Jerry Hawkins wrote: >While paddling this weekend I noticed one of those >things that gives me the willies. My >fibreglass over cedar canoe needs a repair. >It appears the exterior gelcoat is scratched >deeply in one spot. On the inside of the boat in >the same spot one of the cedar strips has a 2-3 cm >star-shaped cracked area. While paddling, a >tiny amount of water was coming up -- enough just >to dampen the wood (which is covered with a >thin layer of fibreglass). First, you'll have to take the biggest step: Stop paddling so your precious boat can dry out! Let it sit in a dry place with good air circulation, until the wood feels dry and you can see no wetness or discoloration. Do you have some indoor space to do the repair, or do you live in a warm area? Prop it up on sawhorses at a good working level and put a 60W light bulb inside the hull, near the area of your damage; the bulb will dry things out even more--make sure you don't get the bulb so close that it scorches the glass or wood. >What is the proper order of things when making a >repair like this? Does it matter if I fix the >gel coat first or last? I've been told I am >supposed to scrape deeply in the wood to remove >any water permeated material, and backfill with >polyester resin. How exactly do I fix the gel >coat? Advice appreciated. If you can dry the wood out well enough, you shouldn't have to remove any. Make sure no wood protrudes from the injury. Do you know if your boat was fiberglassed with polyester resin or epoxy resin? Most wood boats are glassed with epoxies, but some are done with poly or vinylester resin. Epoxy will stick to polyester, but polyester will not stick that well to epoxied boats. I'd go with epoxy for the repair just to be on the safe side. Mix up a small amount of epoxy ( <1 oz.) and pour it into the gouge. If the boat is propped up so that the injury is up, the epoxy won't run out. Put a few pieces of masking tape over the epoxy; this will make it cure flat with the hull, and keep it from running out. Cut a small piece of 4 oz. or 6 oz. glass cloth, about 1" wider and 1" longer than the gouge. Lay this over the gouge and tape it in place. Use some 100 grit sandpaper to feather out the edges of the repair, fill any cloth weave that still shows with epoxy, and resand. Since it's winter, you might as well revarnish the hull while you're at it. Shawn Shawn W. Baker 0 46°53'N © 1999 ____©/______ 114°06'W ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^\ ,/ /~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ baker_at_montana.com 0 http://www.missoulaconcrete.com/shawn/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Nov 16 1999 - 07:09:03 PST
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