repairing a kayak dented nose

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Sit the other way round then you won't see it 😉

That looks to be made of polyethylene, the beauty of which is that it's very difficult to damage/break/puncture.  TBH I doubt you'll be able to do anything about that but at least it won't get worse.

Maybe put some eyes and lipstick on it and embrace the look!

Usual technique in student kayak clubs is to hang the kayak up - dented side down, obviously - and chuck a kettle of two of boiling water into the nose end. Gently poke the inside with a broomstick or mop once warm if it needs a bit more encouragement.

EDITED - Just realised it's a Sit-on-Top rather than a sit-in, so you can't get hot water into the nose as easily. In that case, I'd not bother trying to pop the dent out - as the Youtube thing says you'd need to heat it and add air pressure to do that, and it almost certainly isn't worth the faff.

yes its a sit on, going to have a look to see if I can access it from one of the cubby hole things.  maybe hot water and a broom handle with a towel tied round the end would pop it out

So no one things this is going to be a failure point and I'm going to sink half way across the hamble with my 2 boys on board?

And its bloody massive, we've hired 2+1 kayaks on hols and I was thinking it would be roughly the same size.  Its not, its like 50% bigger again.. storage and transportation is going to be *fun*  the shed I was going to stick it in isn't going to be big enough !

Was really looking forward to getting it to enable some longer adventures on the water this year 🙁

If that's a new boat then the seller should definitely be sorting that out. Unfortunately it looks like the plastic hasn't just bent, it has creased and possibly split (where the biro is pointing).

If you want to repair it then you can fix these with an application of heat. I have fixed dented noses on white water kayaks by hanging them up by their tail (can be tricky) then pouring water from a kettle into the nose so it sits there. The plastic does have a memory and for small damage it will return to where it was before.

Nuclear option is using a heat gun to warm it up and pushing it from inside if possible. Have to be really careful with this as it's easy to make it much worse if you overheat it.

It's possible that once you pop the nose out there will be a split that lets water it, it's not too hard to fix splits in the plastic though.

yes it  was sold as a new boat.  Its definitely creased, and looks like stress marks in the plastic surrounding it.  Must have taken a really good whack to punch the nose in like that

Its no longer on the sports direct website so it looks like it will probably be going back for a refund doubt they will be offering a replacement

It has taken the best part of  5 weeks and chasing to get it delivered in the first place, so who knows how long for it to be picked up and I get a refund.  At least I have time to source a replacement before the weather improves.

I was looking second hand, when a 2+1 cam up people seemed to want close to current retail price for a several year old boat which they would have bought at much less than the current RRPs

What pyro said. The plastic softens. Heat gun also works. Back in the day people were modifying plastic boats to give them more rocker. Or sitting on the and trying to reduce volume to make squirt boats.

Getting to the nose in a sit on top is hard.

But as it was supposed to be new get it replaced.

If a repair isn't possible then I'd be sticking a pair of googly eyes on that and giving it a name.

Yep, get the supplier to sort that.

The problem with poly is that each manufacturer uses a different mix, the way they are made means different thicknesses, different welds in use, different glues needed (if you can get any glue to really work) etc etc. Back in the day it was so much easier - blow torch, spoon and a wee skelf of plastic from the cockpit rim....

Matt, welder and repairer of many a plastic canoe and kayak over the years.

I think you'd get the dent out but the creased section will always be there in my experience - I've reshaped several stoved in WW kayaks. If you do end up reshaping, bring the boat inside for a day or so and get it up to room temperature before using hot water. Everything will be more pliable then. Laying in the sun is also good.

But as above, I'd rather it was replaced etc. if it was your old sot, then no bother. But not new

RETURN! 100% do not apply heat or try to fix it. Currently this is SD's problem. If you try to fix it, it is yours.

It must have been mis-handled pretty severely, or there is not sufficient material in the nose. My money is on mis-handled. Either way, get a replacement, or a refund, then look for a replacement.