Another Gunwale Repair Question

It appears that the screw threads are no longer gripping my outwale as there is now a gap between the outer and inner gunwales. In my canoe the screws are inserted from the inwale to the outwale, except by the two decks. Is it a simple mater of removing the inwale, inserting and gluing a thin dowel in the hole of the outwale and then reattaching the inwale? If so, will any type of wood work for the dowel? I would probably just go to Home Depot and get a dowel there. Thanks.

West System G Flex epoxy
I use epoxy to fill the holes. It helps to have a so-called dental syringe with a fine, drawn out tip. Put some epoxy in the syringe and fill the enlarged holes from the bottom. May take a couple of applications to completely fill the hole. Once the epoxy is cured, drill a pilot hole a bit smaller than your #8 screws.



I suspect any epoxy will work but I like G Flex for this purpose since it bonds very well to wood and can be easily mixed up in very small batches.



Sure you can use Titebond or some good wood glue to bond in some short lengths of hardwood dowel, or even pieces of wooden matchsticks, but I have had very good luck using epoxy.

Do not use a dowel
They have zero screw holding ability in the end grain.



Any 15 minute epoxy thickened with “something” will work.



The something can be sawdust, wood flour, micro-balloons.



Clean out the stripped holes with a drill and inject with Pete’s syringe.

Sounds like DougD’s gunwale issue
You may want to read through this thread regarding separation of gunwales:

http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=1597453



If yours is a simple screw pulling out, why not abandon the existing holes and install two new screws into new holes either side of the pulled-out screw? You’d still need to fill the existing holes to prevent water intrusion into the gunwale, but I think you’d have a better repair.



~~Chip