Shortening a Royalex boat??(lengthwise that is)

[squeakyknee]

I am working out the logistics of making a kids OC-1 out of an old broken Whitesell that was given to me. the boat is craked all the way through in many places in the middle.
I want to cut a section out of the middle and shorten it down to about 8ft or so. I plan to either buy vinyl gunnels or just make some out of wood since I have all the tools to do so.
any suggestions on technique and/or what to bond the halfs back together with??
I'm guessing I should overlap the halves as much as possible and was prolly going to use epoxy to bond them.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Shawn

[Mike W.]

Hey Shawn, I think this is covered breifly in "Thrill of the Paddle". Seems like there was some overlap & glass involved. I'll post more if I can find the book...I don't think it's been unpacked from the move

[the great gonzo]

squeaky,

I have seen Ocoees that were modified by either Mark Scriver or Paul Mason.
They were bonded together on the inside and outside with glass or kevlar, not sure any more. the strips were quite wide, at least 8 to 10 inches in total.

hope this helps.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

[madmike]

I have an old busted OC2 slalom boat. I am thinking about useing the bow as a "plug", and molding two ends from glass. I hope they will join up nice.

[Jim Michaud]

I would recommend against cutting the boat in half to shorten it. I did that to a Hahn C-1 back in 1982 and it nearly cost me my life. By eliminating the middle section the boat became very unstable and hard to control. You would be much better off repairing the boat with the ABS/acetone technique that was recently talked about in this forum. Over a month ago I repaired an Outrage that had holes in both ends and a few in the middle. The boat is still holding up fine after lots of creeking.

Jim

[mshelton]

Squeaky, what kind of adhesive are you planning on using?

[squeakyknee]

I would recommend against cutting the boat in half to shorten it. .

Jim

That makes sense, however, I am modifying it for a 9 year old that only weighs 65lbs. I'm thinking it may be a bit squirrley for her but we'll see.
Thanks for all the input, wish me luck...

[squeakyknee]

Squeaky, what kind of adhesive are you planning on using?

I plan on using Bazooka bubble gum (the grape kind)
and some old fruit of the loom boxer briefs.
that is of course unless you want to let me use your WestSystems so I can spill all of the hardener in the front seat of my truck again:P

[sdbrassfield]

Go for it. The boat is not for anything otherwise in the shape it is in. Per Mike W, I think Paul and Mark (Thrill of the Paddle) did use glass/resin to shorthen the Ocoees. I would like to see it when you are done...

[Walsh]

Squeaky, what kind of adhesive are you planning on using?

[quote="squeakyknee']I plan on using Bazooka bubble gum (the grape kind)[/quote]

?? I figured you'd use corn syrup.

[philcanoe]

have seen this done on more than one occasion...some were
really good...some not so

the best one I saw was an Ocoee... it was cut in two by a very
large band saw...and glassed back together... the cut was
overlapped 8 to 10 inches on both sides of the cut...and done
inside and out...epoxy resin was used, with kevlar, carbon, and
fiberglass...

on another Ocoee we cut the canoe in half, slid the halves over
each other and bolted them back together... pure rodeo boat...
never worried about what water was coming in through the hull
...it was fixing to get real wet anyway ... and this was done the
night before a rodeo

folklore has it the Otter was done in this manner, as well as the
Rodeo

Good luck