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Oil can fix


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Well I got a plastic waveski/sit on top for free last fall, free mostly because it was so oil canned it was not surfable. Been thinking about approaches all winter, as of 30 minutes ago it's looking good as new. What I settled on was as follows; 1. I attached my shop vac to a cut down funnel, taped the crap out of it to hold. 2. Inserted the funnel into the drain plug, then taped the crap out of that too, shop vac to the exhaust port. I then took a heat lamp bulb from the bathroom, put it in a fixture and heated the oil canned area until it felt too hot to touch but not quite melting. Turned on the shop vac and watched it blow up like a balloon. When I thought it was about right I put an ice pack or three over the afected area to kind of get it to set back to the right shape. Each of the 3 spots - right where the bow rocker stops, under the fins and under the stern took about 3 inflation/icing steps to set where I thought it should be. I didn't have my phone so alas no pics, but the steps are pretty easy and I had the thing paddle ready in less than an hour. I don't think mild oil canning would need this, but if you have a boat where it's really bad keep in mind it is fixable. Now all I need is waves...

Edited by stormy monday
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4 hours ago, barrell said:

I had a guy bring me one once that was completely folder over like a piece of paper. I did something similar just used a compressor and a heat gun. When we were done you couldnt tell.

Wow...... woulda loved to see the before & after pics of that one, that sounds like some intense work.

 

Best....

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  • 3 months later...

An end of summer follow up. The shop vac inflation lasted a while but returned to the deformed state. So I drilled a hole in the stern and put a tire valve in there - that way I could add air whenever I wanted to with the inflator I have in my car. That was OK too but kayak hulls are not air tight so after 20 minutes of surf another deflation. This was frustrating as there was a noticeable difference with the deformation (one spot where nose rocker ends and a bigger spot under the fin boxes). Since I traded a bottle of rum for the boat I wasn't in deep, so over the past 2 weeks I took another shot at it. This time I took 2 NRS standard kayak float bags - size large. I snipped off the inflation valves and replaced them with a replacement valve for air tanks I got at the hardware store. I then slid the float bag into the center hatch and used an old fly rod blank to push it in as deep as I needed it. Inflated the float bags, headed for surf and it was like a new boat. A week later the hull is stillgreat as the NRS bag is tough and the tank valve won't leak. So just another DIY fix in case anyone gets any SOT hull deformation. The float bags are like $40 each but I had them from previous kayaks which was convenient. Of course after I did this I ran the boat into the rocks and busted the fin I fabricated for this hull, so had to make a new one tonight, getting pretty good at it now but that's another story...

Edited by stormy monday
speling
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