A quick refresh for my Ranger LOL

[White River]

SO I started removing the outside cloth and resin from my Ranger I built in 2010. After 9 years of hard use and abuse on some rocky rivers around me it was time. The repairs were starting to take away from the beauty of the exterior. After an hour and fifteen minutes I've got a bout a quarter of it off. I used a one piece gunnel glued on and i'm regretting that now. The new one will be screwed on two piece this time. [img

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More pics to follow

[White River]

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Finished the second side in half the time as the first. They key is to let the heat do the work for you. The piece laying on my peapod build really shows how the wood fibers separate from bruising from hitting rocks. Only one crack that I've found so far. About 3.5 hours total for the removal process now comes the sanding!

Still undecided on the the gunwales. Thinking of planing off the outer portion of the one piece gunwales I have glassing and then installing a new outside piece with screws for later removal.

As I head towards glassing again what are some thoughts on better abrasion resistant materials and or admixtures for the bottom. Kevlar? carbon fiber?

Thanks
Todd

[Jim Dodd]

Hi Todd

A question.
What resin did you use ? Epoxy or polyester ?

This last Summer I pulled glass off a hull and reglassed. The original builder had used Polyester. It came off quite easily.

The hull was about 12 yrs old and badly delaminated .

I had replaced the gunnels a few years earlier, and due to poor storage, it needs it again. I will charge a lot more next time !

If you choose not to glue the outwhale on, apply a couple of coats of epoxy to the hull side of the outwhale, letting it cure before fastening.

I've always epoxied on my gunnels, and happy how it seals out moisture, as well as the strength of bonding everything together.
Planing the outwhale off shouldn't be that hard. After all these years, I haven't had to do it.

S-glass below the waterline is an option for abrasion resistance. It handles just like E-glass. I always double layer up to almost the waterline.

If you are really hard on your hulls. Dynel might be what you are looking for. Sweets composites handles it, and can give you advise !
http://sweetcomposites.com/
It soaks up more resin. I would also just use it below the waterline. It doesn't wet out clear like E or S-glass though.

Good Luck ! The hard part is over !

Jim

[White River]

Epoxy and it came off quite easily once I got the temperature right. Will you post a picture of what the bottom of your canoes look like with two layers of glass? Good idea on the epoxy on the gunwales I will most definitely be doing that

[Jim Dodd]

Amazingly you can't detect the extra layer, after you glass it, feather the edge,sand and varnish. !

Here are some pics.













Jim

[White River]

Jim,

Did you sand the edges of the fiberglass/wood interface before you put the final layer of glass on? I'm assuming you did so mechanical bond on the main layer then and not chemical since it had to cure to be able to sand it? Am I over thinking it?

Thanks
Todd

[Jim Dodd]

Todd

I glass the entire hull, main layer, let set past tacky stage, usually 6 hrs. No sanding !
Then add the extra layer and bias strips the same time.
Apply two or three fill coats, about two hours apart.

It's a long day, sometimes getting up in the night to apply that last fill coat.

This way I a get a good chemical bond, and a clear look !

A Carbide paint scraper is a great tool to feather the edges of the cloth.

Jim

[White River]

Am i looking at the same canoe two different times for epoxy and glass? I see gunwales and blue tape in the one picture making me wonder. So you left the gunwale on when you re-glassed?

Thanks
Todd

[Jim Dodd]

Sorry for the confusion Todd.
The pics show two different hulls. You can tell by the strip pattern. The first is my Pearl, and the second is a modified Arkansas Traveler. It is set up like a Wee Lassie( sit on the bottom) hull.

I shared them so you could see how the edges of extra layers vanish when varnished.
They are also examples of stemless building.


Jim

[White River]

So the cloth removal was the easy part! I ended up block planing 75% of the epoxy layer from the cedar but the flat areas, no go. I ended up finding 40(gasp) grit worked the best for removal on my 5" ROS. It leaves the cedar rough so i'll have to go back through and sand the whole hull again but I planned on that anyway. I have needed to be very careful as 40 takes off cedar quickly!

The next step is glassing! Looking to do this weekend. I ended up buying S glass so we'll see how that holds up. BTW I bought it from Sweet Composites. I actually called, talked to a very nice and helpful person, and was wished the best of luck on my canoe project! Thanks for the advice Jim.

Todd

[Jim Dodd]

Good Luck Todd ! Warm that shop up this time of year!

Sweets is good ! You will like the S-glass. Wets out just like E-glass.

I've had troubles with random orbit sanders leaving swirl marks in the wood. I'm finish sanding by hand to eliminate them !

Jim

[White River]

Fortunately I work in my basement! Constant 65deg F with my radiant floor heat. Yeah I've got a flexible sanding board I use for the final sand before glass. I made it to use two half sheets of sand paper end to end. works quite well.

[White River]

I actually did get this back in the water! I will post some pictures of the re-build finish and of the yoke layout I made on graph paper. Interesting find, I had signed and dated the bottom of my decks on 4/18/09. I pulled them out on.......4/18/20! Quite the coincidence.