BWCA i was sloppy and damaged (below the waterline) the stern of my bell magic, gelcoated, solo canoe but i dont think i need to install skid plates yet. what is the best option for an epoxy to get me thru a couple of more seasons? Boundary Waters Gear Forum


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i was sloppy and damaged (below the waterline) the stern of my bell magic, gelcoated, solo canoe but i dont think i need to install skid plates yet. what is the best option for an epoxy to get me thru a couple of more seasons?

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kanoes

10/09/2010 10:05AM

there, is THAT clear enough of a subject line? (he states sarcastically)

it is a serious question though. id prefer something clear and available at the local hardware store. its a tiny little spot, less than 3/8 of an inch long and about 1/4" wide...tops.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Arkansas Man

Moderator

10/09/2010 10:29AM

Could you be a little more specific about your need? ;-)

If it is not leaking then I would maybe lightly sand it and then a little spar varnish to coat and give a little protection, or look on Bell's site and see if they recommend anything. Call Joe at Red Rock he will tell ya!!

Bruce

Good Paddling, Great Fishing, and God Bless All...

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kanoes

10/09/2010 10:36AM

not quite clear enough i guess. it is taking in a little water in the floatation tank.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Chilly

10/09/2010 11:04AM

Buy an Aluminum canoe;)

"Now days these kids take out everything: radar, sonar, electric toothbrushs" Quint

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whiteh20

10/09/2010 11:07AM

Jan,
Call northwest. I bet an epoxy would work. I am sure they will try to sell you a west systems, but they might give you hint as to what else would get you by. I do not know for sure but I bet any water proof epoxy would work for a small leak.

"With an ax, you can build a life. With a stove, you can boil water. That is if nothing breaks and you don't run out of fuel." -Samuel Hearne

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mr.barley

10/09/2010 11:15AM

How about a picture of the damage.

Because I'm wearing one and I just did....

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kanoes

10/09/2010 11:27AM

a bit more damage than i thought. (crappy pic)

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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sloughman

10/09/2010 11:34AM

This might do the trick and hold together something that small.

Gel Coat Repair

I agree with those that suggest calling Red Rock or Northwest. I'd also add Bell. Or email - I know when I had a question on my Wenonah, I emailed them and they got back to me pretty quickly. This was via their "Contact Us" page.

"You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack." - Alan Garner, The Hangover.

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amhacker22@hotmail.com

10/09/2010 12:11PM

I had a northwoods with almost identical damage at both ends. The previous owner had filled it in with epoxy a couple of years before it got to me, and that held up for the season I had it. I eventually put skids on it, but just for appearance. I know they sell the 2 part syringes of epoxy & hardener at Midwest Mtn, and probably at NWCanoe also.

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cowdoc

10/09/2010 01:45PM

2 part epoxy should work. if you want to get fancy, after mixing epoxy, add a small amount of white epoxy paint. use a toothpick to drive it into the crevices and cover the blob with cellophane and smooth it with your fingers (avoids excess blob sanding). remove cellophane before it sets. sand and buff.

"What could happen?"

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otter1

10/09/2010 04:29PM

White duct tape, or a collage of about 50 BWCA.COM decals to cover the damage. Kidding, I did some repairs a while back found westmarine.com had the best prices on most all products and shipping. cowdoc seems to be right on with the paint and also I guess with a uv protection varnish afterwards. If your not in a hurry(like need it today) and are interested I got an extra 101ts epoxy and hardner packet if you want shoot me an email, I can mail it to you. Looks like one would do the trick. Save you a few bucks. If your new to this product its kinda fun to work with and now I pack one when tripping.

"Common sense is not so common" -Voltaire

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kanoes

10/09/2010 05:32PM

quote otter1: "White duct tape, or a collage of about 50 BWCA.COM decals to cover the damage. Kidding, I did some repairs a while back found westmarine.com had the best prices on most all products and shipping. cowdoc seems to be right on with the paint and also I guess with a uv protection varnish afterwards. If your not in a hurry(like need it today) and are interested I got an extra 101ts epoxy and hardner packet if you want shoot me an email, I can mail it to you. Looks like one would do the trick. Save you a few bucks. If your new to this product its kinda fun to work with and now I pack one when tripping."
ill take you up on that offer. thanks!

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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BWPaddler

10/09/2010 06:03PM

Looks like you're set, but on stems, I've had good success with a waterproof epoxy putty. You pinch off what you need and knead it to activate - it will fill in cracks and you can easily sand afterwards and then coat with anything you choose (UV varnish, etc.).

Bit easier to work with than liquid epoxy if you're trying to "fill in" a chip/chunk in my opinion. You can easily make sure it's beefed back up to where you want it and smooth it out by hand, then sand after curing. It will cure underwater so you could bring this on a trip and use it in emergency too.

