Royalex Cracks

Who else out there owns a wood-trimmed Royalex hull (outwales and inwales)? I don’t really believe all of the below freezing temperature excuses for the cracking. I have worked on a 16 year old, stored outside, Royalex hull last summer that the gunnels had rotted off of. However, there were no signs of any cracks. I think this has more to do with the resin that the substrate sheeting was made with at the time. I think this has higher percentages of expansion. Does anybody know of specific years that hulls were made by any manufactures that cracking was predominant? Thanks for the info, Otter

New RX Bell today
picked up a new Wildfire in RX today. Vinyl gunnels. The owners manual says to remove the screws 24" in from each end on the wood outwales to prevent cracking in cold weather. Also says don’t store below 32 degrees. Recommends storage in doors. It also specifically says such cracking is not a warranty covered occurance.

does anyone want to venture…
…any suggestions about what can be done with these “not under warranty” cracks? Am I a dope, or am I correctly assuming that if they are not already leaking, they soon will? (If below the waterline).

PS: Never mind that “dope” question, just answer the other ones!

the other ONE…
…see, I answered the other question MYSELF!!!

cold cracks
cold cracks can be fixed with epoxy based resins , get the crack to open up by pushing from the inside. if you use a neddle point syring you can keep the mess to a minamum.

My Testimony
Here ya go, my Royalex experience, I can’t quote the year from the number right this second but can find it and email it to ya. Here’s what I ended up doing with my boat after crack number 3.



http://community.webshots.com/album/108447953yXnxaz



Not to worry, there will be two new boats coming outta this fiasco.


royalex repair?
I’ve had my royalex-wood gunnel canoe out in the cold Maryland winters until the neglected wood rotted out. No screw cracks at all. I’ve got to agree with the idea that there needs to be space between inwhales and hull.



My problem is, after years of hard use, the hull itself needs some gouges repaired. There are even a few spots where the material beneath the vinyl sheathing is visible. I’ve searched here on p-net before with no luck. Does anyone have some suggestions about how to repair scratches and gouges in royalex?

This same question came up …
… a couple of weeks ago. I don’t remember all that was said in response, except I think some people have filled deep scratches with epoxy or JB Weld. I haven’t had the best luck with searches on this site (I may not know the best way), but maybe try scanning the available pages, since perhaps it hasn’t scrolled all the way off the board yet. Then try a search, but otherwise someone should have the answer soon.

Thanks!
Found it. Thanks boatguy!