My fibreglass Ellesmere from 2005 which I've owned second hand for 3 years now, has a leak in the skeg area where the cable housing meets the skegbox's metal connector fitting. Given the age and use of the kayak, I'm guessing I should expect a seal of 16 years to become brittle. I'm just glad I found this leak while close to home and shore!
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Here, you can see the separation that happened which allowed water intrusion. The smooth cable housing was held in place by putty alone.
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What it looked like after peeling away some of the brittle black putty, revealing the threaded connector. From the clean-cut end of the housing, it looks to me that it never had a compression nut which seems like a lost opportunity for a more secure connection like what's shown below.
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My girlfriend's CD Rumour, which looks to have a compression nut on the male connector
[not kryptonite but bright green from the camera flash].
My kayak repair skills are minimal and experience on skeg repairs nonexistent, so I'd really value some input from others who've built or repaired connections. For example:
- Would adding a bit of teflon tape to the housing end, reinserting into the threaded male connector and then re-puttying be a practical approach?
- Is the compression nut addition overkill?
- Is Lexel still a good go-to for putty, or is something else more appropriate?
I'm tempted to call on a local boat repair shop to replace the cable, the housing and reinforce the connection which would definitely give me a lot of confidence in the quality, but I also recognize the opportunity to learn how to do it myself so I can either help myself or others 'in the field' for an unexpected similar break. Thanks in advance for your help or suggestions.