Help getting our "new" boat on the water?

[Knu]

We recently purchased a wood/fiberglass (presumably canvas originally) canoe through Craigslist. The family we bought it from had purchased the canoe 2nd hand more than 40 years ago. They fiberglassed the boat and added (replaced?) seats.

When we tested it out, it floats but does take on a bit of water which we would like to remedy.

I have some experience working on boats, mainly through helping the the building of a couple plywood/fiberglass kayaks a few years ago.

In general, the boat seems to be in good condition. Eventually, I dream of restoring it to canvas, but for now, we want to get it to functionality as soon as possible. There are some visible cracks (with visible wood) in the fiberglass exterior as well as some spots of visible fiberglass through the wood interior.

Is there a good way to patch it up without stripping it all down and starting over?

If anyone has thoughts on how to get this boat seaworthy that would be fantastic. Like I said, a full on restoration may lie ahead in the future but I don't have the time or energy to dive in fully right now.

 

[Michael Leone]

Fastest / easyest

If you just want to get on the water quick and easy I would get some marine
epoxy or even some five minute epoxy from the hardware.

Mix it up and spread it on the bad spots, outside only, you don't want to put any epoxy on the interior of the hull.

You don't even have to paint it, just go paddleing.

Good luck.

 

[Greg Nolan]

If you are intending to use the canoe "as is" for any length of time, I would think a patch of some sort over the exterior cracks to minimize the amount of epoxy that might get through the crack onto the hull planking is called for -- I would probably use fiberglass tape epoxied over the cracks, without getting epoxy on the wood of the hull if at all possible -- you don't want any more epoxy on the hull than is already there to make future restoration and re-canvasing more difficult. Fiberglass tape is available in widths either side of 2 inches.

I would not do anything about the glass showing through from the inside -- if there is a leak in the fiberglass fabric at that point, fix the leak with
epoxy and/or a patch from the outside. That small gap in the planking showing in the photo is nothing to be concerned about.

The exposed fiberglass should probably be coated with something -- epoxy or perhaps, just paint. In any event, a quick coat or two of paint will improve the appearance of the canoe quite a bit, for very little work.

Of course, as an alternative, there's always the old standby -- duct tape! Quick, infinitely renewable, very little work.

I say this only half in jest -- if the canoe is to see only very light duty, such as paddling around a quiet pond, for a short period of time -- a summer or two -- duct tape will keep the water out -- leaving only the issue of appearances, which a coat of paint might take care of.

 

[zutefisk]

Duct Tape.

there's 20-30 feet of duct tape keeping this Willits afloat ....

 

[MGC]

Fix it properly

I am 100% in favor of using duct tape, for emergency repairs. If you plan to leave the canoe in the sun or use it for a while before you repair it do not use the duct tape.
The adhesive fuses into the glass and is a real mess to clean up. It will make your legitimate repair later on a real pain.
Put the tape on it, take it out in the water and then remove the tape after your paddle. Don't leave it on. Yes, I am speaking from experience.

BTW, a proper repair (as long as you are not too critical) will take less than an hour. There is a bit of sanding, a bit of mixing, a bit of applying, a bit more sanding and perhaps a repeat of the process. It's easy enough for you to repair on a Saturday morning over a couple cups of coffee.
Enjoy the new boat.

 

[Knu]

Thanks!

Wow, thanks so much for advice!

I am leaning towards a repair of the fiberglass now. We put the boat up on sawhorses yesterday and put some water inside to see where she leaks. In addition to the couple of cracks in the fiberglass, there were quite a few smaller leaks where the glass has worn down a bit.

I chatted with a friend who races a fiberglass sailboat. Every year when he pulls his boat out he does some glass repair, patching, and painting (yes! free help!). He stressed how he thoroughly dries his boat before doing any glass repairs. He runs a space heater in/towards his boat for a few days to really dry it out.

So, basically, does anyone have any advice on what I need to do to prep the boat before I attack it with some new fiberglas/epoxy?

 

[pklonowski]

Sounds like this boat's going to need a lot of little repairs... each one is the same procedure (dry it well, sand the area, patch of glass cloth, resin, more resin, sand, varnish)... They can all be done at once, but the boat's going to start weighing more with each one. And if the small repairs are close enough to each other, you end up with one big patch...

Are you sure it isn't just time to strip the 'glass off, and put some canvas on?

I understand wanting to get it on the water ASAP, but at some point the work to do so becomes just more work for when you want to fix it right...

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

There is a good demonstration to be had in this one. If you look at the top two photos in the first post, you can clearly see that original sanding of the fiberglass went way too deep. The fact that you can see the whitish weave so well, and how wide and flat the yarns look indicates that they applied the glass and then sanded about half-way through it when they smoothed-out the final surface for finishing. It's not surprising that it's cracking as the wood moves and it may continue to do so in other spots. They either needed more filler coats, to allow sanding smooth without cutting into the glass or simply needed to stop sanding earlier. Whether you're dealing with a glassed planked boat or a stripper, if you're sanding and you start to see a white weave pattern showing up, you have gone as deep as you dare. Anything more is reducing the strength of the lamination, and when it gets to this point, you've done so rather big-time and just moving around in the boat out on the water may be enough to crack the fiberglass between planks.

The only place weave like this should be visible on a glassed and sanded hull would be high-wear areas where you might build up several layers of fiberglass for protection and then feather their edges out with the sander to get a fair shape. That being said, this glassing job is obviously not a long-term solution for this hull and patching should be considered a temporary fix, just to get some use out of the boat before the final solution is implemented. Duct tape is certainly one quick and dirty, but reasonable, option. If I was going to use fiberglass for the repairs, I'd be seriously tempted to use polyester resin, instead of modern epoxy. It's probably what is already on the hull, it will stick adequately to the old fiberglass and when it comes time to remove it all and properly re-cover the boat, it will be easier to get un-stuck from the wood than epoxy resin.