|
Post by Ken Corbett on Jun 12, 2006 15:47:14 GMT -5
I have worn the heel of my Mad River down to the nitty-gritty, and last year I got a kit with epoxy and kevlar fabric to repair it. However, it has separated from the hull on one side lengthwise. Does anyone have any ideas on how to repair it? A heat gun? Marine goop between the hull and the shoe? An iron to melt it on? What is that rubbery stuff you often see on the snout of Old Town Discos? Would that work? Ken
|
|
peterng
Voyageur
Enjoying the final stages of adolescence
Posts: 150
|
Post by peterng on Jun 13, 2006 8:14:22 GMT -5
Ken, Is that your aftermarket kevlar skid plate? or is that something that is specific to the Mad River. I can't see that going back on succesfully. For $50 you could get 2 new skid plates and a jug of 2 part cold cure epoxy from MEC. www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442420315&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302701079&bmUID=1150203876598I've heard that it is advised to put those on when the boat is new but I can't see how that would make a difference. I don't think anything else would take hold. If that black thing in the picture is rigid, maybe the PVC/ABS cement with plumbing primer I keep raving about would bond but I don't even want to say that cause it'd be hard to hold the whole thing in place flush against the boat while the goop bonded. I'd say go for gold if the boats got some years left in her and put on some nice skid plates. What is that an ME? Pete
|
|
|
Post by Ken Corbett on Jun 13, 2006 10:14:16 GMT -5
Pete,
It's a skid plate kit I bought at that bicycle shop on Queen Street, forgot the name right now. It was three strips of Kevlar fabric and epoxy. What happened was that it separated and got rigor mortis, stiffened right out from the hull. It didn't even last a year.
So I took your advice and bought the strips and goop from Mountain, cost me $63. Looks like the way to go. I'll sand the surface lightly after I rip off the old patch, hopefully the new plates will bond sweetly this time.
It's a Mad River Freedom, about 20 years old. Not the best white water boat, it has a regular arc shape lengthwise, no imagination. But I haven't gone for too many swims in it. Gotta keep her going as long as I can.
Thanks Pete, for your advice.
Ken
|
|
peterng
Voyageur
Enjoying the final stages of adolescence
Posts: 150
|
Post by peterng on Jun 13, 2006 12:44:43 GMT -5
Ken,
20 years eh? that's impressive ! Is it poly or royalex? buddy of mine's got the appalachian that has worn holes in the bottom after 12 years of heavy duty ATC (All Terrain Canoe) usage. but 20 years is good value !
The MEC skid plates are nice as they are shaped like a beaver tail, they flare out a lot towards mid ship. The old Town skid plates and others I have seen are much narrower. Myself and another fellow I know do not see how it is possible to apply both skid plates using one application of the cold cure. I ended up having to buy another order of cold cure to do my other end. I've got 2 other buddies who did manage to do both ends with one order. My boat looks like it got splattered with cold cure diarhea. There's epoxy EVERYWHERE.
gotta go. Pete Pete
|
|
|
Post by Ken Corbett on Jun 13, 2006 16:06:39 GMT -5
Pete,
I don't know what material it is, there's a softer red poly (I think) outer layer and a harder blue-green inner layer, possibly Royalex, then a final white layer with some fabric mesh. The red and blue-green are gone and the white is cracked open on both ends through the floor.
I'm gonna try to make one lot of cold cure epoxy do it, we'll see. Friggin' epoxy is devilish to work with.
Ken
|
|
peterng
Voyageur
Enjoying the final stages of adolescence
Posts: 150
|
Post by peterng on Jun 14, 2006 9:40:36 GMT -5
Ken, I wanna tell you I am some kind of glad my buddie Nick stopped by last night. He brought over an order of cold cure epoxy to replace one I had given him prior to the May run. I was waiting on it to do my other end. He also relayed his method which was a vast improvement over what I came up with initially. As I mentioned, my first attempt was messy. Here's a few hot tips, although this won't work if you want to use one order of cold cure for both ends. The pic shows the plate with the saran wrap on it all rolled out using a paint roller. If it is really hot out, the epoxy will run quite badly. So if possible do this in a well ventilated cool basement as opposed to the sun. First I placed the skid plate in the desired position on the dry canoe and traced a dashed line, 1" away from the edge of the skid plate. Next I taped the canoe up, slightly overlapping the dashed line, using packing tape which is nice as you can see through it to cut along the dashed line and get the curves cut out along the dashed line. Mix the epoxy and layed it on the boat with a small paint prush. Flip the skid plate upside down and layed epoxy on the bottom of the skid plate. Place the skid plate on the boat and used the rest of the epoxy on the top of the skid plate. Making sure it is saturated. By the time I ran out of epoxy, the skid plate was saturated. Place saran wrap over the skid plate. Using a small (or big I guess) roller, I had one that was 3" long, ....... using a small roller, roll out the skid plate . The brushing process lifted the skid plate in places and created air pockets. Rolling from the center to the sides eliminated the air pockets. the roller also let me tamp down the saran wrap along the edge of the skid plate. The first time I did it I think I had the epoxy in a pan and tried to dip and flop the skid plate like french toast. This was a much smoother process that enabled me to spend an hour on the back deck enjoying the sunset behind the black flies. Pete
|
|
|
Post by Ken Corbett on Jun 14, 2006 11:37:29 GMT -5
Fantastic, and easy to follow. Thanks Pete.
|
|
|
Post by Ken Corbett on Jun 24, 2006 17:24:15 GMT -5
Well Pete, Here's a look at my new skid plate, the one in the front. I actually used half of one order of Cold Cure, and managed to soak through the cloth nicely. I confess that I applied a very thin bead of another epoxy around the edges to reinforce the spot where the cloth ends. A little dab'll do ya. The back plate turned out okay too. I aslo squeezed in some epoxy between the cracks in the bottom of the hull and the inner mesh for added reinforcement before I applied the plate. She's ballistic-missile proof now. A few specks of dirt got on the epoxy while I applied it, but couldn't be helped. Doesn't really matter. Can't wait to grind it on a rock and see how it holds up. It's a little past canoe season now for us trippers, but you never know, we might get out again soon. Thanks for the guidance, Ken
|
|
peterng
Voyageur
Enjoying the final stages of adolescence
Posts: 150
|
Post by peterng on Jun 26, 2006 8:26:47 GMT -5
Geez I wish I wasn't so excessive by nature. No dripping on your job. Nice clean job. My boat is a wicked mess That roller really finished the job off nicely though. Pete
|
|