repair kit for fibreglass canoe?

We talk canoes here, not sailboats.
Fiberglass canoes do not “dent” and pounding them with a rock has no utility whatsoever. If you do not want readers to think you have lost your mind, be specific about what sort of boat you were “fixing.”

fiberglass repair
You may provide repair advice, but you present it in a way most people would not want to hear.

fiberglass repair
Since you weren’t there, we can ignore your opinion.

I know whose opinion I respect
From my experience it can happen that fiberglass fibers break and if there are two breaks there can be a dent. Pounding with a rock is hilarious! That means you want to weaken the rest of the fibers that might be intact?



Its happened that I have folded a composite boat 70 miles from the end of the trip in NE Ontario. Duct Tape to the rescue. I am lucky there was no hole. Another time in Wabakimi a fast slam into a rock that cracked the foam core and bent the gunwales. Thankfully no hole.



In mild whitewater have put a crack in the glass and gel coat of one boat. No dent.



So who cares if its dent or crack? You are certainly angling for more extensive repairs if you use a rock to mash all the remaining fibers and resin. Better to duct tape and live with the misshape.

If you want people to understand you,

– Last Updated: Sep-11-13 1:30 PM EST –

you have to describe "you weren't there" in a way that accords with their past experience. None of us was there. Are any of our opinions to be ignored?

Based on your descriptions, I cannot imagine what sort of fiberglass damage confronted you. I've seen plenty of damaged FG, and I've fixed some of it, and it never looked like what you are describing. Not my heavy, thick FG boats, and not my very thin, flexible FG/Kevlar boats.

I've never seen a situation where pounding damaged fiberglass laminate with a rock would have been useful, or other-than-damaging. Kicking and stomping an aluminum canoe, certainly. Prying, kicking, and stomping a Royalex canoe, certainly. But not any of the wide range of canoe fiberglass I've dealt with.

fiberglass repair
We were trying to get home. The boat that was damaged was an old, not very good boat to begin with. The fiberglass was brittle. After the boat swamped in some big rapids it smacked some big rocks. The damage was extensive. The only way to get the contours of the boat lined up was to persuade them with a rock. Otherwise it would not have been impossible to use duct tape to fill an opening of around 8-10 inches.



My friend was surprised that we got the boat home at all. I am glad that you think it was so funny.

repair
You guys don’t have as much experience as you think you do.

repair
The boat was a total loss. Damaging the fibers was not relevant. Just because you haven’t seen it before is no reason to make fun of someone else’s experience.



Most experienced canoeists that I have met would react much differently- as in. I have never heard of that one before. Tell us more.

Well, now I sort of understand.
But do you see why your original account made no sense at all?



I guess you were slugging the boat to knock jagged, broken pieces back into position. Not a situation to be encountered very often.



As for repair expertise, mine is so orthodox that it is not likely to be totally wrong. The real issue in fixing composite boats is the ingenuity needed to succeed with a particular problem.

repair
Do you see that it makes no sense to accuse someone of being out of their mind and not knowing the difference between a fiberglass boat and some other kind of boat?

take it to Band B
g2d has probably more experience than the rest of us re repair of all sorts of boats.



Of course you have not read any of his blogs over on Song of the Paddle I suspect.

repair
No. I am not interested in reading anything he has written. He could be a great source of knowledge, but you would never know it by his posts here.

Wait a while, and go back and read
your initial post. And we have had any number of people on pnet who don’t know the difference between FG, AL, and Royalex.

Somebody better put a post in reply…
to the OP’s post, because if I decide to be a meanie, I gang wipe the whole gang of you out with one mighty

“edit” !!!



Now start behaving nice to each other or else!



Jack L

The answer is pretty obvious
If you do multi day trips in wilderness you need to make some sort of repairs. I have taken duct tape back in the early 90’s to temp fix glass.



Then I jettisoned the glass. I wrapped my Kev boat in Temagami where there is no road access for about a four day paddle. Duct tape to the rescue. I can vouch that it worked as the kevlar folded. Had it holed I had heavy duty plastic. No field tests on that one.



Now waiting for the next silly volley.


fiberglass
Don’t assume everyone that paddles is in that category.

There will be less risk of that if they
don’t talk like they belong in that class.



And note that no ww paddler of composite boats I have ever known would trust repair to someone who made composite sailboats. It’s another world.



You are welcome to impress us with your relevant expertise on any occasion. Maybe you have it. But getting indignant isn’t going to cut it.

fiberglass
I have repaired lots of fiberglass canoes. From wrapped boats, to delaminated boats, to simple holes punched in the side. Just because I built fiberglass sailboats for a living doesn’t mean that I haven’t spent a lot time working on fiberglass canoes and building wooden sea kayaks.



Stop insulting people and you will have a lot fewer problems in your life.

Start setting forth your ideas clearly,
so that you are not subject to misunderstanding.



I still wouldn’t let you touch one of my boats. Not if I was crippled and stranded.

Duct Tape and epoxy putty
I carry good Duct Tape(3M 3939)and a tube of epoxy putty.

The duct tape won’t stick to wet surfaces. But once the hull was dry I’ve made temporary repairs that lasted through several days of class III rock pounding (Dead River ME).

Never yet had to use the putty but it’s small in my pack so I keep bringing it.



On our Allagash trip last week Wickerbut brought a GFlex repair kit. We had no need for the cloth but did use the epoxy to re-glue a kneepad that came loose.