C-Forum

The old Outrage took some damage on Cheoah last weekend. It has lots of intersecting chine cracks near the stern, and it is becoming a financial drain to try to "fix" them as they just open up again on every run. I was wondering if I could stop-drill the crack tips and cover the cracks with lots of duct tape and then heat it into place. I think there was some sort of reference to this technique in an earlier thread. The boat is near the end of its lifespan, and I'm looking to repair on a run-by-run basis. Any thoughts? If I can iron/heat duct tape to enhance its hold, will it work with a hairdryer or do I need a heat gun or iron?

Open boats were well represented on the Cheoah. It is a fine and challenging canoe run due to its continuous character and high-water feel. Bear Creek Falls is great and serves up a fluffy landing if you get the bow up and out.

hey man. Here's what I've done. I heated up a large spoon with a cheapo torch. And used the backside of the spoon across the ductape.

worked fine.. And definately more simple than using an iron or going out and buying a heatgun

I fixed my C-1 (Obviously not Royalex) with two repair methods. I DID use multiple layers of duct tape on the inside of it. Lay down the tape...heat it with a heat gun until it wrinkles....smooth it by rolling the spoon NOT dragging it. Overlap the tape with another piece but stagger them. Heat and repeat. 4-6 layers should hold 'er for a while.

I totally stole that idea from the following link....

http://www.oregonkayaking.net/how_to/boat_repair.html


Someone told me this weekend that you can fix a Royalex canoe with Lego's and acetone by melting them down in a little acetone at a time. Is there any truth to that method?

Legos and Duplo blocks are ABS. They'll melt just fine in acetone. If you don't care about color, just use ABS pipe cut into chunks. Works fine for minor stuff, not so fine for big structural problems.

As part of a more complicated repair I opened up a Viper 11 stern slice, injected Gflex into the cavity on each side, covered the gap with a rlease cloth, then pressed the whole thing smooth using a mini cell "pillow" and a ratchet strap around the hull. i didn't ratchet it too tight so as to keep some Gflex in the void.

Before I started I lightly opened the slice and let the hull dry overnight suing a60 watt light bulb as heat source.
So far so good although I am pessemistic but so what.
As long as I get another year out of the hull and anyways, every hull is one rock away from eternity..

For the hull of it I also laid a small S glass tape wetted with Gflex on a remote section of the outside royalex, after prepping it, but it didn't hold. No news there.
I also material tested a strips of Sglass wetted with Glex onto a 2"strip of waste minicell and when cured, stress tested it with 30 deg., short radius, bends. AmAziNg flex in the Gflex. Also stood up to torque twists, laterally.

Thanks for the info on the G-flex tests.

I have been using G-flex for repairs on Royalex boats as well due to its higher published modulus of elasticity, and it is good to know that the elasticity is preserved even when it has been used to impregnate fiberglass.

Any place you might use duct tape, substitute Gorilla tape. I'm told that GT is what duct tape used to be. With a little heat from a hair dryer, it makes permanent or near permanent repairs on air bags. I once made several emergency GT repairs on my raft/bucket boat floor. The tape was still holding up after five years. I always keep a bit of it wraped around my paddle.

I actually did use Gorilla tape, and I think it was a good idea. It definitely is a lot thicker with a more generous helping of adhesive. My heating job may not have been as thorough as it needed to be, but we will soon find out. The cracks aren't really on high abrasion or impact areas; they form where the hull flexes when the stern drops onto rocks. I hope it will prove to be a decent repair.