Patching Very Small Holes

[Spokeshave]

Hi everyone,
I'm finally putting paint on a mostly-built Morris I bought, and I made an unfortunate discovery during the first coat: a hole in the canvas. It's about an eighth of an inch across, maybe three inches above the water line. I think it was the result of over zealous sanding over an incompletely driven tack. (I'm guilty of the sanding, but I wasn't around for the tack driving...)



My question to you, benevolent canoe experts, is this: For such a small hole, do I have to go through the normal process of inserting a canvas patch under the skin, or can I just goop it with some sort of sealant or epoxy? I'm really hoping to do the latter, as the hole is so small that I'd have to slit the canvas to fish a patch under there.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

-Dan

 

[MGC]

Perhaps the reason for the lack of responses is the reference to "experts" providing a solution. I suppose no one cares to be labeled as such.

So, prefacing that I am a hack and not an expert....I would put a dab of epoxy or even Bondo over the spot and a drop of paint over that.
Do not use anything that has silicon in it. Silicon cannot be painted over and will give trouble later on if you ever want to freshen up the boat.

 

[Spokeshave]

I apologize for the mischaracterization, but thanks for the reply! Do you think it have to worry about the epoxy sticking to the planks when the canvas moves in relation to the hull?

 

[MGC]

I apologize for the mischaracterization, but thanks for the reply! Do you think it have to worry about the epoxy sticking to the planks when the canvas moves in relation to the hull?

If it was me I would not give it a second thought. Canvas does not york around on the hull and if you ever re-canvas you will carve the small dot epoxy off with your X-ACTO knife.
That said, who knows, I suppose your concern is possible. How about if you just build up a blob of paint on that spot?

 

[Greg Nolan]

Bondo spot putty (not the two-part Bondo used to fill auto body dents) will fill the small tear quickly (it dries faster than paint) and while it will stick and wear well, it is not as hard or tenacious as epoxy. You can get a small tube at auto parts.

 

[Spokeshave]

I think I'll give that a try... Unfortunately the hole is a bit too large to bridge with just paint. I'm also considering using a needle and thread to make a few stitches across the hole, just to make a bit of a substrate to hold the putty. I'll post some pics if it's not a total disaster... Or maybe also if it is a total disaster, so others might learn from my folly. Thanks!