Your canoe or kayak now has water inside and out. Here’s what you need to do to fix your leaky boat.
Finding the leak
Sometimes your kayak or canoe tumbles off the car and cracks. And sometimes, when you’re paddling, you hit stuff. (Who put that dock there?). To detect leaks in canoes, “Put water into the canoe and see where it comes out, or put the canoe in water and see where it comes in,” says Beth Peterson, the owner of Ottawa Valley Canoe and Kayak. If you also suspect (or hear) water sloshing around in the craft’s sealed bow and stern flotation tanks, Bob Hellman of Hellman Canoes & Kayaks in Nelson, B.C., recommends taking your craft to a professional who can access the sealed (typically with fibreglass) compartments and assess your tanks for leaks.
For enclosed kayaks, “Take the kayak to the beach and get it in the water,” says Jillian Conrad, the production manager of Swift Canoe and Kayak in South River, Ont. “One person holds the kayak while another person looks inside with a flashlight and watches for water coming in.” Most leaks occur at the glued seam where the deck meets the hull.
Stopping the leak
“Clear Gorilla Tape is your go-to,” Conrad says. When the craft is clean, warm, and dry, tape both sides of the leaking area (inside and outside the craft, for example), using multiple layers if necessary. A solid tape job could last months and works on wood, composite, and aluminum surfaces. For leaking flotation tanks, Hellman says a repair shop can replace them, or, you can have the tanks swapped out for float bags.
The best thing about Gorilla Tape? “It leaves less residue behind when it’s removed, and it sticks on a cold, wet surface in a pinch,” says Conrad. (Peterson, also a fan of Gorilla Tape, once saw a leak successfully plugged with cow manure.) Clingier stopgaps, including silicone sealant, glue, nail polish, and epoxy, are the bane of repair shops. “Even if you can clean all the silicone off, getting something to stick afterwards isn’t easy,” says Conrad.
Fixing the leak
For permanent fixes on coin-sized holes or cracks a few inches long, materials and DIY kits are available from suppliers such as the Oshawa, Ont.-based Rayplex. The key is matching the craft’s original chemistry or construction. Kevlar or fibreglass won’t play nice with plastics such as Royalex. But you can use a fibreglass patch on a Kevlar canoe. (Kevlar is nearly impossible to cut without proper shears, but determined DIYers can buy pre-cut patches or get one custom cut.)
If possible, talk to a professional before you do something. Having your craft’s make, model, and 12-digit Hull Identification Number (HIN) handy while asking about repairs over the phone, or ordering parts, is helpful. You can find it on the starboard side of the stern. Otherwise, you might end up Frankensteining your craft with materials that just won’t jibe.
Repairs require a clean, dry, warm, and well-ventilated workspace, a passing knowledge of chemistry (including resins and hardeners), and patience. Steps include removing loose and damaged material, sanding and cleaning the repair area, and applying patches made of the right substance. “The patch should always extend two to three inches larger than the area you’re repairing, and you need a strong bond around the area where the canoe or kayak has been weakened,” says Conrad.
Fixing larger cracks and completing specialized jobs, such as repairing cedarstrip or wood-canvas canoes, as well as welding aluminum ones, should probably be left to the pros. Finding and gluing a leaking seam sounds easy, but it can also be an exercise in frustration for amateurs, warns Conrad. “I’ve had people try to fix the leaks themselves, and, you know, you’re on the phone with them every day.”
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