Well I thought I was going to refinish my SR17 this year, but logistically that's not going to happen. Work, family, etc took priority. So let me throw out this proposition:
Anyone on the board interested in tackling this project over the summer? I will be heading to Quetico June 18-25 via International Falls (driving from NE Illinois). Ideally, I would like to drop the canoe off on the way back to Chicago (somewhere along the 53 - 94 - 90 route) sometime around June 25 or 26. I would need to pick it up on the next trip back to Quetico around this upcoming Labor Day (or the week afterwards). I'll gladly pay a reasonable price for the refinish work, plus you have use of the canoe for the summer in exchange for the storage. Can anyone help me out?
AdamX

You can do the entire project in a few hours, (minus the drying time once coating has been applied).

I have refinished my SR Tranquility twice over the years and its quite easy if you have an orbital sander and tools to apply the finish (which is only a small paint roller and pan).

All you need to do is: put the canoe on sawhorses, sand it with orbital sander to get out any deep scratches, then re-sanded by hand with a finer sandpaper (do the entire canoe, it will look horrible at this stage), then applied the pre-finish cleaner, once it has dried, then roll on the finish coat carefully so as to not get runs. I can do it all in less than three hours.

So if no one will to do it for you, you should give it a try. Its actually easy and fun. You'll have a great feeling of success and accomplishment once you do it yourself. Be sure to do it either outside (with no wind or dust in the air) or in a very well ventilated area.

I would do it for you, but I made a decision years ago to never work on other people's equipment.

Randy

Im in the same boat so to speak. Looking to refinish my SR 18.5 before this years trip.

Adam, maybe two heads are better than one. I plan to start mine with in a few weeks. Would be willing to partner up if it works for you.

Be very careful with the sander. I wouldn't use the round, spinning type. Use a 1/3 sheet palm sander, or similar. It works much slower, and there is far less risk of going too deep. I did my SR17 last weekend in 2 hours.

Quick question: Any reason I couldn't do this to my Wenonah Spirit 2? I bought her used from an outfitter and while she's quite seaworthy she's pretty banged up so I'm thinking I should do this at some point if it's doable.

I've got all the tools and a fair amount of experience sanding/finishing via woodworking but I've never done a canoe and am not sure if there's a material difference between the SR and Wenonah kevlar models.

quote Xand: "Quick question: Any reason I couldn't do this to my Wenonah Spirit 2? I bought her used from an outfitter and while she's quite seaworthy she's pretty banged up so I'm thinking I should do this at some point if it's doable.

I've got all the tools and a fair amount of experience sanding/finishing via woodworking but I've never done a canoe and am not sure if there's a material difference between the SR and Wenonah kevlar models. "

If i recall correctly, SR uses a layer of fiberglass on top instead of Kevlar like the others. The glass is less prone to fuzzing. I don't see a reason why you couldn't LIGHTLY sand and refinish. I watched them doing one at Piragis a few years ago, but I don't know if they sanded it first.

quote jwb747: "Im in the same boat so to speak. Looking to refinish my SR 18.5 before this years trip.


Adam, maybe two heads are better than one. I plan to start mine with in a few weeks. Would be willing to partner up if it works for you. "

Interesting idea. Email sent

A couple of thoughts/experiences. I bought two very used canoes, spend time prepping them over the winter, and ended up taking them to Piragis and traded them for a one year old canoe.

Priagis simply puts a coat or two of spar varnish on theirs before they sell them after one year of use. They just wash the canoe really well with soap and water, let it dry, and give it a coat of varnish with a foam brush. As the varnish dries, most of it flashes off, so you are not adding weight to the canoe.

Giving any composite canoe a coat of spar varnish will give it some UV protection.

Recoating with either Vinyl Ester resin or Epoxy resin will add weight to you canoe. Wenonah uses Vinyl Ester resin when they build there canoes, SR uses Epoxy I think.

I have heard that if you use 150 or smoother sand paper, it will not fuzz up the Kevlar.

I plan to put two or three coats of varnish on my Wenonah after my next trip, with a light hand sanding of any rough spots with maybe 400 grit between coats being very careful not to sand off any of the resin.

That's a quick brain dump.

quote IceColdGold: "A couple of thoughts/experiences. I bought two very used canoes, spend time prepping them over the winter, and ended up taking them to Piragis and traded them for a one year old canoe.


Priagis simply puts a coat or two of spar varnish on theirs before they sell them after one year of use. They just wash the canoe really well with soap and water, let it dry, and give it a coat of varnish with a foam brush. As the varnish dries, most of it flashes off, so you are not adding weight to the canoe.


Giving any composite canoe a coat of spar varnish will give it some uv protection

Recoating with either Vinyl Ester resin or Epoxy resin will add weight to you canoe. Wenonah uses Vinyl Ester resin when they build there canoes, SR uses Epoxy I think.


I have heard that if you use 150 or smoother sand paper, it will not fuzz up the Kevlar.


I plan to put two or three coats of varnish on my Wenonah after my next trip, with a light hand sanding of any rough spots with maybe 400 grit between coats being very careful not to sand off any of the resin.


That's a quick brain dump."

Thanks for sharing, I might have to try this if my Kevlar Wenonah gets all scratched up..

To the OP, Northwest Canoe would do the job for you. Great company located in St. Paul. Dennis, the owner, is a member of this site. NW Canoe

Frenchy19 tanks for the information. I will reach out to NW Canoe today. Also, have you had a chance to play with your Inreach ? I have not had a chance to take mine out of the package.