Hi all,
Been a while since I posted. Friend of a friend had a We-No-Nah he wasn’t using and wanted it gone. We went back and forth price wise w/out me seeing it until we settled on a contingent price. So funny, when I got within a mile of his camp I could smell the Armor-All in the air. Here is what she looked like when I bought it. I think with all the “protectant” on it I’m guessing it weighed close to 80#. 20 of them in Armor-All!!!
Here it is at home ready for a cleaning.
I was actually expecting worse. Inside is pretty good. A few warts/cracks/etc. Appears to be a slight kink on starboard side.
So, haven’t been in the water yet. I was told it was a 17. It is actually an 18, which fits in my quiver more as a keeper.
For a 30 year old 18’ Sundowner I think I did ok. The boat has held up well, a good testament to We-No-Nah. Just wish he hadn’t left it outside for 20 years. Tuff Weave is incredible. No brittle spots, aluminum cleaned up pretty easily. Boat is nowhere near as heavy as I imagined.
Big problem now is getting all that darned Armor-All off my driveway or I may slide into my living room!!
I have a RX OT Tripper that I cleaned up pretty well and buffed out. Probably all I’ll do to this is a light cut/polish…or nothing!!
M daughter (13), is not a fan of the tractor seats, her 12’ Stillwater has a cane seat. According to her, that is how they should be!
Can’t wait until Sunday to take her out!!!
Dawn will get that Armorall off.
It was amazing, there is a small depression in my driveway and it was covered in whitish goo. Scooped up a bunch of the standing puddle and stole most of the Dawn from the kitchen.
Looked good this morning…Thanks!
Only problem is, it will not fit in my garage!!!
Congratulations on your Sundowner. The first thing I would attend to is fixing the damage on the bottom shown in your photos. The deep hits where the gelcoat is broken down to the Kevlar belly strip should be filled with some epoxy resin or putty to keep water from getting under the gelcoat and into the fabric. Even though this is an early fiberglass cross-rib hull there is still Kevlar in the high wear and impact areas of the hull. This is an early Sundowner because it has composite seats painted tan. Later bucket seats are molded plastic. The cracked rib needs to have a couple layers of fiberglass cloth laid over the crack. Use epoxy or vinylester resin, not the polyester resin that comes with the auto parts bondo kits. Since you own the second heaviest version of the Sundowner, I would replace the center thwart with the Wenonah laminated yoke. It will make that hull seem like its 20# lighter. I have 3 of the 18’ Sundowner in 3 different layups and they all paddle the same. The just don’t carry the same. Once your daughter gets used to sliding the seat forward till her feet are firmly planted on the air tank and she experiences the joy of having the gunwales right at her hips and being able to get a good vertical paddle stroke she won’t mind the bucket seat. And her 12’ Stillwater is about as far opposite the Sundowner in paddling characteristics as you can get. Its short, wide, and flatbottomed. For all around distance paddling the Sundowner is still one of the best. Bill
