I recently picked up a cheap kevlar canoe, an old Mohawk Blazer with a Kevlar 49 sticker on it. The boat looks fine, but I noticed it had about a pint of water in it after an hour long paddle. I took it home, put it up on some sawhorses, and put a small amount of water inside the hull. Within a minute, there was water dripping off the bottom of the hull in several places. There are nearly invisible cracks along the hull that are allowing water through.
Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? Is this something that can be repaired? I was thinking of coating the hull with a few coats of epoxy, but I wanted to get a more knowledgeable opinion first. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
west marine epoxy
products work great I would use glass on cricks
Occasionally, efforts to reduce the amt
of resin in the laminate, during layup, results in pinhole gaps in the laminate.
Does your canoe have gelcoat? If not, adding epoxy to the outside might stop the leaks. (I have done this, on a Kevlar kayak.) But it is not an easy procedure.
An alternative would be to add a layer of epoxy to the inside, just to the hull areas suspected and below the water line. This is a little easier, but no picnic. Painting the inside might also work, if the paint is selected for marine use.
Others will have suggestions. Maybe kaz will come by. He makes Kevlar canoes with very thin laminations and might have a practical suggestion.
You could just paddle it and take a big sponge along.