I have an opportunity to buy a older wenonah sundowner 18 that appears to be a kevlar layup. The last 2 digits of serial number is 87. Not sure if that is the year or not. The previous owner has hardly used and someone painted the hull with a brush. Also painted the gun wail with silver spray paint.?? Hull has 1 repair that looks that was done reasonable well.guy wants 500. Any have any advice??
Patio
Sundowner
Well, it sound as if someone did a lot on that canoe, not necessarily for the better. I’d sure want to know what all is under that paint before I laid down any $. If it’s sound and you plan to work with the aesthetics it might be a decent deal, although it makes me hesitant reading about it.
On the other hand, the Sundowner is an extremely versatile and capable canoe. There are newer designs with better overall performance (YMMV), such as the Bell/Northstar Northwind but it has held up remarkably well over the years.
Good luck, I hope it works out for you.
Steve
Worth $500
Any kevlar boat in decent shape is worth $500. I say buy it unless you can find badly damaged areas beyond your ability to repair properly.
Sundowners are good boats. I vote Buy
It’s a big boat
If you aren’t carrying a big load or two big paddlers keep that in mind. Any serious damage should be obvious on the inside. Sounds like a very fair price. Is it a foam core bottom boat that was originally clear coat then painted over on the outside or does it some other rib configuration?
Sundowner
Thanks for the input guys. The boat has foam ribs across bottom and when I scratch through the paint job I see what appears to be a light blue gel coat. When i push all around the hull it feels firm and solid. The paint looks OK but I know it will look horrible after we start banging this thing around a bit.
Who cares about cosmetics
You are going to gouge, scrape, and drop that boat on concrete when you use it. If it is sound it will serve you well as a tandem. Like Lee said do you need that large of a boat? But a kevlar boat for $500 would be very hard to pass up even if it is a bit large.
Sundowner
I own a sundowner 18 in tuffweave now and have used mostly for casual paddling. I have taken it into the boundry waters several times and that is the ability of the boat that is most important to me so I’m good with the size. I have twin boys who just turned 13 who have not much paddling experience. They are going to take over the tough weave. Should be interesting.
18 Sundowner
Wenonah had a light blue gel coat that faded and showed marks badly. If this is a Kevlar cross-rib the inside will be natural Kevlar. Glass hulls got a sand colored paint over the woven roving used on cross-rib layups. Easily worth the price if Kevlar. Expect it to weigh around 55#.
Bill
So you already have a tuff weave 18