Category: Canoe Repairs

Got over to the shop Sunday night to work on the boat a little. Biggest goals of the evening were to remove the plastic sheeting covering the epoxy patches on the hull exterior, assess & sand the ends of the gunwales where I have been filling with epoxy, and if they are ready, to oil the gunwale ends at the same time as putting on another coat of oil on the rails.

Well, the patches turned out pretty good. Using the popsicle stick as a squeegee of sorts worked well, the patches don’t have as much of a noticeable transition between hull and patch. The biggest patch will need a little more work, but that’s mostly due to my using multiple sheets of plastic to get the job done. The gunwale ends look good too. They required a fair amount of sanding to get the gunwales out from the epoxy, however. I wanted to leave the shop about 10:30 but because of what I was doing I didn’t get away until closer to 11PM. The gunwales got their first wet sand using the oil… I lightly sanded the whole undersides & sides with 180 grit then after dry wiping I brushed on a coat of oil, taking the time to go over the gunwale ends a couple times. The end grain didn’t wick up the oil as much as I thought it might, perhaps this is due to the epoxy work & the grain sucking up resin? After the undersides were oiled I flipped the boat over & put into the cradles so I could apply a coat of oil to the topsides. After going around the whole boat a couple times I came back with a clean piece of 180 grit and after applying a little bit of oil to the paper I rubbed the wet visible surfaces with the paper. Without wiping off the oil I went through and brushed on another coat of oil all around.

I also remembered to bring pipe cleaners this time so I could go around and really coat the interior of all the thwart & seat hanger holes.

Next up – Lightly sand the big interior kevlar patch to remove high spots and remove gloss, fair the hull exterior, keep the project moving forward.

Won’t get another chance to work on it until April.

Got over to the shop for a quick couple hours tonight. Took the opportunity to do all the epoxy fill patches on the boat. 6 spots in total where I sanded spider web cracks and filled with neat epoxy and then covered with plastic wrap. We’ll see maybe this weekend how they turned out. Also used the leftover to finish filling the bow and stern stems where the gunwales come together. As I write this I’m waiting for the epoxy to start to gel so I can remove the tape around the bow and stern stems so it doesn’t get embedded in the epoxy. Can’t take any photos at the moment since the phone is playing music.

I still need to fair the exterior patches, sand and smooth the patch on the inside so it doesn’t have ragged little peaks from the plastic, sand the ends of the gunwales, apply more oil everywhere on the gunwales – but especially the stems, and go over the exterior with the random orbital to prep for the clear coats.

I want this boat ready for the marathon in May, I should be able to make that deadline but will need to budget time smartly in order to make it.

Looks like I’m going to the bwca with E and D this August. Need to decide on an EP, although I’m considering the Kawishiwi Triangle. I should research blueberry reports for that area.

Still got a few more minutes before I can pull the tape…..

Another couple hours at the shop working on the boat tonight. Focus was on sanding the ends on the gunwales where I did the epoxy filling the other day. I think the filling mostly turned out ok, and am glad I did it.

Also sanded the rails in anticipation of another coat of oil, maybe I can get over for an hour later this week.

Thinking I may need to do a circular Kevlar patch on the starboard side too. There’s a couple whitish patches I overlooked before and they correspond to spots on the outside that I want to sand and fill.

Got over to the shop for a 4+ hour session Saturday night. I taped off the hull under the gunwales and sanded then oiled the rails except for the very top on both ends. At the stems I made a dam and worked  neat epoxy with sawdust mixed in into the gaps to fill. Came back today to remove the plastic and any embedded tape while the resin was still soft. I may want to do a little more filling but generally I’m happy with the result.

I also got the remainder of the damaged gelcoat taped off and will sand and possibly epoxy next visit. We shall see .

Want to maybe come by for an hour this week to get another coat of oil applied and maybe wet sanded.

I stopped by the shop the evening after I laid up the glass and resin to take off the peel ply. Had one spot about the middle of the patch which came off…. Thought the smart thing was to try to chip it off, which only made it get bigger. Sandpaper, dumbass. I came back the next night and sanded off the bad spot. Thankfully it only just barely exposed some glass and I was going to apply a fill coat anyhow. Think I did a better job with it this time around.

Forgot to get a photo of the sanded spot as well as before the peel ply. Ah well. Leaving the ply on until the weekend to allow extra time for curing. There’s still a couple other places on the outside that need attention but they’re all not on the same plane as the current repair, so I wouldn’t be able to epoxy and glass (if needed) without sags. Also, I really need to finish the wales. It’s starting to bother me. Maybe that’ll be the focus next time I’m there.

Anyhow, here’s a couple pictures of the side after putting ply on it.

I also glued the chipped out ends of the inwales that came out of the bow. I’ve been thinking I’ll use epoxy to fill both the bow and stern under the gunwales where the inner and outer pieces meet.

Got over to the shop tonight and even though it was a late start I still got the fiberglass cut and laid out on the hull! 3 pumps of resin and hardener was just enough and I think I did a good job with the peel ply. I’ll find out in a couple days.

After the side is done I’m going to pay attention to the bow and stern ends and see about filling them with thickened colored epoxy. I also chipped off a fair amount of loose gel coat from the bow stem.

Apparently I didn’t take any after photos before I left the shop. Oops….