I am outfitting an old 14’ river canoe that had a a bit of an accident in the rapids when I was a bit younger. My cousins and I nearly folded it in the past and the ole fiberglass canoe has been drydocked in the garage for over ten years. My kiddos are getting older now and I thought it would be a fun project to complete with them.
I have already begun hull repairs and ordered most of the required hardware, fiberglass, and epoxy. The repairs are coming along nice. My question is about the interior hull upgrades I would like to perform. The interior of the canoe has A mystery coating on the very bottom and a rough roving fiberglass on the sides. all of which is covered in green paint. I do not want to sand/ grind this surface because that would cause additional structural damage to the original fiberglass. I’m thinking sandblasting would be the best option.?
And then there is the whitewater upgrades. I have vinyl base D ring pads and am not sure if they should be interwoven between fiberglass layers, adhered after I coat the inside of the hull, or set in the epoxy in my final layer of fairing the interior. I can think of several pros and cons to each of these methods and am not sure of the best method to use on fiberglass.
Once it is prepped I intend to reinforce the inner hull with an additional layer of fiberglass roving and epoxy fairing to smooth out the inner surface. I would like to coat the interior once it is reinforced with a Royalex type coating, however I am not sure about epoxy/material compatibilities or the process of coating the hull.
Does anyone out there have any experience with installing these types of liners on fiberglass canoes? Any quality advice would be greatly appreciated.
No “quality advice” for you
No, I’ve never done anything like you are doing, at least not with a fiberglass canoe.
Sand blasting… well, I don’t know much about it other than the use it on steel and stone structures. I’m thinking it would take off more than you wanted, but, know little about the process or its capabilities. If it was me, I’d be planning to spend a lot of time using the RO sander. Perhaps you could try some chemical paint removers, but obviously you’d want to test to make sure the fiberglass stands up to it. I wouldn’t worry about damaging the existing fiberglass since you will be overtopping it with another layer of glass anyway.
For the D-rings, it will be best if you can find a glue that bonds glass and vinyl. G-flex is a likely candidate. With a glue that bonds to both, you can just stick the d-rings to the repaired FG bottom.
So, there’s some not quality advice. If DougD doesn’t chime in on this, seek him out. He’s addicted to fixing up old canoes and might have hints for you.
Good luck ~~Chip