Just bought a royalex canoe; all my gear lists say I should have a repair kit. What should I keep handy for the possibility of a (heaven forbid) tear/hole?
Eric is right. Duct tape is the best
field repair for any repair that >can< be done in the field. For example, in the SE, an ABS canoe may be holed by steel rebar or by old spikes set in the river as far back as the civil war. Duct tape accomplishes a quick fix. Even a tear can be fixed with duct tape.
If you were off in the wilds of Canada, or on some remote western river, and wrapped your ABS canoe double, many times you can just straighten it out and tape some driftwood over the broken gunwales. I fix ABS with fiberglass, Kevlar, and epoxy, but I need a carport and time to do it. A major repair in the field might mean a lot of repair cloth, resin, tools, adding up to more trouble than it is worth.
JB Weld anyone?
JB Weld is great for royalex. It fills in deep cuts and I bet it would do fine on fixing tears and holes that completly penetrate. As stated, duct tape should be in everyones repair kit.
CB