Other boat repair stuff. I am dinking with a boat in the shop, this could run long.
A sturdy platform to hold the canoe at a decent work level. Something holding the hull so that it isn’t going to walk around or wiggle out of position on either gunwales up or gunwales down. Or, sometimes, on its side. A pair of 30-ish inch tall sawhorses work fine for me.
If the boat is moving while you are working on it you are wasting time, energy and accuracy. With a canoe gunwales down I use little Quick Grip clamps on the sawhorse crossbars against the outwale or, one canoes where the gunwales do not rest level, clamp down the inwales.
Add a couple of foam blocks, wedges, chucks, straps, whatever to the sawhorse crossbar for upright hull stability. Again, if the hull is moving, wiggling or walking away you have the disadvantage of a moving target.
Sometimes it helps to have the hull captured on one side. For patching cracks at the sheerline I rather have the area to be resined held horizontal/levelish. A couple of furniture clamps or long-bar Quick Grips on the sawhorse will do. If I have a lot of work to do on one chine I just screw some padded L-brackets into the sawhorse to capture the hull held sideways.
A bucket, sponge/scrubbie and hose. Contaminates on a hull are the enemy of epoxy adhesion, so before beginning any boat work I scrub the canoe inside and out. On a major, week’s long rebuild project I may wash the boat several times over the course of work, the secondary washes to get rid of any sanding dust, amine blush or contaminates that may have gotten on the boat in the interim.
An initial thorough scrubbing is a good way to get up close and personal with the state of the hull, and often reveals additional areas in need of attention that previously passed the 30 foot test. I use dish soap, but there are probably better cleaning agents. Steer clear of car wash-and-wax in one type stuff.
A bottle of alcohol. Not bourbon, although that’s good too. A bottle of 70 or 91 percent isopropyl rubbing alcohol (another big box item). After the hull has dried from washing I clean any area needing epoxy work with alcohol. If I am not dong a green top fill with epoxy I lightly wash, sand and alcohol the area first to remove any amine blush after the epoxy has cured.
Amine blush is a greasy feeling film that develops atop some epoxies. Hot temps/fast cures may be especially prone to amine blush. Additional epoxy coats over amine blush are bad, but varnish or paint over amine blush is a gooey nightmare.
If you can chose your work time/season having moderate temps is a good thing. We don’t have AC in our home, but I install a small window unit in the shop for work during mid-Atlantic summers. On the winter side if I am working on a gunwales down canoe a radiant oil heater on a low setting positioned under the hull does wonders for capturing warmth in the hull. Having shop temps fall slightly as a large resin job sets up can help reduce outgassing bubbles.
Aside from the parts, tools and materials the most important thing for me is to have a logical, sequential plan of action, thought out in advance. Some parts of a plan are obvious; I don’t want to do the epoxy work and immediately move on to drilling holes in the boat or making dust in the shop. I tend to leave the day’s epoxy work ‘til the end of the shop spell, when it is time to walk away.
Speaking of time to walk away, I expect that everyone who has ever worked with resin and cloth has at some point made things worse by continuing to screw with the just laid cloth. Most typically this starts with “Oh, there’s a fray, I’ll just push it back or cut it off. . . .crap, now its worse. . . .maybe if I. . . . oh, double worse”. Peel ply has largely eliminated that temptation.
Dust is always an issue. I run a shop vac to pick up any dust in the hull as soon as I have made it. Major dust making tasks are better performed outside the shop, but sometimes (weather) that just isn’t possible. If you have made major dust in the shop know that not only it has gotten everywhere, some of it is still airborne and continuing to settle. As Alan noted a shop vac hooked to an RO or other power sander helps immensely, but there is still going to be dust in the boat and in the air.
That’s all part of the sequential step action plan. I actually write the steps of that plan down as a process reminder, and most often I find myself adding steps. Step #1, #2. . . . add steps #2B, #2C. . . . #3
That has the added benefit of making me think. And also, beneficially, slowing me down. Slow is fast. The most time consuming mistakes I have made were a result of going too fast, and most of them were rushing (or skipping) some prep work stage.
A lot of success rests simply in prep work, nowhere more so than working with resin and cloth. All the stuff needed laid out at the ready, materials cut to size, hull area cleaned and masked off if necessary. Laying a small patch with cloth, resin and peel ply takes minutes once everything is ready, preparing the hull takes far longer. Two minutes of epoxy work, 20 minutes of prep work.
When I do finally get to walk away time I stop and consult the plan for the next day’s activities. OK, it isn’t quite yet time to walk away. Before calling it quits I look over the revised plan and lay out all of the tools, parts and materials I need for the next day. (OK, I anal retentive put away all of the day’s tools and clean off the benches first).
It is nice to be able to jump right back into sequence of work, but even better when I know I already have everything I need. It sucks to be psyched to start work only to discover that, dammit, I’m out of sanding disks or brushes or etc. The nearest hardware store is less than a half hour away, but that is still an hour+ shot to hell when I could be working in the shop.
Not necessary for a first boat project, but if you do discover joy in boatwork and find other fixer uppers it pays, or saves, to buy disposable brushes in quantity. A box of 3 dozen brushes will get used up quick enough, and they don’t go bad.
Lastly, some personal protective equipment. Gloves, of course. A dust mask or respirator, especially if making lots of uncaptured sanding dust. Shop glasses or goggles, mostly for eye encrusting dust again, but also for flying surprises. One PPE item I would not have thought to be as comforting, ear plugs or muffs. RO sanding on a canoe, especially a composite hull, can produce a maddening harmonic vibration thrum. I last a lot longer RO sanding when wearing ear protection.
I have developed some sensitivity after repeated exposure to fiberglass or resin sanding dust. My sensitivity nemesis seems to be sanded Vinylester dust, and I wish I had been more thoroughly gloved and gowned starting years ago. As soon as I have finished a major composite sanding job I need to shower and change clothes. Actually the first thing I do is go outside and blow myself off with a leaf blower. If I neglect to follow that protocol I will pay an itchy price.
The PPE that I overlook most often is clothing. No, I’m not the Buck Naked of canoe repairs. But most often ( = almost every time) I start doing some epoxy or varnish or paint work and realize too late that I am wearing my last, almost unstained, shirt or pants. If I own 20 tee shirts 19 of them have some boatworking stain, spatter or schmutz.
PS - If this goes relatively well I'll probably look for other canoes to do it again so the investment in tools is definitely worth it to me.
There is a peculiar joy in bringing a canoe back to life. Most of what is needed is pretty simple stuff that quickly gets better with practice. It is a great way to appreciate different manufacturer’s construction techniques and outfitting styles, which opens a more educated understanding of what you like in a canoe.
And every boat presents different challenges. It is like completing a floating Sudoku, and if you get the wrong answer in one square you can usually sand away the mistake and try again.
