canoe repair

[jimsat]

I am going to try to repair a 6 inch hole in an old town 158. my main question is what will give me a stronger repair, fiberglass cloth or mat. the canoe is built out of polylink 3 and is about a 1/4 inch thick. also could i get away using bondo to build up thickness. i do plan on using epoxy rein and doing inside and out. any advice would be appreciated.

[paul oman]

I fear you will find nothing sticks to the 'polylink' polyplastic hulls.

paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers

[psk125]

Fiberglass mat is like the chipboard they now use building houses because it's cheaper than plywood - not better. The fibers ovelap some in chipboard and mat, but they aren't long or oriented in any particular diretion to provide any real long-term dimensional strength. In housebuilding, the chipboard simply keeps the studs from moving, and the studs provide the strength. Fiberglass roving is like plywood, its warp and woof adding more strength to the structure. (Plywood is actually stronger than it has to be for it's job holding the walls together, which is how builders can get away with using chipboard for walls. They still use plywood on the roof, however...) You don't have any studs (or ribs) in your canoe, so you probably need as much strength as you can get. Go with the roving, especially for such a thin section. You may want to orient the different layers in different directions to spread the loads as evenly as possible. Good luck getting it to stick!

[psk125]

Fiberglass mat is like the chipboard they now use building houses because it's cheaper than plywood - not better. The fibers ovelap some in chipboard and mat, but they aren't long or oriented in any particular diretion to provide any real long-term dimensional strength. In housebuilding, the chipboard simply keeps the studs from moving, and the studs provide the strength. Fiberglass roving is like plywood, its warp and woof adding more strength to the structure. (Plywood is actually stronger than it has to be for it's job holding the walls together, which is how builders can get away with using chipboard for walls. They still use plywood on the roof, however...) You don't have any studs (or ribs) in your canoe, so you probably need as much strength as you can get. Go with the roving, especially for such a thin section. You may want to orient the different layers in different directions to spread the loads as evenly as possible. Good luck getting it to stick!

[Todd Bradshaw]

Repairing a cored linear polyethylene hull must be done with very specific materials and repair techniques or the entire repair will pop right off. What you need to do is contact Old Town directly. They make a repair kit which is specifically designed for use on their rotomolded polyethylene (Superlink, Polylink and the original Discovery series from the days before they coined trendy trade names for the materials) and Royalex/Oltonar(ABS/vinyl/foam sandwich) hulls. These kits use an epoxy resin which is very flexible, thick and similar to the stuff used to glue the polyethylene bottoms on downhill and cross-country skis. For reinforcement (where needed) they use layers of fiberglass cloth in the 7oz. to 10 oz. range (more than one layer on serious breaks and some of this fabric is usually included in the repair kits). Glass mat is not used, though sometimes Kevlar felt (the same stuff used in their skid-plate kits) can be used instead of glass cloth on places that get a lot of abrasion.

The kit also comes with detailed instructions which should be followed closely. They will tell you how much to rough-up the surface for good bonding, what solvents to clean it with, etc. Don't fudge on these things. There will likely also be a reference to quickly running over the bonding area with a propane torch (the blue part of the flame). AS I remember from my days as an Old Town dealer in the summer and a downhill ski tech in winter, this does something like polarize the plastic which for some reason dramatically improves the bond. Don't skip it.

Done correctly, these repairs last quite well and that specific formula of epoxy sticks where most others would peel like a bad sunburn. You also want fairly warm working temperatures for best results. We used to use a hot-box with a couple light bulbs inside for glueing patches in ski bottoms and sometimes used heat lamps on canoes (very carefully on these cored constructions). Just don't try it out in the garage in the winter. It's been a while since I bought or sold one of Old Town's poly repair kits, but as I remember they were in the $40-$50 range - not cheap, but about the only alternative that is proven to work.

[Dave Hadfield]

Find a board milled from a polylink tree, cut a "dutchman" and scarph it carefully into place. You'll find traditionally-built polylink boats are modular, and thus the pieces are easy to remove, copy and replace. Check carefully to see that the frames (best made from "Southern Live Polylink") show no cracks or breaks. Check out old copies of "Polylink Boat" magazine for articles on how best to make the repair. Photos of these restored vessels can be found at "mypolylinkboat.com"

(sorry... I'm too weak to resist... I hope you fix your canoe... honestly!)

[Fitz]

First, put it on the front lawn, then fill it with soil. Add a little manure. Wait for spring and plant petunias in it.

Then get a nice wood canvas canoe. :D

[ 01-02-2005, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: Fitz ]