Mad River R-Series Repairs

I was moving some boats for our river advocacy group and didn’t have our MR St.Croix secured tight enough. It bounced off and broke the stern off. Its made of their R-series poly laminate and wondering if any one has any experience repairing this material. Thanks.

Ouch! Call the factory!
And look for a plastic welder in your area.



This is one of the issues I have about poly sandwich material. It is hard to break or tear, but if it does tear, it is hard to repair.



Did the gunwales break also?

Will Try Mad River Tomorrow and the
gunnels survived ok just rivets pulled out. Even the end cap ok. Sure looks ragged ugly though. Like a big gator ripped the end off and spit the piece out. Will keep all posted. Thanks, Rick

pics?
do you have a picture of the damage?



steve

I have not worked with the poly
sanwich, only with Royalex sandwich which is thicker. But one possible trick for getting edges in line before trying some gluing or welding routine might be to cross the torn boundary on the inside with short pieces of aluminum or stiff plastic, held to the hull with pop rivets. I once found that short pop rivets could be put through just the inner layer of ABS in Royalex. Perhaps there is enough room between the inner and outer layers of your poly sandwich that you could drill just the inner layer. Just a wacko idea… others may comment.



You might go to the West Epoxy website and read their bulletin on using their new flexible epoxy to repair poly hulls. Not that there aren’t other adhesives to consider, but they claim success.



Ultimately, I think you may want some sort of reinforcing layer on the inside of the tear. Possibly a thin outside layer would help also.

the polyethylene used in your canoe …
… is “linear” , so it can be welded w/poly rod … aquire mfg. specific rods from MR if at all possible .



A heat gun will be needed to perform the welds , along with a few other basic tools .



I can’t imagine what a torn off stern looks like in a poly boat … the gator bite discription sounds pretty jagged !! I sure am curious what it looks like !!



But if you think the stern will or has a chance to mate back to the boat with some prep work , it’s worth a try I guess … if it “can” be done , I could do it , so that means you can do it too . You might want to pay a pro if you are in doubt about your own capabilitys , though my guess is it will be costly that way , so you have to consider the canoe you have and it’s replacement cost .



I agree that after a thorough weld job , it would be advisable to weld (add) scab reinforcements to inner and outer hull surfaces , over repaired areas . You might be abe to come up with some acceptable visual appeal with the reinforcements as well .



Even after all is said and done , I would consider this boat as one that is structurally weaker and limited use safty wise .



I think alot would depend on how far back from the stem the seperation damage is ??



I guess what I’m saying is , if it has a chance to mate back together , I’d go for it as opposed to throwing it away … I personally would do it more ought of curiosity and a fun challenge than anything other reason , if it were mine …


Sounds like…
that canoe is toast.


the front fell off
If you haven’t seen this, treat yourself



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg


Too funny!