I have an oca blue hole about 30 year old, It has been wrapped around a rock and is now wrinkled up. How can I get the wrinkles out?
you probably can’t
Once the foam core of Royalex is severely crimped or crushed it is pretty much impossible to restore it to normal. If you want you can fill in grooves with G Flex epoxy and if you have creased areas that are weakened you can reinforce them by applying fiberglass over the top, but you won’t be able to make creases magically pop out in my experience.
Apply HEAT
You can get some good results by carefully using a heat gun along the creases. I have improved the dented, creased and dimpled surfaces of numerous royalex canoes this way.
Just showing it’s age
I’d leave it - in a 30 year old WW boat you’d expect a little wear.
How did it wrap around a rock, and how did you get it off.
Blue Hole
I didn’t, but the fellow I got it from did, who knows thanks for replying.
Blue hole
Thanks for the info, creases are not to bad, just really wavy in one spot, I may try the heat and some type of roller, but thanks for you help.
Blue hole
i think I will try this and hope i don’t mess it up.
Thanks for helping me. Is this a easy thing to mess up?
yes, it is pretty easy to mess up
My experience has been that it may be possible to reshape a Royalex canoe that has a big dent by applying judicious heat, either direct sunlight, hot water, or direct application of a heat gun. In a situation in which a Royalex boat has actually been wrapped, however, there are usually fractures within the foam core, even when the outer solid strata of the Royalex have flexed without breaking. The cracked, crimped, and/or severely compressed core is what causes the residual creases.
In that situation, you are not going to mend the foam core by applying heat. Conversely, if you apply too much heat, you can start to melt the foam core before the inner or outer solid ABS strata start to melt. When this happens, the “air cells” of the foam core collapse. When this occurs you will know it because the Royalex suddenly shrinks and sort of crinkles up.
I have done this accidentally once when applying heat to a PVC backed D ring in order to loosen the vinyl adhesive bond. When it happens, it happens very quickly and it is too late to do anything about it. In my case,the inner and outer solid strata of the Royalex were not affected, nor even the inner and outer vinyl layers. But the foam core was permanently deformed. Fortunately, this was above the water line and I was still able to use the canoe.
How much heat is too much? If the hull is getting so hot that you cannot comfortably briefly apply your finger to the surface it is probably too hot. So if you want to try this, be cautious. I still don’t think it will work, but if it does be sure and come back and post your success story.