Repairing hairline cracks in Wenonah Solo Plus

Hello all,

Just picked up a Wenonah Solo Plus for a song-and-dance as my first canoe (that I’ve owned, not ever been in!). There’s no physical damage to the hull, but it’s been sitting out in the New York winters for a few years without use. It’s covered in hairline cracks in the gel-coat and my plan was to just redo it with a Wenonah gel-coat repair kit, but seeing as I have never done this I thought it might be smart to check with the community. Any thoughts?

Also, there are a couple spots that look like holes (light shines through stronger) but there isn’t any visible damage. We’re talking holes about a centimeter or less in diameter - how should something like that be handled? Just fill it with marine epoxy?

Thanks! Happy to be part of the community!

EDIT: Here are a couple pictures:
http://i.imgur.com/6oEc89W.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a9yaeDt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/j3m94A2.jpg

Don’t mind the denim seats - I am replacing all of the seats and thwarts!

Epoxy and gel coat (which is a polyester material) don’t always mix. As a general rule, you can apply epoxies over polyesters, but polyester materials applied over epoxy may not cure. You will also never color match old gel coat with new gel coat material. I fear that if you try to fill in all those little cracks will gel coat, you are going to make them more noticeable.

A lot of the chalky discoloration is probably oxidation which could likely be removed by wet sanding the hull. I would start with something like 330-400 grit waterproof paper and work down in stages to 1500-2000 grit. The hull will look worse after the initial sanding, but as you go finer you will remove the sanding marks.

After wet sanding try treating the hull with Penetrol:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Flood-Penetrol-1-Qt-Clear-Paint-Additive-FLD4-04/100130893

The Penetrol will tend to fill in the small spider cracks and make them less noticeable and can be reapplied as needed. If you are not satisfied with the appearance after this process, you can still proceed with Plan B.

If the hull bottom is the most severely damaged, another alternative is to mark off a 3 or 4" waterline and paint the hull bottom with something like Pettit EZ-Poxy paint:

http://www.pettitpaint.com/product.asp?id=45

Awesome, that’s a great and manageable plan for me to go with. I was actually thinking it would be fun to repaint anyways - is there any issue with repainting the entire hull (not just the bottom)?

No problem with painting the whole hull except for the fact that it adds weight and paint will get scratched off. If you paint the bottom it is pretty easy to mask off the paint line and repaint as necessary when the scratches get to be more than you would like. Paint on the side is less likely to get scratched, but still seems to. Then there is the issue of the decals, if you want to preserve them.

Interlux two part Perfection is great and super durable. Really tough stuff brush on.

My hairline keeps receding but I can’t find a matching gel coat.

@Joose said:
Hello all,
Also, there are a couple spots **that look like holes **(light shines through stronger) but there isn’t any visible damage. We’re talking holes about a centimeter or less in diameter - how should something like that be handled? Just fill it with marine epoxy?

Holes in the hull or just thin spots in the gel coat letting light through? Can you feel them?

I just bought a Kevlar MR Malecite in similar but much worse condition as far as the cracking and spider-webbing of the outer layer. The Kevlar fabric appears to be pretty intact from the inside but has several very soft areas that will need some internal Dynel or S-Glass patching. I plan to sand down the entire exterior, especially the badly cracked areas and give it a roll-and-tip paint job which I have done with good success on composite boats in the past. I will replace all the decals except the small “Kevlar 49 Aramid” sticker that I will mask off. Yes it will add probably 1-2lbs to the boat but its worth it. Who knows how many grams will be removed from sanding and all the previous scratches and wear so my net weight gain may only be 1lb!

I would use fiberglass for interior patches on a kevlar canoe. When wet out, one layer of 6 ounce fiberglass will be nearly transparent. Dynel patches will be much more apparent. And since the outstanding characteristic of Dynel is abrasion resistance, it will be somewhat wasted on an interior patch.

Roll and tip paint job? What is the tip part?

Tipping out is just following after the roller with a disposable foam brush (or other) to level out the tiny bubbles and irregularities left by the roller.

Many vids on YouTube about rolling and tipping. Two part paints are very tough. Interlux is what I used.

@Overstreet said:

@Joose said:
Hello all,
Also, there are a couple spots **that look like holes **(light shines through stronger) but there isn’t any visible damage. We’re talking holes about a centimeter or less in diameter - how should something like that be handled? Just fill it with marine epoxy?

Holes in the hull or just thin spots in the gel coat letting light through? Can you feel them?

After looking into them a bit more, they’re definitely just thin spots where the gel coat has cracked. I’m going to sand those down and, if need be, repair the gel coat.

@yatipope said:
I just bought a Kevlar MR Malecite in similar but much worse condition as far as the cracking and spider-webbing of the outer layer. The Kevlar fabric appears to be pretty intact from the inside but has several very soft areas that will need some internal Dynel or S-Glass patching. I plan to sand down the entire exterior, especially the badly cracked areas and give it a roll-and-tip paint job which I have done with good success on composite boats in the past. I will replace all the decals except the small “Kevlar 49 Aramid” sticker that I will mask off. Yes it will add probably 1-2lbs to the boat but its worth it. Who knows how many grams will be removed from sanding and all the previous scratches and wear so my net weight gain may only be 1lb!

I got in touch with Wenonah and they strongly suggested trying to save the gel-coat, if possible, by polishing it with a heavy duty rubbing compound. I was working on that a bit last night and it’s actually working a lot better than I thought. Still worried about the long-term health of the microcracks, but I figure that’s a lot easier than painting (it’s too cold for that right now anyway). If that fails, I’ll go with a new paint job.

I would whip out my Starbright Cleaner Wax (always have some around) and random orbital buffer and go to the whole boat. They you’ll be able to separate scratches from the cracks. However you have a lot more suspected cracks and seperations than you think. Look at this picture. I have marked all the scratches that look like hairline cracks. Any one of these can weep water and blister a hole by water or impact like your hole in the picture.

If these are cracks you should be able to get an exacto blade in them and pick out a little piece or at least feel the crack. If it were me. I’d likely check for loose chips and prep for painting to seal up all the cracks and prevent water intrusion. Loose will have to be chipped/sanded and patched. Then paint the whole hull.

Scratches aren’t a problem, cracks are.

Yeah I’m still now sure what to make of those things - I think the photo might be making them worse than they look, but I’ll look into it. For now, I’m grinding/sanding out the actual damage, repairing with 5200, and will do a gel-coat repair over top (is this even necessary except for cosmetic?) Also, I’m been hitting it hard with a heavy duty rubbing compound and a lot of this little dimples and creases are working themselves out so far. Thanks for the help!

Not sure gel coat can be used over 5200

@Gs96c599@aol.com said:
Not sure gel coat can be used over 5200

Not at all.

I hope we can hear from pblanc about water intrusion and blistering. G2d/Ezwater always said this phenomenon was a myth, and I don’t know anyone who knows more about the repair of composite hulls than he did (but he doesn’t post here anymore). He said that a hull made with with properly wetted-out cloth fibers contains no void space for water to occupy, and that makes sense to me. Also, I’ve seen so many boats with the gel coat worn right off the bottom who’s hulls were perfectly intact in spite of frequent use for years on end, that I seriously doubt that water absorption actually happens, except perhaps with a hull that was badly made in the first place.

blistering will not happen in a boat that is not left in the water all the time and more likely to happen on larger boats in water all year and more likely on deeper sitting hulls.