Just came across this Community, glad to have found it. I purchased a 17 ft canoe from a garage sale. Big mess, but for 50 bucks, but i was game to haul it off. I’m sure its an old boyscout project canoe, not sure. There was a TON of extra fiberglass laid in the bottom and a few holes to boot (plus the one i put in loading into my work truck to get it home). The seats weren’t fixed to the gunwales like typical canoes I’ve had. these were “fiberglass’d” into the hull. The thwarts were attached to the gunwales, but that is it. The gunwales were JUST fiberglass, no other support. Once I removed all the excess fiberglass and repaired holes. It looks good, except I am stuck at gunwales. I have all new seats and thwarts and handles, but i don’t want to just hang them from fiber glass. I am tempted to cut about an inch and a half off and fix wood strips to make new gunwales. Not sure about losing the 1.5 inches, and honestly I like the look of the gunwales as they are. I also feel that wood strips (i have 1x1 Oak for this particular option.) would add a great deal of support to the canoe as well. I’m looking for some ideas, thoughts or good convo I can take some ideas from! Much appreciated and thanks!
Pictures would help.
Shipping gunwales in the mail is difficult because they are so long.
You can make wood ones.
You can order vinyl or aluminum ones cut in half.
I’ll post some pics as soon as possible! (Good call)
Ed’s Canoe has two piece gunwhale system that comes in several sizes. I have used them before and they work well.
https://yhst-61200424364131.stores.yahoo.net/14kndogusy.html
If you cut down that boat and rerail it you are going to be investing a lot of time and money no matter what route you take. Quite frankly, it doesn’t sound as if it is worth that kind of investment.
Also some boats are designed in such a way that the upper portion of the hull and the gunwales are not sturdy enough to hang seats from and support the weight of the paddler(s).
If the existing gunwales are functional and you just want to mount new seats, carry handles and thwarts, I think you could get by a lot more cheaply by mounting the seats on some hardwood blocks fiberglassed into the sides of the hull. You could mount handles and seats on short wood blocks glassed in just beneath the inwales if the existing inwales are not wide or sturdy enough to mount them under.
Photos would be helpful.
You can also use 1 1/4 PVC if you have a way of cutting a channel on it. I use my table saw to do it so its straight. That would be less expensive than wood.