A Few years back, a good friend, brought to me, his tired, and beat up Kootenay Cedar Strip canoe.
It was about 12 yrs old, and had done well over 50 trips to the BWCA trips.
The original builder, from Minnesota, had used Polyester resin to saturate the fiberglass cloth. Polyester doesn't bond very well to wood, certainly not as good as Epoxy !
To me it's interesting to closely examine another builders work ! It's even more educational to pull the skin off, and reglass !
A few years earlier I had replaced the gunnels, on this canoe. They fell apart in my hands as I removed them ! Hard use, and poor storage, had given way to Rot and Decay.
I much prefer to build new, over repairing old, but the old Kootenay meant a lot to it's owner. As a Good friend, I agreed to take on the project, for the cost of the repairs.
Fortunately I had space at the Nokomis Wood shop, that I'm a member of. It also gave other members, a little more insite to canoe building.
Here are some pics.
A Heat gun, a pair of pliers, a sharp knife, or putty knife and a pair of gloves. Pulling old glass has a certain amount fun to it ! Yeah I know ! Weird !
The hull, mostly stripped, removal of the outwhales, and then the last little bit of old cloth.. Oh and Sanding of course !
Here is a spot where the Poly resin did stick, and pulled off some wood. I built it up with 6 layers of epoxy wetted patches. Then feathered the mess with a scraper. Finally covered with the main layer of 6 oz E-glass.
An extra layer of S-glass was applied, up to about the 3" waterline. The hull was soft, and I'm glad I used S-glass. as it really helped stiffen, and add abrasion resistance.
I can't find any Finished pics, but if you want to see the canoe ! Check out Larry Rickers " Nibi Mocs" Youtube channel.
She is back in action again ! A pound lighter too !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8_dudXb6io&t=61s
It was a fun process, more work than prepping a new hull and glassing.
Jim
It was about 12 yrs old, and had done well over 50 trips to the BWCA trips.
The original builder, from Minnesota, had used Polyester resin to saturate the fiberglass cloth. Polyester doesn't bond very well to wood, certainly not as good as Epoxy !
To me it's interesting to closely examine another builders work ! It's even more educational to pull the skin off, and reglass !
A few years earlier I had replaced the gunnels, on this canoe. They fell apart in my hands as I removed them ! Hard use, and poor storage, had given way to Rot and Decay.
I much prefer to build new, over repairing old, but the old Kootenay meant a lot to it's owner. As a Good friend, I agreed to take on the project, for the cost of the repairs.
Fortunately I had space at the Nokomis Wood shop, that I'm a member of. It also gave other members, a little more insite to canoe building.
Here are some pics.
A Heat gun, a pair of pliers, a sharp knife, or putty knife and a pair of gloves. Pulling old glass has a certain amount fun to it ! Yeah I know ! Weird !
The hull, mostly stripped, removal of the outwhales, and then the last little bit of old cloth.. Oh and Sanding of course !
Here is a spot where the Poly resin did stick, and pulled off some wood. I built it up with 6 layers of epoxy wetted patches. Then feathered the mess with a scraper. Finally covered with the main layer of 6 oz E-glass.
An extra layer of S-glass was applied, up to about the 3" waterline. The hull was soft, and I'm glad I used S-glass. as it really helped stiffen, and add abrasion resistance.
I can't find any Finished pics, but if you want to see the canoe ! Check out Larry Rickers " Nibi Mocs" Youtube channel.
She is back in action again ! A pound lighter too !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8_dudXb6io&t=61s
It was a fun process, more work than prepping a new hull and glassing.
Jim
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