First of all, hello...my name is Evan. I live in Waterloo, IA. This is my first post here, but I've been digging around on this forum for a few days looking for a solution to my problem. It seems this site is filled with a lot of knowledgeable and passionate people, so I made the jump and got an account (just in case I wasn't burning enough free time here to begin with.....)
Like the title says, I've got a canoe in need of some repair, but I'm not very sure how to go about it...It's a 17' Aquatech fiberglass canoe built in 1977 that I bought on Craigslist a couple years ago, but beyond that I don't have much additional information. When I bought it, there were some cracks in the exterior coating but the price was low enough that I didn't care, and didn't really pay much attention to it. Over the course of a couple seasons I took it out 30-35 times, although towards the end of last year I noticed there was a wet spot on the interior of the canoe where water was getting in, through the worst of these problem areas. The water was seeping slow enough that it would evaporate before actually pooling, but it was enough for me to finally cave and realize it was time to put some effort into making this thing right. The pictures below show various stages of the cracking in the exterior I've described, ranging from minor, to the most severe area that is leaking (where what I'm assuming to be gelcoat has actually flaked off). I haven't done an official count, but there are probably a dozen areas exhibiting this defect throughout the entire canoe.
I have experience working with composites; I have done wet lay-ups of fiberglass in the past, but not for marine applications. I'm not afraid of doing a full cut-and-replace patch job here, but I'm guessing (well...hoping, at least) that it isn't necessary....could you all offer me some options for what I should do here? I've seen some commercially available patch kits, but there are several kinds, and with no experience in this type of work I'm not sure where to start.
I obviously plan on repainting it too, after whatever repairs are made, so any advice there too? Types of paint to use, prep procedures, application methods, etc?
Thanks in advance!
Like the title says, I've got a canoe in need of some repair, but I'm not very sure how to go about it...It's a 17' Aquatech fiberglass canoe built in 1977 that I bought on Craigslist a couple years ago, but beyond that I don't have much additional information. When I bought it, there were some cracks in the exterior coating but the price was low enough that I didn't care, and didn't really pay much attention to it. Over the course of a couple seasons I took it out 30-35 times, although towards the end of last year I noticed there was a wet spot on the interior of the canoe where water was getting in, through the worst of these problem areas. The water was seeping slow enough that it would evaporate before actually pooling, but it was enough for me to finally cave and realize it was time to put some effort into making this thing right. The pictures below show various stages of the cracking in the exterior I've described, ranging from minor, to the most severe area that is leaking (where what I'm assuming to be gelcoat has actually flaked off). I haven't done an official count, but there are probably a dozen areas exhibiting this defect throughout the entire canoe.
I have experience working with composites; I have done wet lay-ups of fiberglass in the past, but not for marine applications. I'm not afraid of doing a full cut-and-replace patch job here, but I'm guessing (well...hoping, at least) that it isn't necessary....could you all offer me some options for what I should do here? I've seen some commercially available patch kits, but there are several kinds, and with no experience in this type of work I'm not sure where to start.
I obviously plan on repainting it too, after whatever repairs are made, so any advice there too? Types of paint to use, prep procedures, application methods, etc?
Thanks in advance!
