On a 12 day expedition :
On the first day, we had to pass two level 3 rapids. After the first rapid we had to stop for repairs because every kayak had at least 2 punctures in the hull. In the group there was a Triton (wood skeleton) which broke 2 stringers and punctured 3 holes in its hull. A Taimen 2(duralumin) punctured 4 holes in the hull, but the skeleton was fine. A Taimen 3(duralumin) punctured 4 or 5 holes and dented 1 stringer. We had to find a way to allow the kayaks to pass through the complicated rapids. To fix the Taimens we just quickly glued the holes in the hull with rubber and dry cement, the only long part was waiting for it to dry. To fix the dented stringer we warmed it over a fire and used the Y of a tree to bend it back into shape. We also lined the stringers on the inside of the Taimen with foam. With the triton we had a serious problem. We had to use wood bond glue and a piece of wood to fix the broken stringers.
During the rest of the trip our Taimen 2 and 3 was undamaged. The Triton traveled at a delayed speed and had to be prompted about which path to take through the rapids so it would not break any stringers or obtain any holes (since it had no space to line the stringers with foam). The rapids were about 50-100m long except for one that was 500m. When we got to the 500m one, there were enormous rocks and standing waves about 1.5-2m high. After discussing as a group we decided to go pack up and pass the rapids by land. Another good thing about the Taimen 2 is when we picked it up with about 75kg extra weight (from food and baggage), it didn't snap or break (we didn't disassemble it). We easily carried it across. But me and my son decided to travel through the rapid.
We emptied the kayak and put one inflatable mattress in the front and back so we wouldn't sink if we flipped over. We put on life jackets and helmets. We tied the paddles to the kayak so they would not sink. We took off the rudder so the high waves wouldn't toss us into wrong directions. The rest of our group stood on the land spread across the rapid with safety ropes, that they would throw incase of emergency. After getting ready we left shore and slowly approached the first 2m wave. As we passed through a streak of colossal waves we couldn't hear anything except the thundering sound of the crashing water. The main task was to control the kayak and follow the best path. As we passed through the middle of the rapid a strong wave hit us and the kayak turned and crashed into a huge rock. The kayak lifted right up on top, my son was sitting right on top of the rock. As I held the kayak steady from the bottom my son tried to get the front, off the rock. If I didn't hold it steady we would have been turned around and sent down backwards. All our tries to get off the rock didn't work, the kayak wouldn't move except further up the rock. I started to give in a little and the current started slowly turning us around.
The current then took us down backwards though the rapids. With our last strength we tried to turn the kayak around, we managed to turn it sideways. We were turning more but it wasn't enough, in front of us was a gate about 3m wide. Considering our kayak was about 5m long, it would be snapped in half. As I paddled hard to turn the back, my son used his paddle to hit the rock so the kayak would hopefully deflect off the rock with minimal impact and hopefully turn and pass in between. The hull crashed into the rock but bounced and immediately slipped past, down the wave. We fell from about 1.5m wave and completely went underwater. We barley had enough time to take a breath so we wouldn't drown. After we got back to the surface we were facing rocks and more rocks, dead on. We couldn't even paddle; we only used our paddles to push off the rocks to try to avoid collision. After the barrage of rocks we were going with the current, but the current was going right into a cliff. Now that the rapid was over, this was the final challenge. The water was deflecting off the cliff and we realized that we could just give up paddling, since the water deflecting would just push us away and we would avoid collision. The water calmed and we passed the rapid. After that 500m deadly rapid our boat didn't have any holes, dents, or broken stringer.
Now imagine this same situation with a wooden boat, there would have been at least two broken stringers. Since most of the famous wooden boats don't have space to place foam to line the stringers, and also cost a fortune.
Told by Sergei Svirid former professional tourist guide.
