: I recently aquired a sixteen foot, midnight blue second-hand canoe from a
: friend. However, there are a few problems with this boat.

: Firstly, its been sitting in the water (not by my friend, who lent it to
: relatives) year-round for about five years. we get ice thick enough here
: to support several pickups and a dozen ice-fishers easily.

: After scrubbing the algae and dirt off (I wouldn't have been suprised to find
: freshwater barnacles), the canoe was discoloured and cracked in several
: places along the hull, running alongside the keel. That's also the first
: time I've seen a waterline INSIDE a boat. The seats, and the bar that
: crosses the middle of the canoe (forget the term) are gone, though the
: places where they attached to the canoe are still there. On one side, the
: gunwell has popped off, and the rivets holding the gunwells down are
: rusted out. One deck also fell off in my hand as I tried to move the
: canoe. Personally, I don't care if its worth it, I want to restore this
: canoe. I'm thinking perhaps a new layer of fibreglass over top (and
: inside) will do it, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Do I sand the
: canoe down first? also, is there a way to restore the canoe's colour (its
: badly discoloured and scratched)?

: Much appreciated, I'm also researching here, but I'm not finding much.

: Knightmare

OK, this can probably be fixed. I am assuming this is a fiberglass canoe. If it is wood and canvas the fix is similar.

The gunwales provide the longitudinal stiffness for canoes. Once you attach them to the hull you have a nice base for mounting wood decks. then it is just a matter of patching the hull as needed.

There are several books on building canoes which will show you how to attach wood gunwales to your hull. I'd suggest going that route instead of reattaching the old ones.

Check "Canoecraft" by Ted Moores, or the books by Gil Gilpatrick or David Hazen. You can get the complete titles of these books by searching amazon.com. If you can't find copies at your local library (and you might ask them to buy one or two for their collecion) or ask if they are available through any interlibrary loan program.

If the "cracks" go all the way through, then you probably have to do some work to clean out any scum that is in the middle of the cracks before you fill the opening with thick epoxy resin. If this is merely "crazing", with the appearance of many small cracks, and the boat does not leak at this point, ignore it or a while.

Minor crazing and pinhole leaks can be treated simply by painting a coat of epoxy resin over the entire hull. It should soak into the smaller cracks and fill them. Sand the hull before coating with the resin, lightly sand the coating of resin, and paint it with a marine enamel. Do the same on inside and out. if there are areas that need reinforcing you an add a layer of fiberglass cloth, but you probably don't need to re cover the entire hull. just sand over the bad area, lay on a patch that is a few inches larger on each side, wet it out with a little resin, and let it set up. when it is cured you can sand down the edges of the faric, "feathering" them into the rest of the hull shape, and then put on a couple more layers of resin to fill the weave in the fabric. sand lightly over the patch and your paint will cover all traces. you can patch the inside or the outside, or both, as needed.

the books on building *wood* canoes have chapters on working with fiberglass materials as the wood hulls are covered with fiberglass. If your hull is really scuzzy, and you decide to cover the whole hull with a layer of glass cloth, then the pictures in these books will guide you through the process.

Good luck with your project.

Paul G. Jacobson