updated versions) and be assured they will be Wilderness boats and they will be purchased from my Local dealer who has been the greatest. Thanks again.

[CJ Siebler]

Very Glad that everything worked out for you. You can not beat Wilderness Customer Service.