Well just a few days after starting a thread about paddling my Bell Northstar solo, uggggggg.
I was doing some work in the garage and needed the room, so I moved the canoe to the yard on sawhorses. A large limb fell from a tree and hit the canoe. I have the Kevlight and a seven inch slice in it (now). As well, the aluminum gunwals have a small dent (yes crimped). How to mend the tear?? and I am thinking if I need to replace the guns, i might as well get wood. Do I get them from Bell??? The gunwals appear to be attached with rivots at this time. How will the wood be conected?? Is this something I can do myself, or no???/
thanks in advance.
Steve
Replacing the gunnels
– Last Updated: Apr-02-10 8:45 PM EST –
with wood can be a do it yourself project, if you have decent woodworking skills. You should be able to purchase fully milled gunnels from Bell. As for attachment, they are clamped in place and then screwed together. Wood screws go through the inwales into the outwales throughout most of the gunnel length. As you approach the stems, there is not enough room to work from inside out, so the last few scews go from the outside in. You'll likely need new decks and seat hangers. I'm not sure if those used with the aluminum gunnels will work or not. CEW or the folks from Bell can tell you. I suspect the existing thwarts can be reused. The problem with getting new gunnels at a conscionable price is the shipping. Pretty much, you'll have to wait until your dealer has a shipment of boats coming. Shipping them separately is VERY costly. An alternative is to have new gunnels milled and installed locally. I've done this several times.
The slice in the kevlar will need to be patched either with fiberglass or a combination of fiberglass and kevlar. It won't be possible to make the patch invisible, but it can be done neatly.
Marc Ornstein
Dogpaddle Canoe Works
Custom Paddles and Cedar Strip Canoes
Eds canoe
I have been directed to eds canoe (.com) and I see the knockdown gunwale system. Has anyone used it, will that work for me?
I’ve gotten good advice from Ed’s
I’d ask them how they think they’d work for you.
home owners insurance ??
First,I feel your pain.That sucks.
I did both those things last year
And recorded it for posterity, http://www.free-canoe.blogspot.com/
I am by know means as expert as other here, and I think you boat is much nicer, but feel free to contact me with any questions.
Bell might give advice, or maybe
CE Wilson will stop by with a plan. I’m writing something up, but it’s long so I’ll have to finish it and post later.
You might put your location in a profile, in case you are near help.
location
Florida, gulf side. Headed to Michigan May
Is the tear in the hull tending to sit
so that the edges are right where they belong, or are they open, overlapping, or askew?
clean
the rip appears to be a clean one. I will try to post a photo or two some time tomorrow. I can see that once patched it will show a white line from the outside.
pictures
Not sure how to get a few pictures on here. I would be happy to email them to anyone willing to take a look and advise. , thanks
May not need a picture, if the rip is
clean and the edges are tending to stay in place. In that case, probably a simple three layer Kevlar patch will suffice. Whether you want to do it yourself or find someone who will do it for you is another issue.
thanks
I just ordered all my wood replacments from edscanoe.com the gunwhales come in pieces so they can be shipped. I am hoping I can use the yoke (wood) that I have, but everything else will be replaced. Do I buy kevlar patch at West Marine??
I imagine they have it. You can check
their prices against those of sweetcomposites.com. I think Sweet may still be a source for West Epoxy, but I haven’t checked recently. If you bias-cut carefully, you should get enough patch material out of a square yard or less of 5 oz Kevlar. The repair can be made with glass, and it might actually blend in better. Also, glass can be sanded, and then lightly varnished so the original Kevlar shows through. But Kevlar is stronger for inside patching.
I need to finish that repair description and post here or send it to you.
thanks
thanks for the ideas. I am looking into something like this.