I just bought an older royalex canoe and both ends are worn. The bow is worn worse and there is one small spot where it’s worn through and the foam is showing.
Is there a DIY fix or do I have to drop $100 on a skid plate kit???
Thanks for any help
Gflex
cost depends on size needed. I coated/fixed both ends of an Ocoee for about $25
probably not
You can buy a kit from NRS or Jamestown Distributors that contains 4 oz of G Flex epoxy resin and 4 oz of hardener, along with some colloidal silica powder, stirring/application spatulas, dental syringes and what not for about $25. If you can beg, borrow or steal a little fiberglass cloth to go with it (or at worst buy a yard of it) you will have enough to do the repair.
Mix up small batches of epoxy with silica powder mixed in and use it to fill any void where the outer solid stratum of ABS is gone and the foam core is exposed. By using multiple thin applications of thickened epoxy and sanding in between you can fill and fair the damaged hull back to its original contour and essentially replace the outer solid stratum of ABS with epoxy.
It would be best to cover the area of repair with at least one layer of fiberglass, though. This can be cut in a tear drop shape similar to the commercial Kevlar felt abrasion plate material. You apply it using the G Flex. Multiple applications are required to completely fill the weave of the cloth. If you feather the edges of the abrasion plate it will be quite smooth and one layer of 6 oz/yd fiberglass cloth will stand barely proud of the adjacent hull and cause much less drag than the thick Kevlar felt plates.
Add a $5 can of Krylon Fusion or Valspar plastic spray paint to cover the plates.
fiberglass
I tried a recommendation by g2d who posts here often. It worked way better (protects well enough while not being an unsightly heap on the bow and stern) than kevlar skid plates. Just a strip of s-glass set in epoxy (or two if you want to go crazy). Paint it to protect the epoxy from UV.
Or even E-glass, but the first coupla
layers have to be bias cut, so the fibers are at 45 degrees to the axis of the boat. That way the cloth will adjust to the convexity of the boat ends. Largest patch first, then concentrically on down to the smallest.
This is complicated if you’ve never done it. Are the ends worn down through the ABS into the foam layer? If so, then some prepatching may be needed.
Just a little
Just the bow end is worn through the ABS, the foam is showing about the size of my finger tip.
Like g2d says
I used dynel cloth though and a mix of G-flex and resin. It is rugged as hell. Sent you an email with a link.
dougd
Good advice here -
one thing I have done is to add some dye of the same color as the hull to the epoxy. This worked very well for me and I have a rugged but unobtrusive skid plate made in the manner described above that has lasted 20 years.