Is "oil canning" really that important?

[philcanoe]

There are many factors affecting a boats performance, among these are area of whetted surface, hull drag, laminar flow, wave drag, and frictional resistance, as well as lack of knowledge. A oil canning hull effects many of these, irregardless of their notice or awareness.

My worn out Spanish Fly has waves and ripples all over it's bottom, even while being braced from within by a section of plastic lattice. Do I like paddling it... yes. Is it paid for.... yes. Would I like a new one... yes. Is it slowing me down....yes. Will this affect performance... yes.

Jack asked how oil canning affecting performance.... go read the first sentence. If he had asked, should I buy a oil canning boat the answer would have been different. If he had asked, would you sell your boat because it was oil canning, the answer would be different. He asked, "Is this something to be concerned about?". To which the simple answer is yes. How concerned is a personal manner, and a matter of opinion. And something that will certainly vary from user to user. However irregardless of notice, whether through the ostrich approach or through lack of awareness, performance and handling (ie. not only speed) will still be a tissue. Although this may very well vary over the lifetime of a paddler.

[cheajack]

Phil; the first sentence of the original post also says "plastic hulls". I got responses about donkey flips, adhesives in a red can, comparisons of composite to plastic hulls, racing shells and the old stale joke about pieces of ash. Don't get me wrong. I like to poke fun as well as anyone and I appreciate all who take time to reply regardless of the vein. It is more than probable that subtleties of oil canning on performance are lost on me at my skill level due to "lack of awareness" as you say. But if oil canning is a sign that my boat is likely to break soon, then I appreciate knowing about it. I have learned a lot about boats and paddling from thoughtful comments on the forum especially yours, Larry's and others like you and often because the thread topic morphs along the way. Keep 'em coming!

[clarion]

I figure if oil canning doesn't matter, we must be wasting a lot of time considering the subtleties of different designs and hull shapes

[Smurfwarrior]

I'm sure some older boats that are beat to h3ll oilcan at some point, but I've seen quite a few practically brand new boats oilcan. Some were improperly stored on their bottoms, squished together too tight bottom to bottom on racks, or some just happened without explanation. Sometimes the oilcan reverses when left in the sun a bit.. I can't imagine that its a sure sign that the plastic is crap as most of these boats went on to live a long life while being beat against slightly moist rocks. Then, I've seen a non oil canned hull basically shatter from being baked too long in the manufacturing process. I think deep scratches and piton dents/creases are much more of an issue, but I do use the fact that a boat is oilcanned when negotiating price when buying a used boat... But, these are just my opinions based on what I've experienced.

[Smurfwarrior]

Clarion- I think that's over simplifying the main question... simply because a boat has some oilcanning doesn't negate the whole boat design.