I was checking a new Bell Merlin II that a dealer has leftover a couple of years old. It’s a white gold layup. The outside hull looked fine. Inside, the hull had several ripples throughout the bulkhead and floor. Will this affect the integrity of the canoe or is it just cosmetic? Just don’t want to purchase it and end up with cracking or some other problem. I checked out other Bell composite layups and they did not have this issue.
Bell W/G
Bell laminates flatation into the hull, in the mold, after the hull has catalyzed. This is done by placing a 2 layer FG shape into the stems, resinating it into place with strips of FG, then covering all with a larger kevlar piece that is peel plyed down arounf the edges. If they kicked the resin a little hot the FG strips or the Kev “flange” might have rippled due to extreme exotherm. Probably no problem with the hull.
If the ripples extend beyond the Kevlar tank cover? Who knows. It is a solid core boat - FG, Coremat and Kevlar, and should be ok.
/jealous
Man I’d kill to get a chance at a new wg magic or merlin II. IMHO wg was a great layup [cost/performance/asthetics].