Has anyone had any experience drilling holes into Hurricane Phoenix SOTs? The dealer where I bought one recommended against drilling large holes into Trylon (eg. flush rod holders} for fear of cracking.
Thanks.
Ask on the
Fishing from Kayaks and Canoes board. A few of them have Hurricane boats
If you have a high-speed
– Last Updated: Feb-22-10 8:39 PM EST –
rotarry tool such as a dremel or a Roto ZIP that rotates at something like 20-30K RPM and use the appropriate bit (for plastics or similar), there is no chance to crack it. You can melt the edge where you cut it if you push your way through the material too hard but that's not a big deal. You can mark a circle, then drill by hand - does not need to be perfectly smooth as there will be a rod holder installed in it I presume. I used the same technique to make a day hatch on my Airalite Perception (similar material) and it worked just fine.
Not sure how a large diameter drill bit (1" or more in diameter) would fare on a slow (e.g. regular) power drill though... The circular drills that are used to drill door lock holes might work too...
Drilling Trylon
Thanks for the quick responses. Sounds like it should be OK.
Some other thoughts . . .
Scotty makes a rod holder mount that is flush. This flush mount is small and round; requires one hole (for the stem of the rod mount), and is fastened with a screw-on flange - screwed on from the bottom.
Not only are there no screw holes, besides the one hole, the flange tends to give the mount strength. They also recommend, with thinner/weaker deck material, that you can add a reinforcing plate between the flange and the under-deck. This would add to the strength of the deck - especially when the rod holder is under a load.
Scotty Mount
Thanks Angell. I’ll take a look at the Scotty website.
Should not crack
As someone posted above, Trylon is just ABS with a thin layer of Acrylic laminated to each side for added UV resistance. ABS should definitely not crack unless it is badly sun damaged and the acrylic layer may chip a little and not cut as smooth but you should be able to cover that up with the rod holder you will be inserting.
won’t crack
I’ve sold Hurricanes and used their fishing kayaks for years. The material will not crack when drilled into. It’s also the toughest material over rocks and oysters when compared to rotomolded and fiberglass boats. I’ve dragged mine over many oysters beds with no worries while fishing. I’ve even parked them on oysters so that I could stand in the boat and fish.
Hurricane Kayaks
Druminator – would trylon be okay in class 2, with an occasional class 3? Thanks
Yes, as long as …
– Last Updated: Mar-14-10 12:29 PM EST –
... it is built right and you don't get pinned. It's not so much the material as the shape and construction of the boat.
For starters, a longer boat will more easily wrap around a rock under the right circumstances, leaving you trapped inside. Some foam or other hull reinforcements may help with avoiding entrapment should this happen. The size of the cockpit also matters - WW boats (modern) have huge cockpits for just that purpose (to get out fast).
The seams b/w hull and deck are also not the same on all boats. On some they are just glued together, on some they are "welded". Some have the deck as a U shape and the hull fits inside that, so in effect you have a double seam, some are just on-layer at the seam...
The material is a little more abrasion resiztnace than rotomolded materials, but it can crack easier under stress, where the rotomolded is more likely to just bend.
Just going down clas 2-3 is not an issue (if you can paddle it), but maneuvering if the boat is long is a problem no matter the material. So if you have to avoid obstacles it can be a challenge and really dangerous in some cases.
I do take my 13.5 foot Sonoma Airalite regularly on WW but I go to places that I do not have to do intricate meneuvering when in the current. These are class II-III but they are short with enough of class I or easy II in between to recover (eddy-out, or roll in the easier section or swim out safely with the boat in tow if needed). If I miss, the worst that happens is that I get flushed downstream where I can correct my mistake and attain back up or continue downstream as needed. There are rocks there too (plenty) but they are in such places that it would be almost impossible to get pinned against them. They do cause a lot of surface scratches though -;)
trylon-
Thanks – this does help a lot – I’m looking at the Hurricane Santee 11’6" which is thermoformed. And, most of the rivers I run on are class ! & 2 (getting too old for real WW 
but, if the water is right, I can hit a 3. Obviously, I try to not get pinned, but stuff happens…I’d love to find a Kayak of Royalex, but only canoes, so am thinking the trylon the next best thing…thanks again for the help…
No
I would not buy thermo plastic if class 2 and 3 is your paddling plans. I have worked with it for many years. Trust me, that was not the user in mind.
Trylon
The company that I bought the Phoenix 140 from cautioned me about using it in class-II/III. He said that while Trylon is very tough its forte is not banging into rocks.
BTW - I brought it down to the Mosquito Lagoon Saturday to try it out, and it’s been blowing from the west a sustained 20 to 25 mph. Tough paddling, but managed to stay right-side-up and had great fun. Still blowing Sunday so I went in the ocean where it was much calmer.
I’ll do a more detailed review of the boat when I get back up north next week.
trylon
I love my Hurricane Tracer but I would not recommend using Hurricane boats in whitewater. My Tracer (now 6 - 7 years old) has a couple of deep cracks in the underside of the hull in the cockpit area. One of the cracks goes through both layers and the hull is noticeably weak in that area. Both cracks are the result of scraping over rocks in whitewater. I’m optimistic about a fix – but if you are planning regular use in whitewater, I would go with standard poly.
I’d second that
The material seems to handle scraping/sliding over rocks pretty well so far but I very much fear it will crack if I land hard on a rock and the hull has to carry my weight and ends-up pushed-in too much.
The glue joining the deck and the hull (and the seat to the hull) is rock hard on my boat and I suspect it will crack if I hit something very hard sideways with the seam area (small bumps have been fine so far).
trylon
Okay — thanks gentlemen — as I said, I would love to find a kayak out of Royalex…