Ideas on fixing my "freebie" canoe???

Hey all, anyone know Coleman canoes?

A buddy just gave me this 15' Coleman. Aside from a hole in the front, it's in "not-bad" condition.

Is this worth fixing? I've never done any body work, but I'm told it's "easy" and any fiberglass repair can fix this.

I'll leave it at that for now. I gotta head out, but I will come back later to see what y'all have to say.

I'd love to get out with you "local" canoers/kayakers, but my cash says no for now.

Thanks for any help, here's the pics of said canoe!

 

It looks pretty rough, but I'd bet if you are willing to spend some time on it, you could get it so it's safe to use. I'm not really an expert on fiberglass repair, but you could do a search and get some good info. Probably won't need to spend much to get it into shape. Here is one to get you started, there is tons of stuff out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzOMlMzrLoE&feature=related

 

this ^^^^^

 

That was going to be my original plan, but I was wondering if the fiberglass repairr would work with the "plastic" canoe?

I wish I had the cash for an aluminum canoe, there are a few Grumans in the area, but spare cash is not to be had right now.

The Coleman has been hanging in a barn for 6-7 years. The whole front is plugged up with sawdust from the horse stalls. The mice or squirrels packed it solid!

 

If the Canoe is plastic, you can use Kevlar felts soaked with Marine grade Epoxy to repair the hole.

 

Thank you, I will look into that also!

 

OK, I dismantled the front and rear compartments, (I don't know what else to call them). The hole in the front apparently gave access to some sort of evil gnawing creature. The styrofoam filler has been chewed up and pissed in for some time. It must have made for quite the party room for the little fuckers. Anyhow, all has been sprayed out and cleaned up the best I could...for now.

As far as the hole goes, I did a little searching while waiting for the glass man to show up and replace the windshield on the Toy, and actually came across a relatively local canoe/kayal shop of sorts.

http://www.oakorchardcanoe.com/repair.php

I ordered the kit for the polyethylene repair.

It seems a little expensive, but I don't know shit about this stuff. If it works, it'll be worth it to me.

Here she is...a little cleaner.



"How's your hole...family, how's that great big hole...family?"





In the last pic there, you can see someone tried to patch it with fiberglass, it was a no-go.

All the parts for the end "compartments".



The chewed up filler. I think I will try to repair them with some "Good Shit", I mean Great Stuff!



And finally, the gnawed up pieces.


and what they should look like.



More pieces, hope I remember how to put it back together

 

nice canoe. doesn't look to be in too bad a condition. hope the kit you ordered has everything you need. can't wait for more pics. sub'd.

 

I AM a PIC WHORE

 

Do you have a Tap Plastic store there? Im sure there must be something like it in your area.
You can get fiberglass matting or Klevar like the other guy said and soak it and use it to fill the hole the lay fibeglass or Kevlar mesh on both sides over lapping the hole.

Make sure you rough up the area around the hole with 80 grit sand paper.
Clean it with alcohol or acetone before you stick it on there.

Also follow the mixing instructions for the epoxy!!!!!!! Very important!

 

Be careful with the great stuff, some of them will expand a ton and they can crack window sashes, wood and aluminum, don't use to much at once.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions y'all!

 

Today is the day for repair.

I have a 2 part epoxy resin and cloth. I've grinded off the old fiberglass and hand sanded the area. I just got done "flaming" the area on the outside. I'm waiting my 20 min., then I will "flame" the inside. I guess the flaming is to promote adhesion of the resin. While I wait for the second flaming, I will mix the epoxy and get the cloth cut to size, then it's on. One chance only! Hope I get it right!

Pics to follow!

 

good luck. . cant wait for pics!

 

Conclusion!...I suck at, and have no patience for, body work. Basically, I went outside the lines, probably used too much stuff, and created a whole bunch of ugliness.

The cloth kinda "unclothed" as I went along. Stringers everywhere. My only hope is that it floats. According to the destructions, I now have to wait 6 hours before I can "lightly sand the edges". In my opinion, I'll have to use a grinder to "feather" the edges out. Then just throw the whole damn thing in the garbage, or throw it in the woods next to all the tires out there...it'll decompose at about the same rate and the next owners of this property can wonder how long ago the water came up to that spot.

I'm loading pictures for your entertainment. I should have them up in the next hour.

Peace out yo! (WTF?)


BTW, any of you body guys out there! How do you get this resin shit off your hands?, I didn't have any proctology gloves handy...left them at the office!

 

who cares if it's ugly! don't trash it just because it isn't pretty. if it floats it floats!!

 

Thanks man! Pics will be the proof. Don't worry about ribbing me, I've been married twice, I can take it!

Patience is my biggest issue, I don't have any!

As you said though, I just want it to float, if it doesn't, I'll just wait and buy a kayak like my brothers did.

I won't really know how it came out till tomorrow anyhow, and I don't have any issues with grinding/sanding it to try to get it smooth. The hole is just in a shitty area for a beginner to deal with, at least that will be my excuse!

 

Working with epoxy is difficult. Sanding it smooth and color matching can do wonders

 

hahahahaha!! i hear you. well if it doesn't work out for you and you want to buy one, wait till the middle of the winter. that's when theyre cheapest haha. . (but seriously)

 

Pics,

The heavy white stuff is the old semi-adhered fiberglass from the last owner's attempt at a patch. I started hand-sanding, then tried an orbital, then went to my angle grinder...that worked well. Then I hand sanded the inside as per the destructions.











Taped off the area to be repaired...you will see what a waste of time that became!





Now let the abortion begin...

Didn't look too bad to start. It did suck to have to keep rolling the canoe over to get to the outside, then the inside, then the outside...

There are 3 layers of cloth. First a small sheet, then a big sheet, then a small sheet. The stuff gets sticky quick, it unravels, frays, and pulls around as you try to get the air bubbles out and position it. As I said before, sucking at it and having no patience at all don't help things!







That's it for now, go ahead and laugh, I know it looks pretty horrible. I'm assuming I will be using the grinder, sander and anything else I can to get it feathered in and find my masking tape under all that shit.

FREE it was, yeah whatever! I'm gonna go adjust, and clean up my mess!

Flame on y'all!