So I have a fiberglass canoe I have been restoring as a project. The gunwales are aluminum that do not join at the stems. At each end there is a fiberglass cap about 4" long that hangs over the sides and stems almost an inch. These have two rivets on each side attaching them to the gunwales. Both need to be replaced. Thoughts range from routing out a piece of decking, staining and varnishing, then bolting it to the gunwales, to cutting a piece of Luan board, riveting in place and covering in fiberglass.
Thoughts?
Drill out the rivets
If the end caps are recoverable, just paint them.
I should have mentioned
They’re both busted up. If I just tried to repair them, well, even if my fiberglassing skills were better than they are it would look like crap. They gotta go.
Wenonah end caps
Wenonah puts caps over the ends of aluminum gunwales on their composite hulls. You can get them from any Wenonah dealer.
Or find a plastics supplier…
…that can sell you sheets of kydex and make your own.