What would you carry in your Wooden boat repair kit?

[Waterdog]

Folks, I want to put together a small wood canoe repair kit and was wondering if anyone carries a kit that has specific items geared towards wooden boats. They could be strippers or wood canvas. Recent posts have been made for hot glue and candle wax. I here a lot about Ambroid glue amongst the wood canvas crowd, but have never seen it for sale. And of course there's the patching materials. I personally only carry duct tape and twine for canoe repair. I would have no problem taping up one of my composite canoes, but wonder if the tape would make a small field repair into something bigger once the tape was removed. Some little, disposable epoxy packets might be hand for something. Cheers, Barry

 

[Cronje]

Ambroid glue and duct tape. The glue is available from many of the suppliers on the WCHA web site.

 

[yellowcanoe]

The trouble with duct tape is in my experience if you leave it on too long you have fibers that simply won't come off. Perhaps if you have a good marine enamel on the boat, that is not so much an issue.

Has anyone used one of those epoxy putty sticks? I have heard that epoxy may be way TOO sticky and if you work it under the canvas you could pull off wood fibers, if the patch was large, when it's time to recanvas.

The putty sticks seem not to be such a permanent form of epoxy..

I have no idea..good topic for discussion. Until this year the most I had to do was deal with scrapes, which were easily handled at home using a foam brush and paint.

 

[memaquay]

I just use duct tape. It's patched up some pretty big disasters.

Edited after YC post....I've used epoxy putty, but only on aluminium canoes, and even there it was not the greatest.

 

[oldie moldy]

If it was me, which it's not, I'd use duck-tape. Remembering to take it off as soon as not needed. On the taking off: go slow, let the adhesive have time to let go, maybe a little heat will loosen it up. Go slow, so what if you use up an evening to get all the bits off? In this fast paced world patience is getting to be a lost art.

But what ever you do don't use duct-tape; when's the last time you saw a duct around water?

Best Wishes,
Rob

 

[stripperguy]

I don't carry anything at all! If I need a patch, I just mooch off of my son, he's always prepared. Here's an impalement on a spruce deadfall, luckily above the waterline. This was my oldest hull, with vinylester resin!!

And a day or two later, on the way home...

 

[yellowcanoe]

Hmmm the folks in Colorado probably saw a duct around water today.

What is the difference between duck tape and duct tape?

SG.. hey cheating.. you have a fiberglassed boat. No canvas and paint. I dunno does your Oldie Moldy non approved tape come off cleanly six months later?

 

[Robin]

I bought a tube of that Ambroid glue but never took it on a trip. The tube is made of a thin "toothpaste tube" type metal container that I felt wouldn't hold up to the pounding it would receive in my Duluth packs. I resorted to duct tape. The duct tape works well, and I just rip it off when I get home and clean up the excess with paint thinner.

I read somewhere that in the old days the guys out tripping would cut a piece of flannel off the tail of their shirt and soak it in Ambroid and slip it under the cut in the canvas, then apply another piece over the top. I wouldn't worry about it sticking to the plank. Plank is easy to replace when replacing canvas.

I also carry about a 10' length of thin copper wire and some more heavier bailing wire, some wood screws and a very small leatherman tool. Plus the needle nose pliers in my fishing tackle kit.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I never knew of Ambroid glue until you fellow paddlers started discussing it.

Thank you.

http://turnertoys.com/Ambroid-Cement-3-2-Oz.html

I hope I have the right link Seems we might find it in model plane stores. Yes the tube seems flimsy but we all have had to deal with packaging of plastic tubes where you need explosives to get at the tube. Seems we might recycle some of that maddening plastic packaging. If you have grandkids you have dealt with toy parts that defy extraction without the use of tools; sometimes power tools. So lets get the toy out and slip the tube of Ambroid cement in.

 

[daveo4]

Gorilla tape for me. It is "duck" tape on steroids. I also carry a sewing kit, 550 cord, aqua seal (a urethane adhesive /caulk), lashing twine, and monel seizing wire. I am currently paddling a skin on frame canoe which is a wooden canoe without the planks, just a heavier skin. I thought I was going to need the Gorilla tape 2 weeks ago. I hit a barely submerged rock hard and stuck there (with current behind me) on the Saranac River. When I got off and looked at the bottom there was only a small scuff mark and nothing more. The frame flexes a bit to absorb hits but I have never tested it to that degree before. I'm still carrying the tape though just in case.
Dave

 

[daveo4]

Oh, and the Aquaseal urethane adhesive is very flammable. It makes a great fire starter.

 

[Robin]

I am currently paddling a skin on frame canoe which is a wooden canoe without the planks, just a heavier skin.
Dave

I for one would sure like to see more pics of that canoe and hear it's history, weight, etc.
I don't see a seat or maybe I didn't look close enough. Single blade, nice paddle. Sounds like it is tough enough.

 

[yellowcanoe]

So would I. I have a friend who makes traditional canoes and has had a number of health issues that limit lifting. So he built a SOF canoe with floorboards and a geodesic frame. The really nice feature is normal open gunwales and a pretty deck. Yet it is sub 20 lbs for a 14 foot canoe despite a kneeling seat.

