Hello,
After 5 years of paddling the Kenduskeag stream race going on to our 6th this April I decided to pick up a new/used craft besides the flat-bottomed, wide and shallow no-name canoe we have been suffering with for years. Anyway I picked up a 16’ Old Town Discovery that is a huge upgrade and is in great shape overall besides some scrapes on the bottom that I will be purchasing the correct epoxy for and as pictured this indented/warped area on the bow. Now clearly the dowels are bent and I have found new ones online but I am not sure if that will provide sufficient opposing pressure to fix the issue? I wasn’t sure if there were any other suggestions or a different type of bracket that may assist with this? Any help will be appreciated and I am excited to be paddling this craft come April! Thanks.
its a vinyl clad aluminum gunwale
The alu is bent. You need a new expensive gunwale
Its above waterline
Forget about and go forth and run 6 mile and Shopping Cart
That dent has little effect on your race result
@kayamedic said:
its a vinyl clad aluminum gunwale
The alu is bent. You need a new expensive gunwale
Its above waterline
Forget about and go forth and run 6 mile and Shopping Cart
That dent has little effect on your race result
Thanks for the quick reply! The canoe we ran for the past 5 years had a similar dent farrr worse than this. I appreciate it.
What class are you registering for?
I might be a river vulture
Bet water will be high!
Center line all the way baby!
There is a ton of snowpack upstream
Wonder how that happened - something fall on it? It adds character, and you can come up with some great tall tales about banging into rocks while running class 5 rapids. I have a similar wrap to the gunnel of my tandem canoe - still paddles fine. Looks like a fun race - reminds me of the Westfield Wildwater Race down here in the south (of New England).
@kayamedic said:
What class are you registering for?
I might be a river vulture
Bet water will be high!
Center line all the way baby!
There is a ton of snowpack upstream
We are just doing beginner because we never have any idea what we are doing each year and our canoe was horrible. Hopefully our outcome will change this year with a craft that has some speed because we would be paddling for our lives on flat and the thing would just not move. Since 2014 we have experienced all water levels so we are more ready this year!
@eckilson said:
Wonder how that happened - something fall on it? It adds character, and you can come up with some great tall tales about banging into rocks while running class 5 rapids. I have a similar wrap to the gunnel of my tandem canoe - still paddles fine. Looks like a fun race - reminds me of the Westfield Wildwater Race down here in the south (of New England).
Not sure just bought it yesterday…guy said he never noticed it but I know it doesn’t affect the craft but I am just OCD but it will get more damage since this is now a tradition for life! It’s really only noticeable in the pictures. Standing above it you have to be inline perfectly to see any crease.
I would not dismiss the damage; I have straightened bent gunnels that were far worse than this using c-clamps, Kant-twist clamps and drawing the bend out against a solid 2 x 4. Give it a shot!
@Out of Line said:
I would not dismiss the damage; I have straightened bent gunnels that were far worse than this using c-clamps, Kant-twist clamps and drawing the bend out against a solid 2 x 4. Give it a shot!
I would postpone as the damage isn’t going to affect the running in the race… This 17 mile ( 10 flat followed by 7 whitwater) has real opportunity for canoe remodeling and a yard sale… Most people with pristine boats take the Six Mile Falls portage which is a mucky slidy mess.
One year we ran Six Mile straight down center and passed over three submerged wrapped boats ( almost all Old Towns…very near Old Town and the most popular make). Quite a mess of stuff all over the place including a spider web of throw lines ( Every FD that has a deepwater river rescue crew sends a team, which is nice because most participants are not dressed for lengthy immersion)
Keagcanoe2014 do you have enough duct tape to fashion a full bow spray deck? And a truck inner tube for center flotation?
@Out of Line said:
I would not dismiss the damage; I have straightened bent gunnels that were far worse than this using c-clamps, Kant-twist clamps and drawing the bend out against a solid 2 x 4. Give it a shot!
I am happy to find out this canoe is actually a 2014 Penobscot 16 Royalex after speaking with Old Town this morning! Told me what epoxy to get for some scraping on the bottom and they’re hooking me up with a new gunwale for a steep discount 
For the race I will run it with the bent one as I don’t mind but it was too good of a deal to pass up the new part.
@kayamedic said:
I would postpone as the damage isn’t going to affect the running in the race… This 17 mile ( 10 flat followed by 7 whitwater) has real opportunity for canoe remodeling and a yard sale… Most people with pristine boats take the Six Mile Falls portage which is a mucky slidy mess.
One year we ran Six Mile straight down center and passed over three submerged wrapped boats ( almost all Old Towns…very near Old Town and the most popular make). Quite a mess of stuff all over the place including a spider web of throw lines ( Every FD that has a deepwater river rescue crew sends a team, which is nice because most participants are not dressed for lengthy immersion)
Keagcanoe2014 do you have enough duct tape to fashion a full bow spray deck? And a truck inner tube for center flotation?
So this is our 6th year doing it. We are going to be prepared. I scored an inflatable from nextadventure.net for $75 and I always wear a wetsuit but have been practicing the Wim Hof method for the past 2 month and love playing in ice cold water now! I will be looking up some ideas for a spray deck as we did duct tape last year but there are some other designs I saw too that I liked. We always carry a spare paddle too tied down since we always lose one a year. Other than that sun tan lotion, water and snacks are a important too!
Pre coffee… WTF is the Wim Hof Method…? I still don’t know but I did get a cuppa and googled it… It seems to me a way to adapting to immersion in cold water as best as possible by preadapting and breathing control and mindfulness… How has it worked for you?
Any others using it?
What paddles are you using? I love the oft seen confguration of ZRE Power Surge paddles and Old Town RX anythings.
I am a drysuit person… With a Depends on underneath… I cant run in the woods fast enough to pee and the facilities in the park in Bangor have a line that after that long on the water I can’t wait for.
@kayamedic said:
Pre coffee… WTF is the Wim Hof Method…? I still don’t know but I did get a cuppa and googled it… It seems to me a way to adapting to immersion in cold water as best as possible by preadapting and breathing control and mindfulness… How has it worked for you?
Any others using it?What paddles are you using? I love the oft seen confguration of ZRE Power Surge paddles and Old Town RX anythings.
I am a drysuit person… With a Depends on underneath… I cant run in the woods fast enough to pee and the facilities in the park in Bangor have a line that after that long on the water I can’t wait for.
TMI but a good idea .
lol, pee breaks are the worst with the wet suit. The Wim Hoff method is going quite well. Do get odd temperature swings but when I am doing a activity I get so hot that I feel I’m almost over heating and the shock of jumping right into cold water is completely gone and at that point I could begin swimming/get back in the boat and warm back up almost immediately.