That nasty cracked Wenonah Moccasin

[Steve in Idaho]

Finally took the time to start addressing the damage on the Moccasin I acquired and mentioned in This thread.

Here's a photo of how it looked after pulling off the duct tape that's been there for years.


And after I cleaned it (which required shaving most of the crud off with a wood chisel and a lot of scrubbing with acetone)...

You can see by the lack of fading, that tape has been on there a loooong time.

Before and after on the inside.



The outside appears to be only cracked gelcoat. Kevlar strands were stressed to the point of breaking on the inside.

Taking out the seat for refinishing, i noticed that the leading edge of the seat hanger looks like it was ground sharp enough to cut skin.

On the other side, the trailing edge looks the same. WTH, Wenonah? I'll be dulling that blade.

So, what do y'all think? I only have glass on hand. Should I order some kevlar for the inside? Should I do anything on the outside?

The rest of the boat, other than the sloppy skid plates, fading, and scratches looks pretty good. Nothing else that shows any need of immediate attention.

 

[Gamma1214]

Glass (I'm assuming 6 oz e-glass?) should be fine for anything I'd be doing with it (I portage most class 3s) and I think you'll pick up a little impact resistance w/ glass (particularly on the inside). S-glass would, of course, be better but I wouldn't order it or the kevlar for that repair.

I went back & looked at the FB post and you're right... those skids are pretty fugly but the boat looks like a great find.

 

[Cruiser]

If you are going to glass, as a repair ... going with a lighter glass will save some weight , both in glass and epoxy and likely not impact repair strength at all. The lighter glass will be easier to flair as well.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Should I order some kevlar for the inside?

I'd go with glass. It will do the trick and new Kevlar won't color match the old, so there will be a noticeable repair there with either fabric.

Should I do anything on the outside?

Not if you just want to play with it occasionally. If you want to pretty up the outside, a full paint job may be the best option. It would add weight, but I don't know how much. And if you paddle or pole it in lithic waters, the paint will scratch off the bottom fairly quickly.

 

[ppine]

I usually make those kinds of repairs both inside and out with fiberglass and marine epoxy.
You can live with the way it looks or just paint it.
A quality canoe with some solid repairs just shows that it has been used.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Too hot to do anything big outside, so I might as well get started.

Cleaned the area thoroughly with acetone. Did some measuring and made a template with thin card stock. I'm using 4 oz E glass. Cut out one layer, reduced the template size, then cut out another layer.


The larger layer will go on first.
Now some masking around the damage area.


Probably not really necessary because the surface is slightly rough from age and use, but I'll lightly scuff before applying the patch. Between this, moving stuff out of the way in the shop, and uncovering and carrying the boat in I'm done with it for today. Too hot in the shop now, and I need to procure some resin spreading implements (thought I had some, but no...).

As an aside - it's interesting to compare the quality of the inside surface of this Wenonah with those of my Bell Wildfire and Clipper Solitude. This Moccasin doesn't even come close to the other two. Quite a bit of excess resin is rather obvious. To be fair, the Wenonah is a '95, the Clipper is a '98, and the Bell is '03. I assume there have been industry-wide improvements in layup process, especially since '95. Right?

 

[gumpus]

Too hot to do anything big outside, so I might as well get started.

Cleaned the area thoroughly with acetone. Did some measuring and made a template with thin card stock. I'm using 4 oz E glass. Cut out one layer, reduced the template size, then cut out another layer.
View attachment 147751

The larger layer will go on first.
Now some masking around the damage area.
View attachment 147752

Probably not really necessary because the surface is slightly rough from age and use, but I'll lightly scuff before applying the patch. Between this, moving stuff out of the way in the shop, and uncovering and carrying the boat in I'm done with it for today. Too hot in the shop now, and I need to procure some resin spreading implements (thought I had some, but no...).

As an aside - it's interesting to compare the quality of the inside surface of this Wenonah with those of my Bell Wildfire and Clipper Solitude. This Moccasin doesn't even come close to the other two. Quite a bit of excess resin is rather obvious. To be fair, the Wenonah is a '95, the Clipper is a '98, and the Bell is '03. I assume there have been industry-wide improvements in layup process, especially since '95. Right?

Pic shows the interior if my 2020 Advantsge. I'm really impressed with the manufacturing quality. Northstars aren't finished as nicely as Bells were IMO; although the interior finish looks durable they all have wrinkles which I've never seen on any other brand.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Pic shows the interior if my 2020 Advantsge. I'm really impressed with the manufacturing quality. Northstars aren't finished as nicely as Bells were IMO; although the interior finish looks durable they all have wrinkles which I've never seen on any other brand.

Yeah, wrinkles. I'm seeing that too. I'm pretty sure these are historical artifacts, not indicative of current or recent production.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Looking things over before mixing epoxy, I see another minor crack opposite from the one that was obvious. I'll bet they happened at the same time. I'm just going to give this one a single layer.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

The first layer went well. I managed to get it squeegeed and bubble free before the resin kicked - but at 80° in the shop, there was little time to spare.

Now I have to say something good about Wenonah's vintage '95 build. The gelcoat is faded and has countless scratches all over. But I have yet to spot any spiderweb cracking or flaking - not even around the two repairs I'm addressing. Where the coat is cracked on the outside of where I just patched the inside, it's pretty much a clean straight(ish) crack with no spreading or flaking. That's really surprising and impressive.

I've repaired a few canoes in the past, but for a 30 year old lightweight hull that's been obviously ridden hard and neglected for years, I gotta say this is looking like a bigger bargain than I expected.

If I get lucky and the seat caning holds, I may have to go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[gumpus]

If I get lucky and the seat caning holds, I may have to go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Second layer applied. There's no hiding the patch, so I didn't put any effort into pretty. Just got good wet out and squeegeed the excess as well as I could without tearing up the edges. It'll do.


That light line on the right was the edge of the fabric that I guess I should have trimmed off. Oh well...

The seat is varnished and back in place. Tomorrow, I'll flip the boat and address the gelcoat crack.

It's looking good for a test paddle next week.

 

[scoutergriz]

Too hot to do anything big outside, so I might as well get started.

Cleaned the area thoroughly with acetone. Did some measuring and made a template with thin card stock. I'm using 4 oz E glass. Cut out one layer, reduced the template size, then cut out another layer.
View attachment 147751

The larger layer will go on first.
Now some masking around the damage area.
View attachment 147752

Probably not really necessary because the surface is slightly rough from age and use, but I'll lightly scuff before applying the patch. Between this, moving stuff out of the way in the shop, and uncovering and carrying the boat in I'm done with it for today. Too hot in the shop now, and I need to procure some resin spreading implements (thought I had some, but no...).

As an aside - it's interesting to compare the quality of the inside surface of this Wenonah with those of my Bell Wildfire and Clipper Solitude. This Moccasin doesn't even come close to the other two. Quite a bit of excess resin is rather obvious. To be fair, the Wenonah is a '95, the Clipper is a '98, and the Bell is '03. I assume there have been industry-wide improvements in layup process, especially since '95. Right?

I find that old, used up gift cards made excellent spreaders and squeegees, It's almost like they were designed for spreading resin

 

[Gamma1214]

That light line on the right was the edge of the fabric that I guess I should have trimmed off. Oh well...

While the epoxy is still green (a day or two... maybe three after application) a sharp scraper can clean those loose threads right up (if you're at all concerned about it or just want to experiment)