Scratch on the bottom

[Jay Magruder]

At the end of a wonderful week of canoeing the water trails on Klamath Lake Oregon, I pulled my 16' Faber onto a dock. A screw head on the dock gouged a scratch into the bottom of the canoe about 3" long by 1/4" wide. Half the length of the scratch is down to the primer coat but the second half is down to the canvas. Close inspection reveals that the canvas is not torn. My question is how to best repair this. The canoe is currently on its rack and will not touch water until it is fixed. Hopefully there is a relatively quick fix as the canoeing season in the Pacific Northwest is prime right now. One aquaintance suggested using 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200 to fill the void up to the primer level, smooth it out with a putty knife, let it cure and paint. This seems not quite right to me, but my experience with this type of repair is minimal at best, so I am laying this one down for the greater collective knowledge to help me out with this problem.

 

[Andy Hutyera]

Since no one else is jumping in here goes for what it's worth. I recently had a discussion with one of the other builders on this same topic. I have used Bondo scratch filler with success. He recommended the 3M product you refer to and has used it on many occasions with excellent results. So I guess that's two votes for the 3M product. He indicated that it is superior to the Bondo product because it is designed for below water line use and has no tendency to shrink. His advice made a lot of sense to me and I will be purchasing some of the product for my next minor repair job. Both products have very fine filler in them and will do well at filling a scratch type injury. Apparently the 3M product has to be purchased in a fairly large quantity. The Bondo comes in a small tube about a third the size of a tooth paste tube.

 

[Jay Magruder]

Thanks Andy, I will go with the 3M product and hope to be back on the water soon.

 

[zutefisk]

The fastest way back on the water might be a strip of duct tape.

 

[Jay Magruder]

Ready to go

Just for general knowledge the 3M product worked great. Nice tight adhesion on the edges of the deep scratch, no cracking or seperation. It did shrink a small amount leaving the area slightly depressed. Three coats of paint with careful sanding has reduced this to barely visible. Total time of repair, four days. I'm back on the water!

Zute, the duct tape was a temptation and if I was on a trip thats probably what I would do ( I carry some in my field repair kit), but I worried about getting moisture into the canvas or at least between the canvas and paint layers, so I let it air dry and then went to work.

Thanks for the great advice.

 

[Howard Caplan]

Joinary around outer stem

I'm restoring a canoe with outer stem and have to cut and replace rot on the inwales and decks. I will be making outwales, also. I have never really seen or looked closely at a canoe with outer stems.
Detailed pics would be great but my questions areo the inwales terminate at the deck tip/inside stem?
Do the outwales feather into the outer stem or to where they would be with no outer stem/inside the outer stem? (is outer a word?)
Thanks for any response.
Howard

 

[Jay Magruder]

Wrong thread

Howard I think you have the wrong thread. I was writing about repairing a scratch. Hope you get an answer to your query.

 

[Howard Caplan]

Sorry Jay - i saw it as soon as I hit post - too late.
Howard