I guess the best way to fix the beast is sand the varnish down to the glass. Patch with filleting putty and then sand the filler ,glass both inner and outer hulls and recoat. I hope the patch doesnt look too bad. The boat realy looked nice.
A disheartening 1st launch.
A disheartening 1st launch.
Well, after hand rubbing my newly finished boat i decided to take her for a spin. My wife and i put the 16 foot prospector in the river and had a nice float. we took a shore dinner and then headed for our take out which was about a mile away. The river was quite high and swift wtih blown banks as expected for this time of year but toatly managable. We lazily floated through an eddy and then wham!. "We're taking in water" she yells. Sure enough water is touching my toes. I calmy ask her where the hole is located and she screams "in the boat!" "Uhhuh, but where at honey?" I patiently ask. "On the bottom near the front" she fearfuly replies. So i tell her to get back behind the yoke and kneel on a cushion. She finally made it but not without alot of questions as to why and shouldnt we pull over to empty the boat? Once she got back to the rear of the canoe the bow lifted and water stopped pouring in and she bailed most of it out with my water jug.. Finally we made our take out and i got to look at the damages. 1 nice new hole about 1/2 inch wide by 2 inces long just to the right of the keel line. Evidently we struck an angle iron that is used to hold log fish structures together that would usually be above water during the normal flow. Lucky me. So tommorrow the prospector goes back in the shop to get a patch job.
I guess the best way to fix the beast is sand the varnish down to the glass. Patch with filleting putty and then sand the filler ,glass both inner and outer hulls and recoat. I hope the patch doesnt look too bad. The boat realy looked nice.
I guess the best way to fix the beast is sand the varnish down to the glass. Patch with filleting putty and then sand the filler ,glass both inner and outer hulls and recoat. I hope the patch doesnt look too bad. The boat realy looked nice.
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Glen Smith
- Posts: 3719
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada
Bradrob,
It pains me to read your post. It also reminds me of my first outing with my Redbird canoe. It wasn't as bad as you describe but it too had to be brought back to the shop for a repair. In addition to the damage done on our first outing, I had a four foot bar clamp fall over and put a huge ding in the side of the canoe about a week before it was done. Glen Smith gave me guidance to get through that repair and nobody has noticed it. I don't remember if it was him or someone else but I once heard someone say that if you can build them, you can repair them. Good luck on the repair and get back out there and enjoy your beautiful boat.
It pains me to read your post. It also reminds me of my first outing with my Redbird canoe. It wasn't as bad as you describe but it too had to be brought back to the shop for a repair. In addition to the damage done on our first outing, I had a four foot bar clamp fall over and put a huge ding in the side of the canoe about a week before it was done. Glen Smith gave me guidance to get through that repair and nobody has noticed it. I don't remember if it was him or someone else but I once heard someone say that if you can build them, you can repair them. Good luck on the repair and get back out there and enjoy your beautiful boat.
The shock and greif are over now and the patching has begun. Upon examining the craft in the shop i realized this is just as simple as fitting a couple strips together just like when i filled in the hull bottom during the initial build. So now the hole in the boat was cut and squared off to accomodate 2 glued up strips. the strips were then fitted into the hole and epoxied in with colodial sillica and cedar wood flour. I have been taking pictures of the entire process and when the boat is finished and looks like i hope it will i will post a tutorial of my patch job. I have to tell myself look on the bright side, i get to keep working on my boat. 
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Glen Smith
- Posts: 3719
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada
Hey Glen I used 6 0z glass on both sides with 105 and 207west system hardner 3 coats on outer and 2 on inner. For now i will probably just put one piece of glass on both side s of the pacth and possibly put a kevlar skin at the 3 inch water line on the outer hull.But that is just an idea for now. Thanks for the input
Brad
Brad
Wow, harsh! :frightened
Angle iron (or rebar, etc.) is just about the worst thing you can encounter, especially if it's at the wrong angle.
Do you mean 3 & 2 coats of epoxy or 3 & 2 layers of fiberglass?
If it's one layer of 6 ounce each side, then I'd be inclined to go for the extra protection of extra glass. Likely a LOT easier to do than the layer of kevlar you mention.
Glad that you seem to be looking on the bright side.
Cheers,
Bryan
Angle iron (or rebar, etc.) is just about the worst thing you can encounter, especially if it's at the wrong angle.
Do you mean 3 & 2 coats of epoxy or 3 & 2 layers of fiberglass?
If it's one layer of 6 ounce each side, then I'd be inclined to go for the extra protection of extra glass. Likely a LOT easier to do than the layer of kevlar you mention.
Glad that you seem to be looking on the bright side.
Cheers,
Bryan