I got a good deal on a boat recently: a Valley Pintail, fiberglass, red on white layup, great shape cosmetics-wise. This is a classic Valley boat; they don’t make ’em anymore. It edges brilliantly, dropping on its side to change from a needle to a dime. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would one day be mine.
The trick is, I got a good deal in part because of a seat repair I’m going to have to do. Fixing the seat on my plastic Gemini SP was easier: remove the old seat, and then replace it. On these boats – older fiberglass Valleys – the seat is integrated with the coaming, fiberglass with gel, like the rest of the boat. Here are the preliminary pix.
I noticed a bit more flex than one would expect; I also wanted to inspect the backband. To do this, I had to peel back the hip padding.
![Initial Look](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0614-scaled-e1601597483693-1024x768.jpg)
Hmm, well, this doesn’t look right.
![Deeper Look](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0615-768x1024.jpg)
Nope, definitely not supposed to look like that.
![Further](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0617-768x1024.jpg)
At this point I took off the backband and the rest of the foam padding. While it was a bit painful to see shreds of fiberglass coming off as well, it wasn’t too terrible, and in the end I could see the full extent of what appeared to be a previous attempt to repair a crack in the seat.
I got some tips from the “Kayak Doctor” the seller recommended to me; Jay Rose. He surmised fairly what I ended up seeing for myself: a previous repair that’d worn out, and would have to be re-done.
![Original Repair.](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0618-1024x768.jpg)
To really see what was going on though, I’d have to sand it down.
![A Lot of Sanding](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/62282875882__866AFE2E-2C68-4B7D-8BEE-F8086C264546-1024x768.jpg)
I went all the way down to the point where I could start to peel the old, dead, fiberglass off. As far as I could tell, this was fiberglass applied over gelcoat. It was never going to keep right over the long haul.
![Fraying Fiberglass](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0619-1024x768.jpg)
In fact, I was able to pry bits of fiberglass off the seat with a pocketknife, without further destroying the seat.
Then I went back to sanding.
![Some Sanding](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0621-1024x768.jpg)
The good news was that my worst fears did not materialize: the crack was not leading to where the bolt for the backband lives. It’s still pretty nasty, about an inch and a quarter long, but it’s just a long fracture.
![Press Check](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0622-1024x768.jpg)
Some more sanding. In case you were wondering, this was all by hand.
![More Sanding](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0623-1024x768.jpg)
Eventually, I started to see what looked like the seat. There’s still a bit of fiberglass on it, but it’s not around the edges. The full damage can be seen now, and to be honest, it doesn’t look that terrible anymore.
![Cleaned Up](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0625-1024x768.jpg)
For now, I’ve sealed it back up, put the bolt back in without the backband attached. It will be a bit before can get to this.
![Analysis Complete](http://www.kayakcowgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_0626-1024x768.jpg)
[…] For reference, here’s the “before” picture from my previous post. […]
Wow, I had no idea that was there! Maybe a good thing for you as I would have pulled the seat off completely and just put a foam block in for my butt. You may not have been interested at that point, haha!
Wow, I had no idea that was there! Maybe a good thing for you as I would have pulled the seat off completely and just put a foam block in for my butt. You may not have been interested at that point, haha!
No worries. Jay down in Naples has been great with advice; once overnight temps are a little warmer Ima try and fix it.