Old Town Penobscot Royalex restoration. Is this hull salvageable?

[AlleghenyOaks]

Hi everyone. I picked up an older Old Town Penobscot Royalex canoe and I want to do a full ground up restoration, not just a quick patch.

Before I spend money on materials, I want an honest opinion from experienced Royalex repair folks on whether this canoe is salvageable or if it is too far gone.

HIN: XTC33808J982 (Old Town, built October 1982)

Stored outdoors for a long time

Heavy oxidation and wear on the bottom

My goal is to make it fully watertight and river ready again. This is not meant to be a museum restoration.

Questions

1. Based on the photos, is the hull structurally worth saving
2. What is the first thing I should inspect to confirm it is viable (soft spots, cracks, oilcanning, delamination, thin spots)
3. If it is worth saving, what repair approach would you recommend (G Flex, skid plates, reinforcement, full bottom repair)

Photos attached. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Benson Gray]

HIN: XTC33808J982 (Old Town, built October 1982)

Your picture appears to show a hull identification number of XTC82308J687 (which is serial number 282308). This would be an Old Town made in October, 1986 for the 1987 model year. The Old Town with serial number 233808 is a green Camper model that shipped on June 25th, 1980. My guess is that the "White foam looking material on the underside" may just be frozen snow. This canoe is probably salvageable with a good cleaning and some extended skid plates but others here have more experience repairing plastic canoes than me. Good luck,

Benson

 

[ppine]

Based on the photos you can save it.
Skid plates, clean it up. It is hard to tell if there are any soft spots or delamination.

 

[Gamma1214]

Welcome to the site. Did the ice under the sawhorses recently come from the inside of the hull? It sounds like you may have the canoe already so it should be easy to determine if the white inside is snow or foam (in the pics, it sure looks like snow, complete with cat tracks).

Looks like it's badly faded from sunlight but I'm not sure that would damage plastics like it does fiberglass...

Next warm day, give it a good scrub and, while doing that, see if you feel any soft spots or see any cracks or other defects. It might not be nearly as far gone as you'd think (end rot on the thwarts is an extremely easy fix).

 

[AlleghenyOaks]

Yes, about the ice on the inside of the hole. It has set on hours outside for the past 40 years. About a week and a half ago it got blown off and snowed on the inside of it. I just flipped it back onto the sawhorses to take the photos. Generally, it seems to be in good shape on the inside and outside except for those areas of the keel I guess where this skid plates need to go, but it’s a decent portion of it.

 

[AlleghenyOaks]

Does anyone have information on the right products to use for the restoration. I heard something about a coating and also I’d like to know the best brand for the skid plates and if there’s any other links that have already detailed how to do this royalex and skid plate repair. I’d be happy if you could post it here.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

As Gamma said I’d give it a good scrubbing this spring and see what you got. Hot water, dish soap, and a good slug of white vinegar is a good cleaner.

I’d fill in any deep gouges with thickened gflex. Install Dynel skid plates if you’re going to run rivers or use it hard, replace the rotten wood, and enjoy it. A few how-tos on skid plates if you use the search function on the site.

I would not coat it with anything or paint it.

Bob

 

[jdeerfoot]

You may want to check the hull for condition of the Royalex since it may be degraded from years of sun exposure. When I inquired about trading in my 23 yr old OT Tripper at Rutabaga, Madison WI, the owner Darren Bush wanted to assess the condition of the hull. He flipped the boat upside down and pounded the hull with a closed fist looking for cracking. He told me old Royalex boats stored outdoors sometimes developed weak spots. Mine was fine, always stored in the garage, but the trade in value was low so I followed his advice on pricing and sold it myself for more.

 

[recped]

I'm with the crowd, when the weather improves give it a good cleaning and then new pics with more detail of anything the cleaning reveals.

The outside storage could mean serious problems but it appear the vinyl outer layer is still intact which means the Royalex itself may have survived the UV exposure.

The brown gunk on the keel line looks like the remnants of a skid plate, if it is it will need to be carefully chipped off (probably easy given the exposure).

There are two spots I see that might be nothing or maybe something.....



The thwarts look like they might be ok (could be rot in the ends?) I can't see the seat(s) clearly to comment.

The original Uniroyal Royalex from the 20th century was the best!