Although canoes can’t be made out of Line-X— or can they— this two-part polyurethane elastomer system combines two ingredients, hardener, and resin, directly before application to create the perfect mix of a durable, protective shield.
Outfitters such as The Boundless School across the river from the Canoeroots office, and Algonquin Canoe Company in Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec, have applied it directly as skid plates and entire bottoms of some canoes in an effort to cover, seal and protect from further damage.
Just how tough is it? If you’re going to add eight to 15 pounds to your boat, you should know if it’s going to make a reliable difference.
Given that canoes spend so much time in the water, will the durability hold up the same as it does as truck bedliners?
Between $250 to $350 to apply, it certainly beats buying an entirely new fleet of boats from an outfitter’s perspective. Would individuals feel the need to line their boats with this shield when the standard skid plate repair costs roughly $130?
“Our price was comparable to Kevlar skid plates by the time we buy material and pay someone labor to install them.” says Adrian Meissener of Boundless School.
Line-X will dry in three to five seconds once it’s applied to a surface. A canoe could be done in a matter of minutes, if it weren’t for all of the sanding and buffing of imperfections.
“The prep and the masking is the most time consuming part of the job, and the most important,” says Cameron Symington at Valley Line-X in Petawawa, Ontario.
Symington has covered a variety of different consumers needs with Line-X including garden boxes, interiors of vans and Jeeps, bomb masks for the military, RVs, tool boxes, snow plows for the City of Ottawa and 1000s of pickup truck beds.
“I have done nearly 40 canoes now compared to zero last year at this time” Symington says.
With all of the whitewater canoeing outfitters in the Ottawa Valley, Symington hopes to see more canoes come his way.
