http://home.comcast.net/~chip2006/Chipewan/Bow01.jpg
What would you do? Looks all loose and smashed up. I’m thinking just throwing some new material on top of the crack isn’t going to produce a very good result. Treatment recommendations will be appreciated.
~~Chip Walsh, Gambrills, MD
Flower bed !
But only if I lived in Maryland.
Well, the expoxy and skid plate
will definately work for a little while. But damage that extensive screams: “Time for a new boat”
Also, you may want to find a new place to store that thing. That looks melted from heat or chemicals or something. (Just guessing here)
hmm
The bottom almost looks like its made of wood. Is it a Glass boat?
If Glass
you can fix. Otherwise, new boat time.
stop drinking when I paddle!
just kidding, couldn’t resist
I have seen a similar break on an ABS
Mad River ME that got away from the owner while being lowered from Chicken Coop Gap to run the Upper Conasauga in NW GA. The boat ran into a tree and split down the bow. The boat was about 15 years old, so our collective opinion was that the ABS had become brittle with age. Experience with bow impacts of newer ABS boats is that you may blow some rivets in the deck plate, and the bow may tear a little at the top, but you will not see a jagged split.
So, the first issue is whether the boat is so old that it cannot be made sound for its usual use. If the boat pictured in this thread is ABS, and is old, and was used for whitewater, I think it is not worth fixing.
But for flatwater use, if it is a decent boat, I would fix it mainly with glass, Kevlar, and West epoxy. First I would try to get the broken sides into decent alignment, and fill the crack with a mixture of West epoxy, microballoons, and microfibers. Then I would scrape or sand off the vinyl top layer from the ABS on the outside of the boat. Finally, I would bias-cut and epoxy on the largest repair patch, cut from Kevlar. I would use maybe one more Kevlar layer, a little smaller, and then I would switch to S-glass or E-glass for the remaining layers. I would try for a 5 to 7 layer exterior patch, because it is not going to be possible to do a very meaninful interior patch.
By the way, surface preparation for an interior patch should be done before the other steps described above. Once the exterior patch is done and has set up, an interior patch of 3 to 5 layers can be done using Kevlar and glass. Some sort of shaped form can be used to push plastic film down against the layers so excess resin is squeezed out before the epoxy sets.
This is a lot of fuss and is not cheap. But the result, if done carefully, will be lighter and stronger by far than a patch done with Kevlar felt.
Post a Pic of the WHOLE boat
oh, and what did you do to that kayak??
It’s a canoe (NM)
Andy
oh, so what did you do to that CANOE??
Bookshelf
I would cut the canoe in half, pitch the damaged half, and make a bookshelf out of the good half to hold my paddling and camping books, DVDs, etc.
Yah, time for the landfill
My thought upon bringing this boat into the workshop was “oh my gawd, this hulk needs to go straight to the dump.” But I let it sit in the workshop too long, and before I could say “trash compactor” it started to get worked on. Now it’s a project, seemingly with a life of its own.
The flower planter idea has merit, but even for that, it needs gunwales and thwarts to keep it from flattening out. And if I’m going to that extent, might as well see if she’ll float.
~~Chip
Brought it home
Somebody wanted to give the canoe away “to a good home.” I badly, sorely, wicked mis-assessed it when I went to look at it. For one thing, I believed 'em that it was a Tripper, even though it is a foot and half shorter! I completely missed the cracks on both ends (until I noticed daylight when I was carrying the boat into the house). And all the ABS that was showing through, I assumed was what the previous owners described as a mottled paint job.
The boat is 30+ years old, and some of those years were tough ones–the boat was used hard. By most rational measures, it was at the end of its useful life.
At this juncture, it has become a lesson in whether a boat this gone can be brought back, and a rehab project that is teaching me about setting up a boat. My thought now is that I will learn about rehabbing and in the event I get a hull I care about, I will have enough practice to fix it up. B.S., for sure–its one of the sillier projects I have ever taken on.
~~Chip
Both halves damaged!
Since both bow and stern have similar cracks, the bookshelf idea won’t work. Dang, gonna have to make a canoe out of it.
I got some good laughs out of this thread. Thanks everybody for posting. Thanks especially for the pieces of constructive advice scattered among the belly busters! Both the humor and constructive advice made me glad I posted to p-net.
~~Chip
Maybe you could even swap
for a Pamlico 140?
Hardly needs fixing
First rivet, nail, or bolt it. Then plastic weld. Then fiberglass, sand and paint. Then cover the whole mess up with one of those beautiful statues that they traditionally attach to the front of ships to hide similar repairs. Something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/yr75fh
It will be the belle of the river!
Any Pics of the WHOLE canoe??
Two words - DUCT TAPE
Carpe Ductum.
DS
Motto: Keeping the BS to a minimum
Chipewan Pictures
Mr. Pamlico140 (you are a mister I presume?),
I do have some pics of the whole boat and will search 'em out and email you when I have some time this weekend. Sorry to appear non-responsive, but things have been hectic.
~~Chip