New gunwales

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:06 am

G'day.....I have a fiberglass canoe that is 16 feet. It has aluminum gunwales and I wanted to replace them with wood. I will also be making new decks and seats. The question I have is: after I have removed the aluminum gunwales and made the wood gunwales, do I need to apply some kind of adhesive (epoxy?) to the canoe and wood or is screwing it sufficient?

Thanks in advance for any information.....Glenn 8)

Rod Tait · Post by **Rod Tait** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:28 am

Either way will work. Sandwiching the hull between the gunwales with screws is less permanent than glueing the gunwales on with epoxy ( never coming off unless in pieces).

In both cases you will probably need a little help with getting everything clamped on with a few dry runs to make sure everything fits well before drilling holes or glueing.

Good luck. I'm sure it will add some character to your canoe.

fisherguytoo · Post by **fisherguytoo** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:00 am

:D I am thinking of doing the same thing. But, the added weight that
the wood would add is of concern to me. The wood would have to have enough size/strength to reinforce the rigity of the canoe form, hence added weight, right ??? :?: :roll:

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:29 am

Yes, wood gunwales will typically add about two pounds, more or less, when compared to aluminum on commercial canoes. Besides the nice qualities that the wooden trim adds, wooden (ash) gunwales will be springier than aluminum... after a hard knock, aluminum might have a permanent bend or kink and no amount of rebending will restore the smooth curve that was there previously. An ash gunwale, OTOH, will most likely spring right back into shape.

An easily-replaceable outwale, ie. attached with screws, can be changed in a day or two, while one that's glued on will need more work to remove. And outwales are often the trim that needs to be replaced first... the thought of carefully chiselling and sanding away 32 feet of hard ash and epoxy... nope, I'm going with screws.

:shock:

Todd Bradshaw · Post by **Todd Bradshaw** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:02 am

Use screws. The gelcoat on the outside of the hull contains a high percentage of filler and it's bond to the rest of the hull isn't all that great. If you epoxy the gunwales to it you may find that you have created a situation where the gunwale is bonded to the gelcoat better than the gelcoat is to the hull. Upon impact, you may find that your gunwale peels off in places, taking big chunks of gelcoat with it - and then you have a big nasty repair job to do. Manufacturers have been screwing wooden gunwales to fiberglass hulls for many years and it works fine and makes repair, replacement and refinishing much easier than glueing them on would. It's also a much easier installation and is more likely to produce good results.

Glenn · Post by **Glenn** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:18 pm

Thanks very much for replies. I was leaning towards just using screws and was weighing the pros and cons and wanted a second opinion. As for the weight issue, the canoe is fairly old but still sound. Its weighs about a thousand pounds and didn't figure 2 or 3 would matter much. Again thanks

Glenn