Plastic kayaks and the plug

I've thought it about it that way, but the plug works like the cap on
an empty plastic bottle: Take it out and you can crush it.

So my new kayak was bent when I forgot to put the plug and we sat on
the wrong place. Luckily the dealer gave us the right advice, which is
to plug it back on and let the heat expand it. Great!

Another secondary question is, if the kayak stays in the sun should I
leave the plug on or will it "cook" it? The second time it bent is
when I was transporting it, and I cinched it without the plug and it
bent again. Same solution as above.

I hear they get bent our of shape when transported on racks with tight
straps...

Thanks!

you aren't using ratcheting straps are you?
They apply more pressure than you realize and could bend a boat without too
much trouble. I use webbing with cam-locks. Drive a couple miles then stop
and check tightness. Stuff moves around riding on racks, any rack.

Bill B


"KingOfTheApes" <comandante.banana.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:587f21a8-2fc4-4537-9f32-b18aedd1b3b3@79g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
> I've thought it about it that way, but the plug works like the cap on
> an empty plastic bottle: Take it out and you can crush it.
>
> So my new kayak was bent when I forgot to put the plug and we sat on
> the wrong place. Luckily the dealer gave us the right advice, which is
> to plug it back on and let the heat expand it. Great!
>
> Another secondary question is, if the kayak stays in the sun should I
> leave the plug on or will it "cook" it? The second time it bent is
> when I was transporting it, and I cinched it without the plug and it
> bent again. Same solution as above.
>
> I hear they get bent our of shape when transported on racks with tight
> straps...
>
> Thanks!