Repairing a split in a cedar strip canoe

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 9:31 am

My wife just bought me a used cedar strip canoe for my birthday. There is a slit in the fiberglass on the side of the canoe, about 3 inches in length, just below the water line.

We noticed the slit after our first outing, because the external surface around the slit was a bit raised, and the slit oozed water well after the exterior of the canoe was dry. Upon examining the interior of the canoe, we saw a raised area corresponding to the location of slit on the outside of the canoe. However, there was no leakage on the inside of the canoe.

Can this slit be repaired fairly easily? If so, how?

Thank you!

Brian Lakey
Grand Rapids, MI.

canoeblderinmt · Post by **canoeblderinmt** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 10:19 am

Brian,
Grab Gil Gilpatrick's book; there is a great section on repairing in there. Basically, you will need to sand down to bare wood until you get to the place where the glass is still adhered to the wood. This may be several inches. Then cut a glass strip to size and epoxy it on. Feather the edges, add epoxy till smooth, and varnish. Good luck with your new canoe!

Greg

Kelly in NC · Post by **Kelly in NC** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:52 am

Be careful not to sand down the raised (swollen) wood. It is swollen due to moisture and you must allow it to dry back down before sanding or you will end up with a depression later when it does dry out. Open it up (remove glass) to air, let it dry out thoroughly, then sand and repair.

Kelly

KARKAUAI · Post by **KARKAUAI** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:33 pm

Hey, Kelly,
Where in NC? I'm in Hickory, building my firsy canoe, a Hawaiian outrigger...almost done.

Kelly in NC · Post by **Kelly in NC** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 4:48 pm

I live in Apex, just SW of Raleigh. All I have is a fiberglass Mowhawk barge

. But I would like to build a Prospector Ranger this winter :D . I used to do interior trim and cabinetry in log buildings back in Colorado in the 80's. We used all WRC and I learned lots of tricks to the wood.

Kelly

KARKAUAI · Post by **KARKAUAI** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:14 pm

Go for it Kelly,
Nice to hear there are some NC folks building canoes. Would like to get together some time when you get your canoe built. My next project is goint to be a Whithall or Wherry to row and fish on Lake Hickory. Will start when I get back from HI in March. After that, maybe a sailing dingy or a canoe. I'm gluing up the iako for my Ulua this week, waiting for my sailing rig to get here before I glue in the mast step. Only other thing to do is the lee board and varnish!!!! I'll probably have close to 400 hours in it when I'm done, but about 100 of that is standing around scratching my head trying to figure out the next step. If I get it done in time, I'll take it to Lake Norman to try sailing in calm water, then to the Albermarle Sound.