Interior Hull filled with water before fiberglass

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alanbradshaw64
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 11:37 am

Interior Hull filled with water before fiberglass

Post by alanbradshaw64 »

Canoe small file.jpg
I had glassed the exterior of my Freedom Canoe and had turned it over. I left it for a while and we had alot of snow and rain and the roof leaked inside the hull before I had fiberglassed it. I did not notice it until a few week later and it expanded and then dried.
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alanbradshaw64
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 11:37 am

Re: Interior Hull filled with water before fiberglass

Post by alanbradshaw64 »

I was wondering if anyone has some ideas on how I can repair this problem. Thank you. :thinking
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Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Re: Interior Hull filled with water before fiberglass

Post by Glen Smith »

It is not easy to see the extent of the damage with such small pics. Please post some larger ones.
AlanWS
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Shorewood, WI

Re: Interior Hull filled with water before fiberglass

Post by AlanWS »

Ouch. Swelling of the wood causes the hull to buckle, since the glass does not. Heating the wood to dry it thoroughly might shrink it enough to minimize the problem. A bright incandescent lamp may be enough.

That happened to me a long time ago (1972?) and I dealt with it simply by glassing the inside and leaving the wrinkles. While it was painful for me to look at for decades, almost nobody else noticed the damage, and the canoe handles beautifully.
Alan
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