by Boyd Ruppelt
I did a lot of research before squishing my boat. It really
isn't all that hard to
do. I used 4 sandbags,a piece of a 2by4 and a heat gun.
I took out the foam walls
and set the 2by4(about a ft and 1/2-2ft long) over the
Riot logo so that I wouldn't
bend it. Then I possitioned the sandbags in the possition
that I wanted them and
checked to make sure every thing was even. I hopped in
to see if it was about right
and when I felt like I was ready, I turned on the heat
gun and went to work. The
main areas to be heated are the transitions, areas of
thick plasic, and around the
cotpit. If these areas aren't heated properly then it
won't stay squished at all. I
turned the heat gun on high and moved along about an
inch to 1/2in off of the
plastic and very very slowly. You can see the boat getting
a little glossy behind
the gun as you move. Don't do this to slow or you'll
burn the plastic. (***remember
that the weight is possitioned before the boat is heated***).
Be sure to heat
around the 2by4 and sand bags very well too. If you look
closely you can see a set
of "ribs" of extra thick plastic going from the knee
bumps around the cotpit down
to the tip of the bow. Be sure to really heat this area
too. You need to heat
around ANY area that you see bend when you put the weight
on it. If you deside that
you want to make the hull more concaved you need to heat
in a triangle around the
area that you want to sink. Every so often you need to
feel the boat to see how
well you're heating it. Let a section sit for about 30seconds
and then feel it and
you shouldn't be able to leave your hand there too long
because it should be very
hot. You want the areas that you heat to look wet(or
swetty) also known as glossy.
If it isn't, then it isn't hot enough. Be sure
to heat around the edges of the
hull and side walls very well too. If you deside
to add more rocker then before
you heat it, you need to put something under the bow
to hold it in place and the
prop up the stern until the bow looks like you want it.
When you're through with
all of this the you can let it cool. just go back out
and check on it and if it
still feels warm then leave it out a little longer. You
might even want to heat the
inside of the boat just a little but you don't really
have to. You can modify this
technique to fit your own style and make adjust ments
to your boat even after
you've squished it. You can also undo anything that you
think is squished too far
or squish it even more. It all depends on personal preferance
and the size of the
paddler. I also added foot bumps(slightly) by using the
curved lines coming from
the riot logo. All you have to do is cut the foam how
you want it and put it in
place when you squish your boat. keep in mind that the
glide is a crosslink boat(at
least mine is) and it's a lot stronger than normal boats
and it can take a lot more
abuse. so use this method with caution when squishing
other boats. Every boat has
it's own squish points that we have to find. You have
to use the curves of the boat
to do what you want. You might even have to do this process
several times to get it
right or before it works. Also keep in mind that you
DON'T want to crease the boat.
This can be dangerous to you and the boat. Go for a nice
curve and smooth
transition. I learned all of this with my own experience.
It took me a month to
find the right squish points on my boat and to learn
how to use them. You can also
squish the stern to matck the bow and add rocker to it
too. The Glide is an awesome
boat, and now mine is even better. If you burn the plastic
then you can work fast
and rub the brown marks off, but keep in mind that there
is a slight week spot
there. You can also use the heat gun to burn off flakes
of plastic and to repair
damaged crosslink. You need to use care while doing this
too. Hope this helps.
later,
-----Boyd
A pic of the stern and of Boyd throwin a split at the
rockport Rendezvous
rodeo - He got 5th in expert.
Here's another view of the bow.
Here's a pic of the boat in action. that's Boyd landing a blunt on the NOC wave.
Here's a pic from the bottom. That's Boyd throwin ends
in Tiger's Jaw hole(a
nasty little sucker-mostly for downstream rocks and pin
spots).
Here's another picture of the Glide in an eddy