I managed to crack the hull last spring when I ran a river at too low of water.
It is important to note that this boat has a very uniquely mounted seat when considering the nature of the crack. It has a tractor seat which has the rear mounted to a thwart and the front is mounted to a reinforced area of the floor like a pedestal, so it’s easier to go from a sitting position to a kneeling position and visa versa because there’s no obstruction along the sides of the seat to impede foot repostioning.
Mine cracked in front of and off to the side of the reinforced area of the floor when I got stuck on top of a rock and had to scoot over it.
The crack does let water seep through slowly.
My current repair plan is to fill in the areas on the outside of the crack with super glue where the material had chipped off and then cover that with Nashua waterproofing repair tape Polyken 360-17, which is waterproof, UV resistant and tolerant to high temperature and can be painted.
http://industrialtape.thomasnet.com/item/tyco/foil-tapes/360-17?&seo=110
http://industrialtape.thomasnet.com/viewitems/tyco/foil-tapes?&forward=1
This is the only aluminum duct tape that the nearest store had. Has anyone used it, or something similar on their boats?
On the inside, none of the surface material is chipped away, so I was planning to either cover it with the same aluminum tape as on the outside or apply a layer or two of fiberlass and resin over it.
Should I drill a small hole at either end of the crack to prevent it from spreading further?
Any other suggestions for this repair. I havn’t paddled it this year because of the crack and am eager to get reacquainted with it.
Thanks.
Dress up as Cinderella and the Prince
will bring the other Slipper.
Already tried that…
He brought a maroon kevlar Slipper Saturday with a sliding cane seat rather than a matching green Carbonlite 2000 Slipper.
Maybe I’ll try again sometime.
When you patch the inside, make
sure both cloth layers are bias-cut, so all fibers of the weave run diagonally across the crack. This doubles the number of fibers crossing the break. I have not worked with that material, but I expect that after good surface preparation, West epoxy should stick well to it. For an inside patch I would use Kevlar. If you decide to patch the outside, use fresh e-glass.
Again, not knowing the material, I would be tempted to dish it out somewhat inside, creating a wide, shallow crater, but this is admittedly a lot of work. One object of cratering is to see that there is not a sharp line of flexibility where the crack is.
Drilling the ends is ok, though not crucial if the resin is going to hold and the cloth layers both extend past the ends of the break. If you had Kevlar/carbon weave, which I’ve just started to work with, you could do a three layer concentric inside patch, and the carbon would help stiffen the area more than the Kevlar. I can tell you, though, having tried to use carbon fibers over a break in a canoe paddle shaft, that if there is not something besides the carbon to keep the shaft from flexing, it will just keep breaking the carbon. Stiff but not strong.
PolyCarbonate
G2d,
I am not familiar with what will stick to Polycarbonate and this is one of the few canoes that were made of this material. Lots of motorcycle helmets and some kayaks, but not many canoes.
It is a very glossy slick material, hard surface and stiff. Good qualities for a canoe hull. But the question of its long term durability are just now being answered by things like this guys problem.
Bill
This is not the same Carbonlite 2000 now
used by Eddyline, at least that’s what a Mad River employee told me a couple years ago, so don’t rush to judgement on all polycarbonates based on my experience with this one Mad River boat. Another thing to keep in mind is that this boat was stored outside by me for the first couple years and did get some sun and did experience some oxidation and that may have made the material a little more brittle than it started - that’s just a guess.
Again, please don’t judge all polycarbonate materials based on my one experience with this one model of boat that was only made for one year in this material and the boat was stored and used less than ideally suited for the material and boat design.
playing Sherlock
You describe the area under the seat as being thicker, probably to spread the seat load across more area of the bottom. this creates an area that is will flex less that the rest of the hull bottom. When you glide over an obstacle, the hull flexes under the load as it should, till the deflection gets to the thick area of the hull which does not want to flex. There will be a lot of stress at this transition from thin to thick hull. And this is probably where your crack has developed. If the transition in hull thickness was gradual the stress would be less at the transition. If it is like going from one layer to a double layer all at once, the stress would be great at the transition. Like a ribbed hull with stiff ribs and too much space between them.
The crack may be as much a factor of design as of material choice.
Other items that use polycarbonate are smaller and do not flex in usage like helmets or luggage carriers. The narrow rounded hulls of the polycarbonate kayaks would also be more resistant to flexing than a canoe hull, even a solo hull.
But, for whatever reason you have a crack that needs repair and need a method that will work on the polycarbonate.
Crack repaired with super glue. Doesn’t
leak, but it’s not pretty.
First I applied one coating to the crack on the outside of the boat. After some of it soaked in and it cured, I applied a second coat and some of 2nd application soaked in too.
The next day, I repeated the process to the crack on the inside of the boat.
I didn’t bother sanding either side smooth.
I did apply a strip of the above described aluminum duct tape to the mended crack on the outside of the hull. Now it looks like a used boat.
I don’t plan to use this boat for shallow rocky streams anymore.
On an unrelated note, you’re lucky to
have owned that old Moore, but I don’t think I’ll buy it.