Hull Damage

Hey all,

I'm thinking about buying a new canoe and I am worried that I am going to end up damaging the hull at some point. What's the best technique and material for returning the damage to factory new condition?

Wood/canvas

I’m liking the expedition Kevlar from Swift. I haven’t butt dragged down many rock gardens, but Kevlar is easy to repair, although you will never return anything to “like new” condition. I’m good with just filling scratches and gouges, even on Royalex. I don’t care about touching up color coatings. Just some Gflex 655 (thickened) and I’m good for 99% of stuff. Soaking some Kevlar felt strands with Gflex 650 to insert into wider gouges is good enough for me. Most canoes sell for their original price after 10 years, not matter scratches and repairs. I made money on a couple old royalex tandems that had some good mileage. Long way of saying forget about repairs and get the boat.

Sorry guys, I was trying to spoof another thread, but clearly a swing and a miss.

In seriousness, I did receive some great advice from this forum on repairing my Supernova after a transport accident.

I’ve seen to much to be able to comprehend that sarcasm. Besides, this site will either get inexperienced paddlers or it will die. Let ‘em feel comfortable.

Wood Canvas had me head scratching though. Seen lots of that on the internet too .

If you use the canoe in anything other than deep lakes and always with wet foot exits and entries, use a canoe cover whenever it is not in the water, keep it out of sunlight and never, ever drop it while loading and unloading it, you may keep it looking in "factory new condition". If not, any fiberglass, Kevlar, Carbon, T-Formex, Royalex, Twin-tex, Wood and Canvas or Birchbark (did I miss any?) will show use. I've seen new canoes sitting on the dealer's floor that already had scratches and scuffs.

Unless you are buying it as an investment to be stored away for the next fifty years, use the canoe, look at the scratches as street-cred, and enjoy the paddling. If concerned about appearance, white gelcoat will show less scratches that a colored gelcoat, but a red canoe is always faster!

Your note about the spoof went up while I was writing. Sorry I didn't catch it.

Kevlar and fiberglass are easiest to repair, The vinyl, cross link and Royalex boats are the most resistant to damage but hard to repair. Wood and canvas boats are much sturdier than people realize, but the hardest to repair by far.

Black_Fly said:

Wood Canvas had me head scratching though.

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I thought that the wood/canvas comment was serious. Every single part is individually replaceable with ordinary hand tools. Canvas replacement is standard maintenance. There are restored examples around today that probably look better than when they originally left the factory.

Benson

SouthernKevlar said:

Your note about the spoof went up while I was writing. Sorry I didn't catch it.

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All good, lol. You advice is spot on though.

If I had to distill all the advice I've received on this site into one pithy little blurb, it would be:
"Just do it. If you run into problems along the way, we will help you."