Last year, David Maurier and I headed off for a two day kayaking trip down one of California's most classic overnighters- Devil's Canyon of the Middle Fork of the Feather. Stoked to have good water, good weather, red wine and a couple of steaks, we were ready find adventure.
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| Typical Devil's Canyon Scenery |
We ended up finding adventure pretty early in the trip. Unfortunately it emerged in the form of a 10 inch crack in the bottom of David's boat! We were approximately 7 miles into a 33 mile class 5 run and because it was spring, all of the trails to hike out were covered in feet of snow. After some debating, we decided hiking out was not an option. That left us with one move; we had to fix the crack on the river.
That brings me to the point of this blog post, which is to share some methods and techniques used to mend a crack while on the river. Since I have relatively little experience with this, I consulted two experts on the topic: Thomas Moore and Darin McQuoid. Being hard charging California natives, Darin and Thomas have paddled more overnighters than I ever will in my lifetime and collectively have fixed over 50 cracks while on the river.
Ok lets get started....
First we need to talk about the supplies most typically used for an on-river boat repair.
Important items include:
A screw driver or tool to remove the seat if necessary
A heating device (camp stove and/or lighter)
A tool for putting holes in plastic and cutting things (I use a small Swiss Army knife, but a river knife would also work)
Duct Tape (Gorilla tape is the best, but I also like Hello Kitty duct tape for style points)
Zip Ties
Tar Tape (Bituthene)
Now we have to look at the crack to decide our best course of action.
For the purpose of this blog I am using the actual boat that David cracked on the Devil's Canyon (FYI some of the pictures are from us actually on the river, while others were taken later for demo purposes and have residue from our initial fix). It was a 10 inch crack on the bottom of the boat. As you can see from the picture, the crack is bowing out, making it a more difficult fix. On top of that, its location on the bottom of the boat not only makes it bad for letting water in and contacting rocks, but also makes it very difficult to repair from the inside without removing the seat. In our case on the Devil's Canyon, we did not have the correct tool to remove the seat so instead we tried to move the center pillar enough to get underneath the seat. It worked marginally well.
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| The crack! |
One of the first things I like to do is drill a small hole in each end of the crack to help keep the crack from spreading any further. I use my small swiss army knife for this, but a river knife would work as well. While Darin also likes to drill holes here, Thomas says that "I don't drill the ends of the crack unless I'm on a multi-day or have many miles to go" which he attributes to the time it takes to drill them and the difficulty it adds when welding the plastic back home.
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| Drilling a hole in the end of the crack |
Since we're discussing a big, bowed out crack on a multi-day trip, we are going to take the time to fix the crack the best we can by "zipping up" the crack with zip ties. Because of the size and nature of the crack, simply placing tar tape or duct tape over it may not work well enough because the crack will continue to flex as you paddle down the river.
Thomas comments that "when it comes to how many ties to use, I say the least amount that will get the crack to come back together." Darin adds that he typically uses 4-5 zip ties. In the case of this crack, I used three zip ties and felt that is was okay, but another one or two might have brought the crack together a little more. Thomas warns "don't use the small zip ties because they can break easier when hitting rocks." Of course you'll have to make your own call on how many to use depending on your situation. Drilling the holes in the boat to insert the zip ties does take some time, so you'll want to allot yourself the time to do it right. In our case, we chose to go ahead and camp for the night soon after we noticed the crack in order to fix it before it got worse.
Here are some photos of the process:
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| 6 holes drilled approximately an inch apart |
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| Threading the zip tie from the inside (make sure the bulky part of the tie is on the inside of the boat to reduce the bulkiness to the bottom of the kayak) |
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| All zipped up (view of outside of boat) |
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| View of zip tie from inside of the boat |
When tightening the ties, it is best to have your paddling partner help pull the crack together so you can get them as tight as possible. In this demo, we ended up breaking a couple ties by trying to pull them tighter than they were capable of, so proceed with care when tightening, especially if you don't have a surplus of ties. Also, when cutting off the remainder of the tie on the inside of the boat, keep in mind you want to reduce the bulkiness the best you can, as you will be taping over it next.
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| Here is a picture of a crack that Thomas repaired on the Silver Fork which he says was "so big I couldn't have paddled the rest of the run without zip ties" |
If the crack was smaller, you were going to be off the river that day, or are feeling a bit lazy, you should definitely consider skipping the zip ties and simply placing tape, whether it be tar tape, duct tape or Gorilla tape over the crack and hope it'll hold enough to get you off the river. Thomas says that "When it comes to zip ties I believe they should be used only when the crack is really long or if it has lips."
