I am looking at a used Pungo 120. Looks to be in mint condition except I see slight undulations in the bottom of the hull. Should I be concerned about this? Thanks much,
If the price is right and it fits your needs i would jump on it.
Welcome to the forum.
Seen worse than that on the pungo, a common problem as they reduced the plastic thickness to keep the weight down.
How much do they want?
$350. I have a little concern over potential hull damage that I noticed after I looked at my photos after I got home. Probably nothing. Otherwise in mint condition
Take $300 cash and show it while offering. Often works.
What you show is normal wear and tear. The keel is extra thick for that reason.
1 Like
Those undulations in the hull (‘oil canning’) are commonly the result of over-tightening ratchet straps when securing the kayak for transporting. The use of ‘cam straps’ instead of ratchets is much more gentle, and still gets the job done.
1 Like
With plastic boats oil canning can also occur when boats are stored or carried on a vehicle in very hot weather. For this reason many plastic boat owners elect to store or transport them upside down. A little deformation on the deck if it occurs will just be a cosmetic issue and will not effect how the boat handles. Avoiding narrow unpadded supports like 2x4s as shown or carrying the boat directly on narrow crossbars also reduces the risk. As @GrahamJordan mentioned, never use ratchet straps or otherwise overtighten the straps when transporting any kayak. Straps need only be snug. Ratchet straps are fine for hauling pipe or lumber, but it’s too easy to over tighten the straps on a kayak. Overtightening can not only cause oil canning on plastic boats, but can damage composite hulled boats as well.
If you search oil canning on this site or on the web there are various things you can try to repair or reduce oil canning after it has occurred. Success can vary depending on the hull composition and severity of the damage.
With the type of boat that you have and the pictures that you have posted the effects on performance will likely be negligible. You just want to avoid making it worse in the future.
Thanks for that last post. Great info.
On the issue of oil canning when I bought my canoe from a neighbor he had it sitting on top of his firewood stack and it kind of conformed to the wood below it. He didn’t use it for a couple years and when we took it off I think he gave me the low price as it had the dent.
I brought it home and made a wooden brace to force that spot out where it belonged and left it out in the sun to warm it up for a few days and it took a lot of it out. Then I braced it more and used some really hot water on the spots maybe 170-180f is my guess. Doing that it returned to like new shape.