So I have found two Dagger canoes in my region. One needs a single, long, cold-crack repair and I have the epoxy to do it. Looks to be in fantastic shape otherwise at $500 and 2 hours away. The other one has a broken yoke, broken sliding front seat but the guy swears the hull is spotless at $300 and 3 hours away.
I’m new at the repair thing, although I did some rough carpentry in my younger years. Which way would you lean?
(Yes, this is generated by the disappointing 25 mph NW winds today)
If the boats are the same I would probably go with the $300 hull. Yokes are very easy to replace and not all that expensive. Depending on just how badly the front slider seat is broken you may well be able to repair it if nothing is missing. I have used West Systems G Flex epoxy to repair several broken thwarts and gunwales and it bonds very well to ash and other dense grain woods. G Flex is also what I would recommend using to repair the cold crack if you go with the other boat.
repaired hulls are always questionable. A long cold crack raises questions about the stresses within the hull.
I would buy the cheaper one and replace the gunnel and thwart. Woodwork is easy for me, though
Thanks guys. I chickened out on the crack and am holding off on the woodwork one. Upon further review, six hours not spent in the car is more valuable to me than another boat at the moment, but that could change in a week or two!
If you follow up on the boat with the broken yoke and seat I suggest you ask the owner how it ended up broken since you may learn something important. Yokes don’t break very easily.