We removed the "Oil Canning" from the bottom of his kayak using my heat gun. Thinking now we should have made a video or at least took some pics. Turned out well, First time I ever did this and was quite easy to do. So I thought I would share the experience with those out there who may have the same problem with their poly kayaks.
Robin's kayak began to take on some large concave dents on the bottom of his Wilderness Systems Tsunami 145. Robin asked if I knew how to remove them. I had watched a few videos on YouTube that instructed on just that very thing. Some use a torch, hot water, and heat-guns. I thought a heat gun was our best option.
I began with propping Robin's kayak stern on the fence and the bow on a folding ladder. Suspending the kayak in the air in the middle, Leaving the middle without support and easy access to work on. Using my heat-gun slowly heated the concaved parts in a circular motion as not to heat the kayak too much or too fast. Gradually bringing the poly kayak to a workable temperature where the concaved areas were. Heating until the kayak was soft enough to shape back to the original shape but not too hot as to have the kayak concave in reverse. Robin working from the inside above (once the kayak was beginning to soften) with his hands to reshape the kayak. Using gloves Robin smoothed out the concaves while I heated the kayak from the underside. Then after we let the kayak cool down. Looks like we managed to get the oil canning out. I see in a video (included in this post) that hot water can also be used to do this as well. I used the heat gun because it was handy (own one) and quite a bit faster that boiling water. I didn't want to try the torch idea as I was afraid of melting holes through his yak.
Don't be afraid of giving it a try yourself.
Learned how on youtube.
Below are a couple videos about repairing kayak dents and oil-canning:
~GuyThaLizard http://www.GuyThaLizard.com http://www.KAYAKokanagan.com #KAYAKokanagan #Kayaking #Okanagan
