Oil can is when hull flexes up & down or in & out when on the water and moving. The term was derived from old style workshop oil cans that you pushed in on the bottom to dispense the oil and the bottom would pop back out to it’s original position when you let off the pressure of your thumb.
Dents in a hull from transport or storage should be called either dents or wows.
It’s just helpful when we use the same terms for the same conditions.
That is your call
As far as I am concerned they are both oil cans, and I’ll always call a Tupperware boat that has a indent in the hull “oil canned”
Usually the oil canned boat can be fixed by one means or another
Jack L
My Disco 158
often referred to as the Hogged Backed Saint is oiled canned like hell! If I stomp on the bottom hard enough I can launch my beer into my hand! 
Still one of my go to boats as I have enough miles on her to feel at home in it!
Yep…
That’s how I understood oil canning.
I always called the dents WOWs.
Some may be too young to remember oil cans much less cans of oil.
you’re correct, and I don’t see why
anyone would call dents from racks “oil canning”.
Neither should we call “oil canning” the stretch waves that develop on the bottom of poly ww kayaks when they have been seal-launched or dragged over ledges too often.
Erl canin’ an’ rack rot
"Oil can is when hull flexes up & down or in & out when on the water and moving."
Yup! Dats de way ah’s always reckon’d dat too
Dents ah’s always called “rack rot”
FE
disco
i thought disco 158’s where a tougher & solid canoe? Mine ‘cans’ a little. But I’ve heard of people that had these canoes 20 yrs and never had a problem…
Maybe aluminum is the way to go? Thats as solid as you can get.
I have one.
An old oil can from my dad’s work bench. Very well used and treasured.
So what causes oil canning in a kayak?
pressure
The force of the water pushing upward on the hull. Think of it this way: Take an empty plastic pop bottle, with its cap off, and push it down into a pail of water (do this with the bottle upright, without letting water enter the bottle). What happens? The pressure of the water wants to ‘collapse’ the bottle.
Your canoe or kayak may be made from plastic, a flexible material. If we have some engineers on our forum, they can calculate the thickness of a material needed to withstand the force of the water. Problem is, that thickness would result in a boat too heavy to be practical.
So now we’re back to square 1. Perhaps ‘oil canning’ is more tolerable than a canoe/kayak weighing 250 lbs.
whatever… miserable
Call it what you will; dents, oil can. Both are miserable conditions on a Kayak or canoe and not worthy of the energy to paddle them.
Oil can or dented canoes need go straight to the recycler or to a Boy Scout Camp where it can be duly abused.
I’ve never seen a Disco that wasn’t …
… warped, except when they are fresh from the factory. If you want a boat that’s “solid” in a nice way, try out a wood/canvas canoe. The closest I’ve come to that was years spent fishing in an ancient wood/canvas rowboat made by Old Town. Otherwise, plenty of composite boats are “solid”, but though they are quiet on the water compared to aluminum, they make a racket in comparison with wood.
Yeah, it’s not a difficult concept
When a verb that describes a particular action is based on the name of a thing which undergoes that same kind of action, that makes perfect sense. It makes no sense to also use that name to describe some other kind of action or condition which can’t in any way be associated with the namesake object. What’s the point of using a descriptive name when the description that’s implied is totally wrong?
Man, must be
a slow news day.