Important: Anytime you are going to place tape, you need to make sure the boat is as dry and not cold. In this case, placing tape on the inside is ideal as anything on the bottom will likely come off from hitting rocks. That said, I personally believe putting tape on the bottom is a good idea, just be aware that you may have to reapply it as you make your way down the river so consider how much you have left when making those decisions. Thomas has another perspective and says "If I'm on Dinkey or a creek that's gonna beat up my boat I don't even bother with the outside. I like to plastic weld cracks so tar tape is just a quick fix and if I'm almost done with a run and the crack isn't too bad I'll just try and get off without so I don't have to scrape it off later when I weld it. "
Since we did use zip ties, its going to be important that we tape up both the inside and outside of the kayak. Thomas prefers bituthene for this, while Darin says that "in general I've become a bigger fan of Gorilla tape than the tar tape as long as you can dry/warm the boat. In my experience the bituthene is really hit or miss, amazing sometimes yet other times wont stick at all." I personally carry both in my kayak so that I have options. And as you will see later in this post, I like to add a layer of Gorilla Tape over my bituthene anyways.
Here I am going to show you what using the bituthene looks like....
The first thing you need to do is to cut a strip of the tape the appropriate length and width. I like to be liberal with this because if you heat the tape up too much it wants to shrink on you.
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| Measuring and cutting the bituthene |
Once we have a strip ready, its time to get it hot and sticky. Thomas warns "getting the bituthene hot with a stove lighter or fire is a good idea if you want it to stick but make sure you have a stick to handle it cause once it's hot and gooey it can be a mess." I couldn't agree more! A lighter could also work, but is not nearly as good as a stronger heat source.
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| Heating up the bituthene over a camp stove utilizing sticks on both ends to hold it |
After getting the tape good and sticky, you'll want to place it over the crack, attempting to "lay it down without any air pockets or wrinkles" Thomas says. This is much easier said than done and I pretty much failed miserably at it, but I guess practice makes perfect!
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| Failing at eliminating wrinkles! |
Because the of the location of the sticks while heating up the tape I find that the ends don't get heated up enough so I like go around the ends with a lighter to make sure they are good and sticky. Sometimes the white part of the bituthene comes off, and other times it doesn't, but either way is fine.
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| Heating up the ends with a lighter |
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| Trying to smooth out the ends |
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| The end result with bituthene on the bottom of the boat |
Now moving onto the inside of the boat. We are going to start with the same approach we took to putting the bituthene on the outside of the boat, but due to the extra bulkiness of the zip ties on the inside, we are going to add a step recommended by Thomas, which is to make little patches to go over the bulky part since they tend to want to puncture the tape.
Here are some fun photos of David working on the boat while on the river. Notice his tarred hands!
Our final strep is going to be to add one more layer of protection with a few good strips of Gorilla Tape over the bituthene to bring it all together.
If you removed the seat to work on the bottom, now would be the time to put it back in and you'd be ready to start making your way down the river again! Keep in mind, the crack is likely still going to leak some (unless you did a superhuman job fixing your crack), so have a sponge handy and be prepared to do some boat emptying!
And finally, I would like to add some advice from Chris Tulley, who nicely sums up all of the above ideas with a list of what he recommends carrying for fixing a crack on the river:
1. Something to dry the boat (a wet boat doesn't patch or weld very well) use the corner of your fleece, washcloth, TP, etc
2. Zip ties to restore shape to hull, eg. a long crack down the middle of the hull can split so much that mastic or tape can't provide enough structure.
3. Mastic (bituthene of your favorite variety) thick is good, wide is good. If you find a good deal, get some for your friends.
4. Lighter to warm the boat (not weld it), get the mastic HOT.
5. Gorilla tape to cover the mastic +1" on all sides. heat the tape up before applying.
Disclaimer: Everyone who has ever mended a crack on the river has their own opinion and method for doing so, and every crack/ situation is different depending on how big it is, where is located and where you are on the river. That said, these are just some ideas, and are by no means intended to be the only way to do it. If you have some other methods or thoughts, please share!
Thanks a ton to David, Thomas and Darin for
their help, wisdom and advice in making this blog!
Also, if you are interested in learning more about the Devil's Canyon section of the Middle Feather, check out "A Wet State": http://www.awetstate.com/MFeatherDC.html
