Royalex repair and nature of damage

[bonpawtuck]

I'm thinking about picking up a 2008 Wenonah Aurora in Royalex that popped up locally. The listing notes one 'ding' in addition to superficial scratches. However, photos of the damage from the seller created more questions than answers for me (it was rainy in the first 3 photos, hence the shine).

I'm curious if anyone here has any speculations about the nature of the damage and/or thoughts on how to proceed? It almost looks melted to me. Also, the cream-colored areas look like exposed ABS, but the seller said the texture is pretty much the same as the vinyl. So maybe a manufacturing defect? The damage was already there when the seller bought it, and they've been using it without issue for a few years. There's no apparent damage on the inside of the hull.

I've done some learning about Royalex repair using G/flex and fiberglass or Dynel cloth, and I wouldn't mind giving this a try--probably with a square patch covering the whole area for peace of mind. Because of the location, I don't imagine it being difficult to roll out nice and flat...

I value y'all's input.

 

[Gamma1214]

I agree that it certainly doesn't look like a difficult area to work on & it's probably a great candidate for a first repair.

I'd also be curious about what actually caused the damage since the rest of the bottom looks pretty pristine... Too bad the current owner can't tell you more but it sure looks like it might have come in contact with something hot & melted a bit.

Either way, I'd think repairs would be the same and sanding, filling & covering with a patch should suffice.

Rather than paint, I wonder if you could mix some gel stain into the epoxy to color match? (might want to do a test panel of that before trying it on the Aurora)

 

[bonpawtuck]

I agree that it certainly doesn't look like a difficult area to work on & it's probably a great candidate for a first repair.

I'd also be curious about what actually caused the damage since the rest of the bottom looks pretty pristine... Too bad the current owner can't tell you more but it sure looks like it might have come in contact with something hot & melted a bit.

Either way, I'd think repairs would be the same and sanding, filling & covering with a patch should suffice.

Rather than paint, I wonder if you could mix some gel stain into the epoxy to color match? (might want to do a test panel of that before trying it on the Aurora)

Thanks, and yeah--more than anything I'm curious about what caused the damage.

I like the idea of tinting the epoxy and will probably give that a go. I'll try to do some experimenting with different colors and amounts (on a test panel) and report back. I don't expect to find a perfect match, of course, but something in the ballpark of standard canoe green.

 

[Gamma1214]

I'm not sure if they still make it (I bought mine during Ace Hardware close-out) but the Unicorn Spit that I used on my Merlin build seemed compatible with epoxy. Their website is still up so that might be something...