noob needs help! (warped hull)

Rate this post

just bought a sea kayak. in heaven. love this sport. flipped my new (used) boat over and well, maybe I broke it???

What is this from? What did I do? How can I fix it? CAN I FIX IT???

help.
please.
really anxious.

just bought a sea kayak. in heaven. love this sport. flipped my new (used) boat over and well, maybe I broke it???

What is this from? What did I do? How can I fix it? CAN I FIX IT???

help.
please.
really anxious.

That is what is called oil canning. It is usually caused by strapping a plastic boat too tightly on a hot day. If you google oil canning, you’ll find lots of advice. Step 1 is usually to leave the boat in the hot sun, hull up, and hope that with heat and plastic memory, it will pop back. Step 2 is to set on lawn, have handy weights, such as two bags of sand that can be placed on either side of center seam, and then pour two gallons of boiling water in kayak right over the bend.

Note: I have not done this myself, so feel free to look for better instructions. Do not use ratchet straps in future as it is too easy to over-tighten. You will be able to remove the indentation, but the boat will be more susceptible in the future.

Well – that’s exactly what I did. ratchet straps, tied to roof, super hot day, left it on car for two days.
What do I use if not ratchet straps?

@oysterpenguin said:

Well – that’s exactly what I did. ratchet straps, tied to roof, super hot day, left it on car for two days.
What do I use if not ratchet straps?

Cam straps.

Don’t leave the boat on top of the car on a hot day–no matter how, or what you strap it down with. I’ve seen poly boats sag on outdoor display racks when left out in the sun. Don’t leave your boat out in the hot sun whenever you don’t have to.

Next time buy a white boat.

Leave it out in the sun again on a hot day, or warm it up with something (heat gun from a distance) and try popping it out… like others mentioned, get some cam straps like the ones NRS makes.

Poor lots of boiling water into the inside of the hull in the area of deformation and relax. Another solution is to shine an infrared lamp on it from underneath. Some kind of flat weight inside the hull will accelerate the process.

I do not recommend the heat lamp. It may seem that the lamp is far enough away from the boat to prevent damage, but after 20 minutes the plastic could be near its melting point.

I do not recommend a heat gun. The plastic takes a long time to return to its original position, and it is extraordinary easy to damage a boat wit a concentrated source of heat—the boat is nothing like the shrink covering used to seal windows.

As an aside that looks like a Tsunami 175…that boat pushes the envelop on weight versus strength–it should be stronger with a thicker hull, but that would make it impractically heavy.

I would not be surprised if a 175 oil cans on a very hot sunny day without any pressure from straps. If you are storing it on a hot day consider parking in the shade…or buy a rack system which puts most of the weight on the vertical sides of the kayak—the angles on the sides of the boat provide more strength… As a last resort, you might want to put some water inside the hull (and remove anything left prior to driving)

@abz said:

That is what is called oil canning.

I thought oil canning is the temporary flexing of the bottom of the hull due to water pressure, as in when taking a hard paddle stroke.

I have heard the term hogged hull used in the OP’s situation.

Call up Wilderness Systems and ask really nicely if they’ll stick it back in the rotary mold and run it through the oven for you… NOT!

Gentle heat and some persuasion should do it. Might have to overcompensate a little if it wants to spring back. There will probably always be evidence of this mishap, but you can get it back to a usable state.

@melenas said:

@abz said:

That is what is called oil canning.

I thought oil canning is the temporary flexing of the bottom of the hull due to water pressure, as in when taking a hard paddle stroke.

I have heard the term hogged hull used in the OP’s situation.

I’m with you on “oil canning” and call the stationery dents “wows”

sorry for getting the terminology wrong. Hopefully the OP is successful in removing the WOW dent.

Do any of you know the origin of “wow?” Oil canning and hogged I knew, albeit mis-used.

I never heard the term oil canning before but I have experienced the same in my kayaks. I have been able to push it out on a hot day. Follow the advice of whoever said don’t use a heat gun – way, way too hot. But your boat will paddle – not at it’s best but OK – even with the dent in the hull. It is exactly what ExploreNE said that Wilderness Systems are pushing the envelope of weight and stiffness in this boat. Wilderness Systems boats are generally excellent.

VCP had this problem in the early versions of the SkerrayRM and fixed it with a rigid plastic insert (see my accompanying pictures) in all boats after their early prototypes (which I got to test since I was then a VCP dealer). I still have two plastic Skerrays which are IMHO the best RM boats ever made. I have four of these rigid inserts sitting around my garage doing nothing.

The VCP fix works but it is centered around the cockpit – where most of the deformation forces usually occur – so if damage happens elsewhere this fix wouldn’t help anyway. Not sure if they still reinforce their hulss like this, cos I’m talking about the original VCP – who I think designed and manufactured much better boats than today’s ownership.

Was in a scenario recently where “thunder and lightning” were approaching and we had to get the boats off the water. Closest land was a very rocky ledge. First kayak out was a Wilderness. In the process of moving that kayak up the rocks it was turned hull up and much to our surprise, there was an oil-can in the same place as the OP’s.

I’ve never paddled a kayak with a dented hull and have no idea how it affects performance, but the paddler in that kayak didn’t appear to have any problems during class.

Just mentioning this in case oysterpenguin isn’t able to get the boat fully un-canned. It will still take him/her to wonderful places.

Here is what proper kayak cam straps look like. These are treated to resist UV degradation and hold snugly without cranking down so tightly that they warp the boat:

If you have to leave the boat on the car (like a long trip or overnight travel) in hotter weather, turn it upside down. The decks are more resistant to oil canning and even if they do get creased it will not affect performance. I almost always carry my kayaks inverted. I think it makes them more aerodynamic too. Also try to locate the cross bars on your rack as closely as possible under the bulkheads (the walls between the cockpit and the hatches under the deck). Notice that in this photos I also use bow and stern lines whenever I haul kayaks, which are really important for all boats but especially one as long and heavy as yours.

You are viewing this post: noob needs help! (warped hull). Information curated and compiled by Kayaknv.com along with other related topics.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here