Royelex welding repair job...

[FullGnarlzOC]

Alright... so It's really starting to get to me not being able to OC1 in my Detonator....it's been down and out ever since my first decent on Van Campens Mill Creek.

There is a fist sized hole in the royalex, along with 6inch of crack on both ends of the hole (the crack needs to be attended to as well...)

My plan is... to cut out a big rectangle of royalex, so there is just the foam core there...Next, I'd like to weld a plastic patch, or something hard like it. Dynel/Kevlar will not cut it for this patch job. Although, when all is said and done, I'm going to dynel both edges along the whole boat...

So my question is... What kind of material should I use for 'the big patch' and how will I weld it to the royalex? Gflex doesn't work for what I use the boat to do. it would work for class III-IV, but not class V creek runs...

Looking to some of you veterans for some help...as I am a rookie repair-ist....

[milkman]

I think the obvious solution here is to yank all the outfitting out of the Detonator and insert a PE canoe inside the hull. Attach anyway you want. Problem solved. Or you could just scrap the Detonator and get a PE canoe.

[markzak]

maybe you can use rivets to attach some kind of plate, i've seen it done on kayaks before

[FullGnarlzOC]

ya - or maybe we use the det to find out if some drops are in fact 'unrunnable'....

[Atucky]

I'm sure you want to save your beloved boat.

You can probably slap an ABS belly patch on it and get a bit more life out of it.

If you're going to start spending a bunch of time on it, you might want to think about using that time to earn some extra coin for a stronger layup boat. Maybe you just want to mess around and experiment with boat repair. If so, that's cool....

I usually just sell my boats for cheap when they are near death so I'm not stuck with a bunch of trashed boats taking up space.

just my thoughts. good luck!

[PAC]

Jay "Not Elvis" picked up a OC that was glasses out inside and the job looked good... very heavy but looked like it would hold. I image the cost to do the work was as much as the boat without!

That said get a beater and run it till it drops / dies while saving up for that "dream boat"! My $.01

[pblanc]

Have you tried using G-Flex in conjunction with S-glass for repairs like this in the past? If so, how did they fail?

[milkman]

I've never done this, but I think, from experience using everything I describe, this is how I'd fix a hole on the bottom of a boat.

1. Clean out the areas that need to be patched.
2. Drill the ends of cracks to keep them from spreading.
3. Fill cracks with g/flex
4. Glue with g/flex a sheet of 1/32" ABS on the inside hull over the compromised area. (sand and prep properly before gluing) This is to stiffen the area.
5. Glue an ABS patch exactly the size and depth of the hole on the outside hull with g/lex so that it's flush with the rest of the hull.
6. Get some Rec Repair skid plate material. Bevel the edges if possible so they're less likely to catch on rocks. Glue this with g/flex over the entire compromised area on the outside of the hull. The Rec Repair material is bombproof and is slippery enough to slide well over rocks. It also will flex well with the hull.

Will it last? Should do better than any fiberglass patch, but I don't really know.

[FullGnarlzOC]

ABS plastic sheet is what i'm going for... Gflex in the hole to absorb impact, and i like the idea about ABS inside the hull...

I decent repair job will allow this boat to go Class III-IV for a long time. Just something to think about for someone looking for a cheap boat...

Me.... I need a boat that can reliably go class V... and this just isn't it.

Paul... this was the 'beater' boat, got it in good shape in March...and all it took was a month of hard boating and that was all she wrote for that royalex. Was hoping to get a year out of it...don't think that is going to happen, as my paddling 'taste' have took a turn for the rocky stuff.

[roaring-riverman]

I'm no expert, but have done several repairs this year on my boats and a friends. I have done some research too. I'd use g-flex and fiberglass cloth. Drill the ends of the cracks to prevent them from spreading. If you do some searching for g-flex repair, you'll find an article about a guy repairing several cracks along the gunwales. Follow that procedure carefully. As for the hole, I'm not sure that cutting it into a rectangle is a good idea. I'd recommend putting down a piece of fiberglass cloth that's a good bit bigger than the hole, perhaps a rectangle that's 6" X 8" over the hole on the inside of the hull. Wet it out with g-flex liquid. You might want to put a second one over the first, once the first one cures. This will leave you with a depression on the bottom of the hull. Once you've completed the repairs to the inside of the hull, turn the boat upside down and fill the depression with g-flex, perhaps adding some silica to beef it up. Overfill it a little, then cover with plastic wrap. If needed, you can tape the plastic wrap with packing tape. Once it hardens, sand until it's level with the rest of the hull. That way you don't have a patch along the bottom that affects your boat's perfomance. There's lots of info out there about using g-flex if you do a little digging. With some patience and attention to detail, you should be able to make this boat usable, IMO. Taking care to clean and prep the hull is real important. Jamestown Distributors can probably advise you as can West Systems, the mfg of g-flex. I hope this helps. Ask horizongfx (from this board). He's the one who first told me about g-flex and should have some good ideas too.

[ezwater]

G-flex is OK, but regular West 105/205 will stick well enough if the surfaces are flamed. G-flex doesn't wet out fabrics as easily as West 105/205.

I like to remove the vinyl from the area to be patched. It can be done quickly with a sharp chisel held at a low angle. Then the ABS can be cleaned, lightly sanded, and flamed.