Peter Blanc - XL 13 (Before and After)

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Peter Blanc created a flickr photo album in which he explains the diagnosis and prognosis for his XL 13. To view the entire photo album documenting the project from start to finish and to read Peter's description of the repair stages, click here. 

Here's Peter on restoring his XL 13:

This collection of albums details the repair and reoutfitting of a venerable, old Royalex whitewater canoe. I will probably use this boat for canoe camping and downriver trips on Class I-II rivers.

I found cracks beneath the old "rodeo style" foam pedestal that extended all the way through the Royalex foam core. Water seeping through these cracks had presumably resulted in delamination of the exterior, thinned-out solid ABS layer of the Royalex creating a sizable void between the core and the outer ABS layer. In addition the stems had significant abrasion damage with abrasion into the foam core at the stern.

After repairs and reoutfitting were completed and the hull bottom was painted, Peter had this to say:

Although the boat looks better and I believe it to be sound, it still has plenty of battle scars for character as befits an old whitewater canoe. As the old saying goes "once a beater, always a beater."