My Northwind Solo had a rubbing/crunching sound under my bow end cap. It’s not loose but the kevlar flexes just enough to cause an annoying sound while paddling. I really didn’t want to start disassembling my canoe. So I figured I can either stop the movement of the kevlar, or I can stop the friction that is causing the sound. I tapping into some of my cycling knowledge. I hot wax all my bike chains and in between hot waxing I use a liquid wax lubricant called Squirt. It’s basically wax 30%, water 65%, and an emulsifier 5%. Nothing harmful on the MSDS. I applied Squirt wax inside the slight gap between the end cap and the kevlar all around the end cap. It will become a wax film once the water evaporates. After letting it work it’s way into the small spaces, I tried to get it to make the sound by flexing the kevlar and squeezing the end cap and I’m happy to report that the noise is gone and I have noise free paddles ahead of me. Hopefully my success may help someone in the future.
That black deck cap will get hot on a sunny day. Do you think the wax will melt?
It’s a mixture of paraffin and hydrocarbon wax. When I wax my skis I have my iron set at 155 to get the wax to melt and flow on to the skis. I’m assuming it won’t get that hot and both surfaces would have to reach that temperature.
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