Repairing wrapped Wenonah Toughweave hull?

[bark-eater]

I acquired a damaged Wenonah Toughweave Sundowner that was on its way to the dump. Apparently it had a misadventure and wrapped around something or was crushed. The rails are kinked in a number of places and will need to be replaced. I'm going to straighten them out to get the hull fair enough to repair the damage.

Big question I have is how to approach the larger creases where all the resin has blown out of but at least the heavy exterior layer of fiber glass roving has not torn. Should I try and preserve the skin integrity of this layer?

I assume I would have to work from the inside out to get reinforcements behind the roving, and the interior looks much better than the exterior with only 2 tears. If I did all the work from the exterior the boat could end up looking very clean "from the drivers seat"

Is there any reason to get involved in such trickery?

Other question is whether there are any repair quirks specific to Toughweave? If I grind through the roving should I add a layer of similar cloth to the repair lamination?

I'll get some photos up later. Thanks

 

[MrPoling]

"Is there any reason to get involved in such trickery?"

I think, at least from a strict economic perspective, such a canoe is a total constructive loss. Meaning your time and materials will exceed the price of an an equivalent canoe.

For example, I saw a fiberglass Mad River Lamoille for $1000. That seems about market value, at least in the Southeastern United States.

I just finished restoring a Kevlar Lamoille, and was shocked how much more work it was than the more generic canoes I've repaired. I found wooden gunwales wouldn't fit until I'd spent several hours cleaning up the ribs and interior with a die grinder. The gunnels turned out to be much more difficult because of their length.

If you have lots of time, the skill, and the materials on hand maybe it makes sense.

 

[MrPoling]

"I did all the work from the exterior the boat could end up looking very clean "from the drivers seat""

I think the standard practice is to make repairs on the inside.

I've done it both ways, and like doing it on the inside better. Most of the fiberglass hulls I've seen are painted on the inside. It's fairly easy to paint over the patch and have it look nice. Making a patch on the gel coat look nice will take more work.

 

[bark-eater]

This boat cost me $1 to get in to. Aluminum gunnels will be another $200. Add another $100 for glass, goop and paint. This hull may be a candidate as an ACA sailing canoe, so I'll be holding off on gunnels for the time being. The gelcoat is pretty rough so, this hull will get painted, so outside patches aren't a cosmetic issue, verses a bit more involved to get back to a fair hull.

 

[bark-eater]

View attachment 135257

 

[bark-eater]

 

[MrPoling]

Yeah sailing canoe is a good application, as the weight won't really be a problem.

I'd love to see pictures when it's done.

 

[pblanc]

I acquired a damaged Wenonah Toughweave Sundowner that was on its way to the dump. Apparently it had a misadventure and wrapped around something or was crushed. The rails are kinked in a number of places and will need to be replaced. I'm going to straighten them out to get the hull fair enough to repair the damage.

Big question I have is how to approach the larger creases where all the resin has blown out of but at least the heavy exterior layer of fiber glass roving has not torn. Should I try and preserve the skin integrity of this layer?

I assume I would have to work from the inside out to get reinforcements behind the roving, and the interior looks much better than the exterior with only 2 tears. If I did all the work from the exterior the boat could end up looking very clean "from the drivers seat"

Is there any reason to get involved in such trickery?

Other question is whether there are any repair quirks specific to Toughweave? If I grind through the roving should I add a layer of similar cloth to the repair lamination?

I'll get some photos up later. Thanks

Judging from the photos it certainly looks repairable. Whether or not it is worth doing depends on what the value of the repaired boat is worth to you as well as what your time is worth.

I would not use roving for any repairs. Tuff-weave is a proprietary lamination consisting of fiberglass and polyester fabric. There is nothing special about it that would require any unusual repair techniques.

The boat appears to be one of Wenonah's old center-rib models. Hopefully, the center rib is still intact and the shock absorber struts that go to the thwarts can be salvaged as they are pretty important in providing strength and rigidity in this particular construction type.
As for "goop" if you call Wenonah they will probably advise you to use polyester resin for the repair. I would not do so. Epoxy is much stronger, has better elongation properties, and is really no more difficult to work with if you are using it to wet out and bond single layers of plain weave fabrics. You could use vinylester resin if you really wanted, but it has a limited shelf life and there really is no advantage in doing so for a repair of this type.

You could use E fiberglass cloth for the repairs but S fiberglass is significantly stronger and more abrasion-resistant. I would use a plain-weave material of 6 ounce/square yard weight.

In repairing damage of this type where strength has obviously been compromised I would use both interior and exterior patches over all damaged areas that overlap at least 2 inches onto non-compromised hull. On the exterior, you are going to have to remove all badly cracked and loose gel coat first. Interior repairs will require you to sand down until you see the fibers of the structural fabric. If the existing structural fabric is intact, I would preserve it but any broken fabric will at least have to be debrided where is has come free from the resin matrix.

 

[ppine]

Not much of a wrap. That canoe is in good shape. Easy to fix.
My first canoe a Sawyer Cruiser was totally wrapped. Both sides at the waterline were missing. I paide $25 for it. I cut out all the broken fiberglass. I could wave my arm around in the openings. I rebuilt it from the inside out. The boat was much stronger than when it was new. It added a little weight. I tapped on the gunwales with a hammer and dolly and never replaced them. I painted the hull green and the inside with grey auto primer. I paddled that canoe for about 12 years on all kinds of lakes and rivers.

Sold it for $400 around 1990.

 

[bark-eater]

I tapped on the gunwales with a hammer and dolly and never replaced them. I painted the hull green and the inside with grey auto primer. I paddled that canoe for about 12 years on all kinds of lakes and rivers.

Sold it for $400 around 1990.

The one break in the gunnel shown is the only fatal injury. I'm sure I could coble a patch in a survival situation... I still need to get an accurate measurement of the gunnels but hopefully their under the 18.5 ft stock I found on line. My initial goal is to do the structural glass work this spring while I'm set up for other projects.

 

[pblanc]

If you just want to get the boat on the water and are not terribly concerned about cosmetics. you get get the damaged gunwale back in line by banging it with a rubber mallet and/or using a wooden jig and clamps to pull back in. Then fill the crack and the depressed area in the gunwale with West System G Flex epoxy (which bonds well to aluminum) and covering the damaged area with a fiberglass patch. Below is a gunwale repair I did on a Wenonah WWC1 which sustained very similar damage. I used G Flex epoxy with graphite powder mixed in to bond on the fiberglass patch.

 

[bark-eater]

That is clever.