Question about Nova Craft tuffstuff repair

[Paddlinhal]

Just bought my first new canoe ever. Nova Craft 16' Prospector. It's made of tuffstuff, which is a kevlar/ poly weave. To protect my precious new boat, I followed the manufacturer"s video and installed a couple of skid plates. My first good bump in a rapid, and no damage to the (dynel) skid plate. However, even though the epoxy bonded well to the gel coat, the gel coat separated from the tuffstuff fabric - a couple of square inches. I know of 2 other Nova Craft owners with the same experience.

I consider this a manufacturers defect. Unfortunately, the only way to get warranty service is to have them do it in their Ontario shop. So, two border crossings, two trips through Customs, and my choice of a19 hour road trip, or shipping for upwards of a thousand dollars. In essence, no warranty at all.

I'm tempted to latch onto the loose edge of the skid plate with a vice grip and peel the whole thing off, and install a new one directly onto the fabric. Any better ideas?

 

[Paddlinhal]

I did a little research, and tuffstuff is a blend of basalt and innegra. Innegra is basically polypropylene and nothing sticks to it, including gel coat. The lowdown is: Epoxy doesn't bond well, so eliminating the gel coat won't really fix the problem. Vinylester adheres a little better but still not great. G/Flex is a modified epoxy which outperforms the other 2. So I'll repair the delamination by injecting G/Flex under the skid plate and also various chipped off sections of gelcoat (I've never seen it chip off like that before).

In my opinion, Nova Craft should do away with the gel coat and do an all-epoxy layup.

 

[petit.conan]

I had some trouble with the repair kits they sell as well. Needed to use a a whole kit just to repair a small dime sized section of exposed fabric. I have a feeling it must have been old stock and the chemicals had degraded pretty poorly.

 

[Alan Gage]

I did a little research, and tuffstuff is a blend of basalt and innegra. Innegra is basically polypropylene and nothing sticks to it, including gel coat. The lowdown is: Epoxy doesn't bond well, so eliminating the gel coat won't really fix the problem. Vinylester adheres a little better but still not great. G/Flex is a modified epoxy which outperforms the other 2.

In your research did you find other manufacturers having similar issues or did you read anything on what other manufacturers do in order to not have the issue?

That would certainly be frustrating to finally spring on a brand new boat only to have little issues like this.

Alan

 

[memaquay]

I had one 16 foot prospector in regular tuff stuff layup that has held up quite well. I didn't put skid plates on it, and the stem has been quite robust. Another one, a 17 footer in expedition grade tuff stuff was put through the meat grinder a few times, and in many places the gel coat had been knocked off and the weave exposed. I just thickened epoxy and slathered it into the holes and then sanded then down. So far the repairs are holding.
My over all impression of tuff stuff is kind of neutral, when they were cheap, they were worth it, but I wouldn't pay the prices NC wants now, particularly when Esquif is producing royalex boats at a much cheaper price.

 

[jdeerfoot]

On a Kopka Rv trip in 2017 my buddy and I encountered a group of guys in 2 canoes, one of which was a brand new Nova Craft in Tuff Stuff. They came down from the railroad via the Aldridge Creek route and so encountered most of the rapids on the river ending their trip at Bukamiga Lk. When we ran into them at Bukamiga Lk their new Nova craft had maybe 3 or 4 spots covered with Gorilla Tape due to hull damage. July and early August 2017 was a time of little rain on the Kopka, so running the river at that time was hard on a canoe. Fortunately, we were using my buddy’s Royalex Wenonah Aurora which held up well on the river unlike the Nova Craft.

 

[petit.conan]

Memaquay is pretty spot on. Hard to see the value at the current pricing.

I picked my Expedition Tuffstuff prospector at the factory for $1200 in 2017, it was a trade in from someone else upgrading. Well used but in good condition and I wouldn't feel sorry bouncing it off some rocks on the way down a river. NC had put a new gel coat on it so it was a little heavier then it should be too.

 

[ppine]

I have always liked fiberglass and kevlar boats. They are easy to repair.
I have had a few Royalex boats which stand up to hits pretty well.
There are so many materials now especially if we include kayaks. Avoid any material that epoxy "will not stick to."