Newsletter
February 2010 - Congratulations To Our Contest Winner!!
It's as easy as filling out a form to get our newsletter! Brian Buchardt from Peterbourugh was our lucky winner in this years Winter Newsletter Contest. Brian won a brand new set of Libtech Skis and Bindings just for filling out our form online. Check back for our Summer giveway as you could be the next!! Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter! click here.
January 2010 - Tips for Canoe Maintenace and Storage
Lots of people never give much thought to their canoe when it concerns winter storage. They'll turn it hull-up and tuck it under the eaves of the barn or garage. That's fine for aluminum or fiberglass canoes with aluminum or vinyl gunwales, because the hull and gunwales are virtually maintenance-free.
Other types of canoes and kayaks, though, need and deserve more attention to survive winter's subzero and fluctuating temperatures.
Canoes with Fiberglass hull with wood rails: Coat the rails with Watco oil to protect the quality of the wood through the drying and saturating extremes of winter. To do it, first lightly sand the rails, then apply the oil in a dust-free 50-degree F ventilated space.
Royalex (ABS) canoes with wood gunwales: These truly bombproof whitewater boats show their Achilles' heel with the onset of winter. Royalex has a high shrink coefficiency, and will contract significantly as the mercury drops below zero. Wood gunwales, however, contract at a radically different rate, and the resulting pressure can cause cracks in the hull laminate, which seriously compromises the boat's structural integrity.
The good news is that "cold cracks" are utterly avoidable by one of two methods. You can store the boat in your cellar with the lawn furniture and inflatable Godzilla. Or, you can loosen the gunwale screws (almost completely). Just remember to tighten them up come spring!