C-Forum

Hi there,

My school is organizing pool sessions at the local pool, and I was thinking of taking my OC1. I was wondering if the chlorine in the pool water would do anything to the outfitting or airbags in my boat? I know the concentrations of chlorine aren't extreme, but I don't want to wreck my new (to me) boat.
Thanks

Adam

I used my OC in a pool a number of times while learning to roll with no noticeable afteraffects. I did make sure to rinse the bags, PFD, etc, and with wood gunwales pay attention to the finish (I was oiling them periodically anyway).

Yea, we've taken our boats and followed the same protocol. Stand in the shower with the bags and shampoo. This probably doesn't apply to your warmer location but on some of our sub -30c nights, the instant freeze and wind chill on top of the truck after being warm and wet we believe loosened up some of the foam,(we had to re-glue a knee block) just keep and eye on it.

I went to pool sessions once a week for a couple-three years. Never rinsed anything except what I was wearing. I'm just lazy that way. Never noticed any problems from the pool, although I don't think my boats lasted long enough for that.....I did all my damage on the rocks in the rivers.

That's another thing I didn't think about. I would be walking home with the boat, and storing it in an unheated garage. Up here in Pembroke (two hours north of Ottawa), it gets pretty cold, so will this cause a problem?
Thanks again,

Adam

A while back I saw something from Mad River recommending loosening the screws on wood gunwales in sub-freesing temps as the different expansion contraction rates of ABS and wood might cause splitting and cracking. I have never had a boat with wood gunwakles so I never tried it.

yes, i have read that wood gunnels shrink at different rates than the abs hull, so paul mason, recommends to loosed the screws nearer the bow and stern, while the mid-boat screwsare less affected, yet the others should be loosened, with vinyl, the shrink rate is basically the same as the abs plastic, so no loosening is necessary.
-isaac

In Ontario the minimum for swimming pool sanitation is .5mg/L Chlorine, the stuff coming out of your taps will be around 1.2mg/L if your feeding off the Great Lakes.

Hmmmm

Chris Mack