Bad stuff happens…
Passionate paddlers know that quality kayaks, canoes and SUPs are perfectly up to what they use them for. Most of the time.
But then there are those other times…
Well, in these cases REALLY bad stuff happened!
“Bad stuff” can include but is not limited to:
- You’ve overestimated the depth of that channel and you hear that loud scraping sound as the hull of your boat slides over those barnacles. No damage to the composite structure, but that scar in the protective layer of gelcoat shows a dark bottom.
- After a long day of paddling from your last campsite it’s just so much more convenient to run your fully loaded boat up on that sandy beach. As you do so you shave the 287th micro layer of gel coat off the keel line and you start to see the composite structure underneath.
- Playing in those rocks, your boat took quite the hit. There is a spider crack in the gelcoat and when you inspect it from the inside, there is a distinctly different colour and texture in the laminate.
The most dangerous place for small watercraft seems to be on land, though.
- As you load or unload your kayak, canoe or SUP from your vehicle it slides through your hands and hits the ground.
- You forgot that the clearance of your garage door is lower than the highest spot of the boat on top of your car.
- The roof racks on a car fail. Depending on speed and impact on the pavement the structural damage can be extensive.
… but we are here to repair it!
Working through six seasons of repairs of rental and customer boats at the local specialty paddling shop we’ve seen all kinds of damage. We have proudly extended the life of many old and/or well-used boats and have revived the victims of some spectacular mishaps. (We are glad to report that no people were harmed in any of those incidents!)