I have an Esquif in T-Formex with wooden gunwales. Great canoe. Love it. But unfortunately it looks like I won’t have room to store it inside this winter. I live in Alabama, so our winters are very mild, but certainly the temps get below freezing–but not much lower. I can store it outside in a covered area that’s very dry and very shaded, where it will be well off the ground.
So if I can’t end up storing it inside, do y’all think my outside space is safe? Obviously inside storage would be best, but I’m just not certain if the new T-Formex will have the contraction problems with wood gunwales that Royalex did. I kind of doubt it, but I haven’t really read anything definitive. I posed the question to Esquif several weeks ago and haven’t heard back. Just curious what y’all think.
Its not the absolute temperature. It is the rate of change. I have had Royalex canoes with wood gunwales. Summer temps hit 80. WInter -30. No cold cracking as it is in a barn that takes time for the temperature change.
One year I had to store outdoors but the snow insulated the boat so by the time the bitter cold hit ( 3rd week of Jan usually) the boat was buried.
If it makes you feel easier just loosen the screws toward the stems… Dont take them out
I think that’s correct about the OP’s storage situation being just fine for his boat, but I’d hate to lead anyone astray about Royalex and wood gunwales. When the Royalex changes dimension to a much greater degree than does the wood of the gunwales, the absolute temperature actually will matter. But not all boats are the same, and as always, anecdotes are not the final answer. I’ve heard of some Royalex boats cracking in fairly mild winter conditions when stored in an attached garage, and others where the owner did everything “wrong” for years, with no problems. Ultimately, if the hull ends up being a certain percent shorter than the gunwales at a certain (cold) temperature, it won’t matter much if it takes a few days to reach that temperature. The length difference will exist in the end, and in the end, the stress will be the same. After that it’s a matter of luck and probably various factors that vary between boats and brands.