This is from the Headwaters Canoe Facebook page, use duct tape on the trail, then dental floss at home!
Every repair that comes into the shop has a story. This canoe, a modified 16’ Prospector, built by Headwaters in conjunction with our friend, the canoe’s owner, has raised gunwales, meaning it’s about an inch deeper in the centre than the standard 16’ Prospector. It’s a serious load carrier, a real adventure vessel that has covered hundreds of kilometres in its life so far.
When we peeled off the canvas and saw this line of tidy stitches more than two feet long on the inside, we knew we had to ask Bob for the story. Turns out an unfortunate encounter with a spike on the Tim River in Agonquin Park was the culprit, more than 20 years ago. In the moment, Bob resorted to good old duct tape as the trip was nearly over. Upon his return home he stitched the canvas together with dental floss and patched over it, a patch that we couldn’t even detect on the outside of the canvas! Twenty years later, the repair job was holding as well as the day it was sewn. We hope the next canvas meets fewer spikes, but just in case, keep the dental floss handy in your repair kit and we know you’ll have many more trips with this big canoe.
Every repair that comes into the shop has a story. This canoe, a modified 16’ Prospector, built by Headwaters in conjunction with our friend, the canoe’s owner, has raised gunwales, meaning it’s about an inch deeper in the centre than the standard 16’ Prospector. It’s a serious load carrier, a real adventure vessel that has covered hundreds of kilometres in its life so far.
When we peeled off the canvas and saw this line of tidy stitches more than two feet long on the inside, we knew we had to ask Bob for the story. Turns out an unfortunate encounter with a spike on the Tim River in Agonquin Park was the culprit, more than 20 years ago. In the moment, Bob resorted to good old duct tape as the trip was nearly over. Upon his return home he stitched the canvas together with dental floss and patched over it, a patch that we couldn’t even detect on the outside of the canvas! Twenty years later, the repair job was holding as well as the day it was sewn. We hope the next canvas meets fewer spikes, but just in case, keep the dental floss handy in your repair kit and we know you’ll have many more trips with this big canoe.
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