Looking for solutions for reinforcing a Prelude's hull

[Einar]

....admittedly a new material to me!
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[sbroam]

Goop is amazingly tenacious - I have had it bond pretty well to PE. With a scuffed surface and the "contact cement" procedure, I'd be optimistic. It's holding in thigh strap anchors in my Twintex Zephyr.

[squeakyknee]

Scott, I have used stock sheets before and they seem to work ok. Milkman, if the plate is done well on the inside then the outside will not need plate and can be welded against inside plate as needed. I recomend this as a way to keep from altering planning and scraping rocks. as for the screws, yes, you remove after and weld shut.
I will try and get picks up of some welds for you all.
and even gflex is a temp solution, welding is only permanent way.

[milkman]

Photos would be great. I like the idea of not messing with the outside hull.

[yarnellboat]

I'd stay away from rafting vinyl as an outside patch - the edges seems to peel up too quickly, but, more importantly, it's much less slippery than the rest of your hull, so you find your patches sticking to rocks when you expect to slide/bounce. A friend had that material on his Royalex chines and he hated the way it grabbed rocks.

P.

[magicmike]

I'm all about the "beater life" thing, but there's a time to just get a new boat, boys. Keep the few players in the game profitable, and paddle some new plastic! - M-

[milkman]

MagicMike,

I own 5 Preludes, 4 of which have cracked and 2 of those with just a few trips on the hull. The uncracked 5th has only been on the river twice. I'd say I've been doing my best to support Esquif. I love the boat, but that represents a $6000 investment (one boat was warranty). Wouldn't you try to stretch it a bit with some hull reinforcement?

[JimW]

I know you aren't the only person who has cracked Preludes, but I wonder if it is partly a local geology issue - lots of relatively young rivers in your area, I bet your rocks aren't as smooth as say Californian Granite slides. Maybe you don't need to reinforce, you just need nicer rocks?

(I'm joking of course, I loved my trip to the NW and really should try to organise another one)

[magicmike]

Milkman- 6000 bucks would get you 3 Blackfly boats and no cracks.

[milkman]

Actually that's another $2000 spent on canoes in the last 7 years. I bought a Option in March. There's quite a difference between the thickness of the bottom of its hull compared to the Prelude. I took the Option down a low water run this weekend and went over a fair number of rocks with no issue. There are some sharp basalt rocks here, but also a lot of more worn river stones with moss.

[magicmike]

Sweet! Problem solved. You can put the welder away forever. -M-

[magicmike]

I guess" forever", is a long time. I'd say you can at least put the welder in the attic under the Christmas ornaments, and not worry about it for a long time .I've been abusing my Octane for 2 years now . No worries.

[milkman]

Ah, but that's the thing. I like the Prelude better. Faster, more nimble, more responsive. Unfortunately, more crackable. Not to say that the Option isn't a great boat--it is. But I also want a patched up Prelude ready to go for certain runs.

[sbroam]

Nevaful?

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