Royelex Repair on Descender

[lost_guide]

Hey cboaters,
I've got a Whitesell Descender that I've recently sanded back down to the original color. I've decided I'd like to redo the patch that was on the stern side. It does not leak all the way through yet. I've not worked with Roylex before and have done a little research. I've got some Gflex Epoxy and am ordering some fiberglass and resin. Do you guys have any advice for how you'd go about this?

It looks like a previous repair job included fiberglassing over crack on the outside, and pouring some sort of rubber cement on the inside with a conformed plastic plated adhered to it. The plastic plate has since come off exposing what you see here in the photos. The vinyl looks to be delaminating from the foam core. Any advice would be appreciated.

Photos here:

http://imgur.com/gallery/sCYlj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[johnd]

I have fixed cracks in my Royalex canoe a couple of times using the following steps:

1) Took razor blade utility knife and gouged out sides of crack to clean up jagged edges.

2) Sanded then treated surface with Acetone to clean

3) Filled in crack with G-flex.

4) Took piece of Kevlar cloth cut to size of crack plus couple inches on all sides, coated thoroughly with G-flex, put over crack.

5) Took 2nd piece of Kevlar cloth, cut smaller than first piece, coated with G-flex, and applied over first piece.

6) Went boating.

I fixed the bottom of the canoe this way a couple of years ago, still holding up. I just fixed a large crack on the above water side, haven't been out enough to report on durability.

One thing to note, if you fix a large crack in the boat, use it on whitewater, and take on a lot of water and run over a rock, for example, a rock in the middle of a hydraulic, it will probably crack again and be more difficult or even impossible to repair. So, if you really like the boat, you might want to consider what kind/how hard a run you're going to take it down.

Hope this helps.

[lost_guide]

Great, thanks for the response. Do you apply the gflex to the kevlar just like you would a resin compound?

[lost_guide]

Ah, I see. You answered that. THanks

4) Took piece of Kevlar cloth cut to size of crack plus couple inches on all sides, coated thoroughly with G-flex, put over crack.

5) Took 2nd piece of Kevlar cloth, cut smaller than first piece, coated with G-flex, and applied over first piece.