Bought this canoe of marketplace as my first and started repairing it. Going to change just about everything on it hardware wise but I wasnt sure how I wanted to go about cleaning the floor. I had acetone out because I was using it to wipe down gelcoat as I sanded. I poured a small bit out and scrubbed with my rag and it did clean really well but 60 seconds later the fiberglass got this white stain around where I poured and I knew it was grim. I scrubbed with water for like 30 minutes and called it quits and left town for the weekend. Today when I flipped it over the stain color was on both sides presumably from the water taking it over? Figured it wouldve come right off… a pressure washer wouldnt take it all the way off. Soooo what did I do and what is my recourse? Seems like the acetone ate at the resin over the fiberglass or something. How to fix? The small spot where the white color goes from very white to faded is all the pressure washer would do. Made the fiber glass feel different so I was definitely doing damage. The way the pattern is looks like pooled water but it was upside down.
I am by no means an expert. My guess is that it removed a layer of varnish. A coat of fresh Spar varnish may bring it around.
Spar varnish will also protect the wood insert from U.V. damage.
What is the brand and model?
Agree with previous comments. Acetone evaporates quickly. Brief exposure to acetone should not harm gelcoat, epoxy, or fiberglass, but will remove wax and some other sealants. The boat is somewhat disfigured but probably fully seaworthy.
Some options to try are to apply a marine varnish or wax. Test on a small area first. If this does not work, you could remove the wax and apply a marine epoxy paint or a layer of gelcoat. The last two are a bit extreme and best applied by spray gun after proper surface preparation. Before I did that I might take to boat to a boatyard that does hull repairs and see what they say. What you have is likely not unheard of.
At worse you caused the surface to “blush” . Look for an easier solution than that.
If me I’d prefer the Marine varnish with UF protection. Applying denatured alcohol on the test area it should the wood strips underneath. Water works too. If it shows clear when wet you are lucky.
Tape off a test area. Clean with alcohol . Paint with marine varnish and see what happens. If good lightly sand with 120 to 220 grit to help bond and do two or three coats. Look up Nick Schade u-tube videos on applying varnish.
If you “blushed” the gel coat or epoxy coat you will have sanding and coating. Would personally paint over gel coating. Gel coat effects me badly even with PPE.
UV protection. (Spell check)
Thanks all for the information, I will try your suggestions and report back. I didn’t want to continue “fixing” my problems uneducated, just making them worse. I think I would be in trouble if I had to sand it, that fiber glass weave would be impossible to get into without making it all flat… I would remove 30% of the canoe if I did that. It does go away almost entirely when wet so here’s to hoping.
Was very hard to find anything about it. The only thing I unearthed (off this forum) is that its made by riverside associates and the model year is 1984. My understanding is Riverside associates was operated by Allegash canoe company until bought out by Stowe.
If the fiberglass itself is undamaged, there is no reason the sand into it and a lot of reasons not to. In the event that you need to recoat the exterior, all you would need to do is lightly rough up the surface to improve adherence of any top coat, whether gelcoat , paint, or epoxy. Hopefully all it might need is a coat of marine wax.
I have heard of people using Flood Penetrol to restore faded, chalky gelcoat. It is a paint additive.
I have not personally tried it.
3 weeks later… but, The denatured was straight money. I finally painted the outside and moved onto the interior. Whatever that white stuff was got decemated by the alcohol no scrubbing needed. I will post pictures when I finish on the hulls interior. Making gunwells next.