But his is clear plastic and to add interest he followed each part of the frame with a different color of electrical tape. We joke with him that we can see "all that goes on in the canoe". Which leads me to the question..how did you get a red covering?

 

[daveo4]

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/showthread.php?169-Skin-on-frame-16-solo-canoe-finished
The link shows the build process. I displayed it at last years Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival in St Michaels, MD and it won 1st place in the paddling class.
It is a skin on frame with cedar longitudinals and steam bent oak ribs. It is 16'4" x 29" and has a 14" depth. It weighs 40 lbs. I does have a web seat and foot brace as I do use a double blade on occasion. The skin is 8 oz polyester with 5 coats of sunrise red rustoleum paint but in the sun is still translucent. I designed it as a tripping boat for me and 100 lbs of gear. I could have built it lighter but at the expense of durability. lighter cloth and less paint or coating would go a long way but you couldn't hit anything or set it down on a rock or sticks. Stripperguy gets his canoes in much lighter. (However I can get an 18' kayak in under 30 lbs). Why don't I do a stripper? This is the method I know and am good at and I don't like fiddling with epoxy and other resins.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I haven't used my wooden Old Town for years because it's too heavy, but I'll comment on the one time I needed to use duct tape in an emergency.

An alligator punctured a hole in my carbon/Kevlar outrigger canoe in a lake in Florida, and I began to sink. Standing chest deep in the middle of the shallow, alligator-filled lake, I tried to apply duct tape to the hole in the wet hull. The gray tape wouldn't stick at all to the wet gel coat surface. It stuck to itself just fine and ended up as an unusable, crumpled mess. The tape probably would have stuck on the hull if it had been dry, but I didn't have that option in the situation I was in.

The next day I bought some epoxy putty but have never needed to use it, so I don't know if it would apply well and set on a wet hull.

I'd like to carry tape that will positively stick to a wet hull, even if applied under water, but I'm too lazy to conduct the necessary tests on different varieties of tape. Perhaps someone out there has had successful experience with tape on a slick wet hull.

 

[Seeker]

An alligator punctured a hole in my carbon/Kevlar outrigger canoe in a lake in Florida, and I began to sink. Standing chest deep in the middle of the shallow, alligator-filled lake, I tried to apply duct tape to the hole in the wet hull. The gray tape wouldn't stick at all to the wet gel coat surface.

Glenn, I think you actually just stole this quote from Webster's Dictionary, defining the phrase "deep do-do"... LOL. Pretty funny. (but probably not at the time.)

 

[daveo4]

I also carry a Puka Patch which is supposed to stick to wet surfaces. I have never tried it though. Might work as an on the water repair.
http://pukapatch.com/shop/puka-patch

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Never heard of a Puka Patch -- you guys are a wealth of trivia -- but it seems that it could be just the ticket. And an inexpensive one, too. Thanks.

No the situation wasn't funny at the time. In fact, I was near terrified. Picture a 22' long hollow cigar filling with hundreds of pounds of water and sinking. I couldn't make it to any defined dry shore before I sank, so I headed for a small wooden duck hunter platform near the middle of the lake. I struggled, standing in the water, to get the heavy and clumsy beast partially up on the platform so I could dump water out of one of the small hatches I had (thankfully) installed. After getting most of the water out, I couldn't get the duct tape to stick over the hole. So I sprinted the leaking hull back to the nearest landing as it slowly filled and submerged again, and just made it.

Reconstructing the incident after the fact, I surprised a submerged gator as I glided over him and he punctured holes in my hull with his spiny tail or head as he thrashed away from me under the water.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I want to hear more about this battle you did with the alligator. I have only seen a gator charge once and chomp on a boatand that was because the paddler went after the gator first. I can't imagine you would ever do that.. soo...

 

[stripperguy]

I haven't used my wooden Old Town for years because it's too heavy, but I'll comment on the one time I needed to use duct tape in an emergency.

An alligator punctured a hole in my carbon/Kevlar outrigger canoe in a lake in Florida, and I began to sink. Standing chest deep in the middle of the shallow, alligator-filled lake, I tried to apply duct tape to the hole in the wet hull. The gray tape wouldn't stick at all to the wet gel coat surface. It stuck to itself just fine and ended up as an unusable, crumpled mess. The tape probably would have stuck on the hull if it had been dry, but I didn't have that option in the situation I was in.

The next day I bought some epoxy putty but have never needed to use it, so I don't know if it would apply well and set on a wet hull.

I'd like to carry tape that will positively stick to a wet hull, even if applied under water, but I'm too lazy to conduct the necessary tests on different varieties of tape. Perhaps someone out there has had successful experience with tape on a slick wet hull.

Glenn,

I occasionally buy, repair, and sell damaged pop up campers...good money in it and no sense throwing away good equipment. What does this have to do with hull patching??

I have used a roof patching tape, EternaBond is the trade name.
I'm not sure how one would carry some of this material in a pack or barrel, but as a patch, it is extremely effective, and easily adheres to soaking wet surfaces...you may want to investigate this material.