Sanded too much !!!!!!!!

[firefightered]

I had done the unthinkable and sanded the bilge area pretty thin. I am still on the outside so I hope it's not too late to fix. The question is is how. I was thinking of glueing a couple of strips over the top of the thin area. The strips will be 8-10" bigger than the thin area. Then blend those strips to the rest of the canoe. Any other suggestions are more than welcomed.

[Ben]

I don't know what to say, other than I feel your pain. What happened and how do you know that you went too far? Could you put a layer of glass with 3 coats of epoxy, followed by another layer? Or have you actually sanded through?

[Glen Smith]

This happened to me once. I took some color matching strips and planed them down to near the required thickness on the workbench. Then I glued them over the hull strips (kayak deck actually) using the same glue as used for gluing the other strips together. If you use epoxy, it will show after you fair the strips. I held the strips in place with plenty of tape. Next step was to use a plane to fair the patch strips down to the level of the others then sanding.

Now I wouldn't even be able to show where the patch work was done.

[firefightered]

I have not sanded all the way through the strips. I do have a lot of wood working experiance and can tell by just taping on the strips. I was thinking of using CA glue to glue the strips on top of the thin strips and feather them into the hall. I will first make some thin strips to to put on top. Hopefully this will work.

[Rick]

Are the strips now so thin that they bend inward easily? Structurally, the bilge area is rigid because of the curves and thin areas in the flatter parts of the hull, along the keel line and along the sides, might be more critical.

If the bilge area feels soft when some pressure is applied, extra thickness will need to be built up.... otherwise the hull structure could be fine without adding more strips.

Hard to say without actually being there, it's a judgement call... a double layer of fiberglass might also solve the problem, since fiberglass is strong in compression and the extra thickness in glass won't be too visible.

[firefightered]

The thin spot is about 2" in diameter and about 2" from the bottum of the stem. I figure this will be a pretty critical area. I was thinking of filling the inside since the outside is already sanded and looks great. The boat is built out of Basswood so any scarfs or fill in strips are going to show. I will have to make the fill in strips differant lengths to look ok. I will use med. CA to glue the fill in strips in place so the glue line won't show as much. If anyone has anything else to try please chime in. This is my first canoe and I want it to look great. The spot is translucent.

[BradRob]

Treat it like you would a hole in the hull.
Patch it.
Last year i took my newly finished boat out for the first time and put a 2 inch hole in the bow. I cried and cried and then i cut out the area so that it was squared up and glued in new strips to fill the hole. fiber glassed over the new strips and no one knows but me. and now you all.
I would cut (use a box knife) out each affected strip in random lengths so that the butts are staggered you can use long strips or short strips.Try to make the patch inconspicuous so that each strip is just another butt joint and suppose to be that way. Like the saying goes you built it you can fix it.

[BradRob]

One more thing.If you don't have any butt joints then use a scarf joint8":1" Remember how you fit the bottom of the hull at the foot ball? Those last few pieces had to have a square edge. It is the same idea. only this time you have to remove a length of strip and then replace it one strip at a time. I would probably go all the way to the stem with each piece while having staggered ends. Be persistent and use your craftsmen skills and it will be fine.

[firefightered]

BradRob, I think you hit the nail on the head. The thin spot is about an inch from the stem anyway. I had to scarf all of my long strips anyway so it realy will not matter about the joints showing a little. I was hoping someone had an easier fix. Thanks alot for everyones input. I'll work on this tomorrow since I work 24 hr shift and cann't get to it today. Was hoping to glass Guess I'll have to wait 2 more weeks. Gotta teach a class at the fire college. Ya'll have a great day.

[firefightered]

Well I cut the thin strips out yesturday. Not as hard as I thought it would be. Fitted new strips and sanded. The 16' prospector is now ready for glass. Temps tomorrow around 60 deg. F. May have to wait till I get back from the fire college to glass. I has hoping to let it cure why I was gone. Thanks for the help guys. You are all very helpfull people.

[BradRob]

At first it seems horrible to have a hole in the hull and unrepairable. But once a person evaluates it it is really not that big of a deal, and realy a pretty simple fix. At one time the boat had a huge hole in the center and that hole was not to bad to fill. All the other ones that might come later is just another reason to work on the boat.

[firefightered]

I would hate to try this with the glass already on :shocked

[doe4rae]

BradRob... I am just wondering what you did to put a hole in your hull the first time out! I would die. Ya ya, sure I guess I could fix it but really don't want to have to. Would rather learn from other's mistakes/experiences first!

I also had a thin spot on one of my strips while stripping. Not from sanding. Just a spot where I guess I let the saw wander a little and the strip got thin. I suppose it was down to about 1/8" thick? I used a series of thick shavings -- kind of like a laminations and glued/taped them to the hull then planed it even with the strip. Sounds so tacky, I know... but I honestly can not even tell where I did that unless I look hard for it.

[BradRob]

Dawne.
It was this time last year almost exact. We had high water from the snow melt and i took the prospector down my local river. It was a nice float until WHAM! We floated over a fish structure that we did not see because of the high water. The fish structure had a spike sticking up just under the waters surface. I floated by the structure during normal water levels to see what i hit. And sure enough there was the structure in plain view. But because of the high water the spike was hidden just enough to skewer my hull in the bow. I really believe that this would have damaged any canoe no matter what the material.
Brad