Repair of the tear

The tear is only about 2 1/2 inches long, not a big deal.











In addition to having a usable canoe at the end of the project, I want to have the benefit of doing the work, you know, getting a sense of accomplishment. Of course there will other as yet unknown benefits as well, part of the reason for doing a project like this. And I hope to learn some things.
Well I got one of those lucky unknown bennies when I went to upload the pictures from the camera to my pc. It's a gateway laptop, not a bad machine, a Christmas gift from my wife. Yeah fellas, she's pretty good as far as wives go. So anyway, I need an adapter to get the pics off the card, just the way it is. I keep the adapter in my laptop case, so that is where I looked, first. Of course it wasn't there. But something else was.
Back in November we went to Annapolis to see my sons high school marching band at a national competition. They did ok. They didn't win, but they stood in the cold rain before they performed, and it didn't show the slightest bit. They showed a true toughness for a bunch of teenagers. They had a very good performance, the other bands did better (or the judges thought so).
Of course I took my computer. After the trip I couldn't find my reading glasses, not unusual for me to misplace them. I don't really need them, they just make reading easier. So as I was going through my pc case, what did I find? You got it, the missing glasses! I still had to do some more searching for the adapter.

The tear.
Probably from when the original owner removed the gunwale, my guess is that he pried against the hull. It's thin, not something yous should pry against. The result was a 2 and half inch tear in the glass. I figured a 3x3 patch on the outside, and a 4x4 and a 3x3 on the inside should make it strong as new. I cut the patches from the 1 square yard piece of fiberglass cloth I bought at Lowes, it's good to have extra. Then I prepared the tear, sanded inside and out,and sanded off the hairs. I also decided to keep the patch below the level of the new gunwale, so there wouldn't be a bulge where the two halfs of the gunwale meet. I had to mix some resin. Being new to this, I decided to mix a small amount, two ounces. I put the patches on, inside and out, and wet the cloth. It turned clear, just like it's supposed to. That's cool the way that happens. So then, there I was, patch complete, holding a cup with 1 1/2 ounces of resin. I little goes a long way. First lesson learned!
Here's what it looks like wet.














It set nice, it needs a few more coats of resin, or some fairing compound(Bondo) to fill the weave, but so far, so good.
I'm going to read something.

The Story

This is the story of a man, his wife, and a canoe. It's old. The canoe that is. It's a Mad River Whistler. A pretty good boat from what I've been able to find out. But it's old and it has it's problems. Like most things old, including the man, that just happens to be me. The wife, not old. Speaking of the wife, she is the reason I have the canoe. She is a rabid user of Freecycle, a network for people to give and get other peoples not quite used up stuff. She has given a bunch of stuff, kids shoes and boots, out grown sports equipment, and has gotten some stuff. Some of it quite surprising. A Fisher receiver with surround sound and Bose speakers, some nice brand new furniture, some other stuff, and the canoe.
The canoe, it's not new, it needs some work. It's old and faded. But I think with a little, I hope, work, and some new parts, it still has a few seasons on the water left in it. It was listed as needing new gunnels, which the guy had, and some other work. So my wife asked if I was interested, she didn't have to ask twice. She contacted the guy, and we where selected to get the canoe. So on a dark november night we went to pick it up. The guy giving it away, or getting rid of it, seemed to like it and was sad to see it go. He said he had a lot of good times in it. But its time had come.
So what is wrong with it you may ask? Well the hull is made of fiberglass, pretty indestructible. But the gunnels, and decks, and thwarts are wood. Ash to be exact. But wood plus water plus time equal "rot". A dirty word to any wood boat, or boat part. The gunwales and deck are, in a word, toast. The other parts are old and dirty, but usable. And there is a small tear in the hull, I guess that happened when the guy removed the gunwale, he only removed on side, And I guess he decided it was too big of a job for him. That's the way it goes.
It sat under a cover, with the kayaks, for the winter, but it's time to get started.
These are the before pics.








So you can see just what I'm up against.

Repairs start soon.



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