Thwart width

[Froggio]

Hello all, I thought I’d post images of my somewhat restored (on the cheap) fiberglass canoe and thank everyone for their inputs. I installed a new thwart and step plates since.

 

[Roybrew]

Looks like it is turning out really nice. Good job.

 

[ppine]

Old fiberglass tends to get brittle. You want your thwarts to be the width of the canoe in its current form. I have added a lot of thwarts over the years. I like three. White ash is good but poplar will work. Your boat will be much stronger which helps a lot as they age.

Rather than trying to bring back the gelcoat, I would just sand it and paint with enamel.