have gone through some rebuilding the last two years. I thought some folks may be interested in how these boats age. I am amazed at how well the wood/epoxy/glass composite holds up over time. It does not seem to be brittle and delaminations are only occurring when I abuse the boat. They are also easily repaired.
Prospector 27 years, rebuilt at 26. The hull is still as sound as can be. I have used the boat hard and it was stored outside its entire life. I sanded down the outside to just short of getting into fiberglass. I had made a few repairs over the years and I fared these out and recoated with epoxy and varnish. Inside was cleaned up of old varnish and recoated with varnish. New gunnels were glued on, saving some weight in bronze. Seats are original and I think will be good for another couple of decades. This picture shows the equally aged rowing rig.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/s ... 3cwu7b.jpg
Yonah 19 years, just finished rebuild. We have used this boat really hard for its whole life. It is big and seaworthy and we sometimes are making landings in rough conditions on unfriendly shorelines. Same as with the prospector for the outside. The inside always had some ugly resin starved areas so we decided on paint. It worked great. I was trying to shed some weight with glued on western red cedar gunnels capped with a 1/8th inch piece of quarter-sawn short-leaf pine. Again seat are still in good shape.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/s ... racrdu.jpg
some of my older boats
Re: some of my older boats
They look great.
It appears you used nylon snow shoe cord on your seats. I like it.
Jim
It appears you used nylon snow shoe cord on your seats. I like it.
Jim
Keep your paddle wet and your seat dry!
Re: some of my older boats
Its just 3/16 inch solid braid nylon. I've got some seats out there 30 years old. The frames are dense grain southern yellow pine. I saw 3/16 solid braid in colors recently. I think that would be nice.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/s ... e_seat.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/s ... e_seat.jpg
Re: some of my older boats
I see now.
Boy that's a lot of cord !
Jim
Boy that's a lot of cord !
Jim
Keep your paddle wet and your seat dry!