The link is not the brand I used, which just came from Menard's, but concept is the same. Mine was a lovely grey color. epoxy putty

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

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butthead

10/09/2010 06:40PM

Bondo
I have stem repairs that went to the cloth. Hold up fine!
Save the sanding dust to mix with the bondo to match colour.

butthead

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” ? Frank Zappa

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bumabu

10/09/2010 08:36PM

I used wax paper to cover epoxy and smooth it out, that worked really well. I think I have a pic uploaded, but cant attach at work

Who I am precedes what I do, not the other way around.

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kjw

10/09/2010 08:52PM

The bigger the damage the better for gel coat repair. I would order the gel coat repair kit from Bell to repair it. Follow the directions on the kit. I put masking tape around the surrounding area when I fix it. I took a big chunk out of the stern of my Bell Wildfire (black/gold) and you could never tell after I fixed it. Make sure you take a box cutter and carefully pick and cut damaged gel coat away from the area before you fix using the instructions. When the canoe was manufactured the gel coat was applied using a vacuum bag. Thus, it doesn't cure very well with air (unless you would vacuum bag your canoe while doing a repair) unless the wound is deeper than surface. I have done several gel coat repairs on deeper damaged chunks and they all cured with no problems. So use the kit. It has a short shelf life, maybe 60 days. One time I opened my can of gel coat after 4 months and it turned to rubber. I took my canoe down the Buffalo River when it only had a few inches of water and the bottom of my canoe looked like I drug it down the highway. I applied a thin layer of gel coat and it seemed to never cure. For thinner applications in the future (such as Buffalo River damage) I will either follow the guy's advice at the Red Rock store (sanding & some type of marine varnish) or use West systems product which he sells too. They will cure with normal air. Trust me on bigger areas use the gel coat repair kit from Bell.

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kjw

10/09/2010 09:14PM

I should have read the whole post before replying. If you are taking on water you should fix the kevlar before you gel coat repair. I can't tell from your picture but if the canoe is holding its shape and the kevlar is not pushing into the canoe where the damage is I would put a small patch or two from the outside. You will have to cut the gel coat back slightly to hold your first patch and and your second patch which should be slightly larger than the first patch. Use a box cutter or one of those smaller box cutter type knives (the preferred tool - you can hold them in your hand like a pen)and carefully cut and pick the gel coat away from the area. My brother has a kevlar Bell Wildfire and someone rammed their kayak through the side of his canoe into the air tank area about 3 weeks ago. The hole in the kevlar is about the size of 3 large thumbs and it is pushed in. It is always better to patch from the inside unless you are dealing with an air tank. We are going to follow Cliff Jacobsons's advice on the repair which he has in his book titled Expedition Canoeing.

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SunCatcher

10/09/2010 09:36PM

Could you make that clear for Koda?
SunCatcher

Dad Always said "We don't Always catch fish...but we ALWAYS have a good time"

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Banksiana

10/09/2010 09:40PM

Consider fashioning skid plates using three layers of fiber glass and west epoxy. The fiber glass will set up very transparent and scarcely be noticeable and will function very well as skid plates. Polish when done and it will nearly disappear. Drop me an e-mail if you're interested. This is an easy and strong fix- your magic will be more resistant to puncture when done.

I learned whitewater tripping in a glass boat, so gained some fiberglass skills while learning the drops.

Steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and they make you king.

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jb in the wild

10/09/2010 09:50PM

OK I can't resist my SR had a 4 inch crack and didn't leak a drop...... Hmmm maybe Joe was right.

I know I know you won't get mad, you'll get even.

Jan,

Kidding aside Get er done so you can enjoy this Indian Summer.

JB

You can't explain the obvious to the ignorant.

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kanoes

10/09/2010 10:02PM

two shay. :)

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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BWPaddler

10/10/2010 08:18AM

:))) u two crack me up

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

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Cedarboy

10/10/2010 07:14PM

JAN...its intervention time. YOU HAVE WORN YOUR STEMS THROUGH!!!!!!
TIME FOR SKIDPLATES!!!!!!!!
Fix right, dont mess around with a tite a%$ repair job.
You own a $2500 canoe!!!!!!!
This is pathetic......

Have NWC do it... they WONT GURGLE!!
CB

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TomT

10/11/2010 06:51AM

I dig your headline Kanoes.

Now, if you could just be a little more concise... Reading the whole headline wasted a little more of my time than I'd like. :)

Oh, and maybe it's time to wetfoot it so you don't have to ram the shore to get out of the boat. :)

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nojobro

10/11/2010 12:48PM

Whoa, talk about passive-aggressive! Down, boy!

Though you forgot to add in the (((eye rolling))).

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dalet

10/11/2010 08:50PM

Might try this

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jb in the wild

10/12/2010 10:02AM

Ok Jan what did you decide to do? IMHO skid plates is the way to go.
Then you can ram it into the shore, rocks or icebergs. Just never ever lend it out to Canoe Bender.:)

JB

You can't explain the obvious to the ignorant.

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Amok

10/12/2010 11:55AM

JB, you need to get CanoeBender on the boards. Sign him up with that name, tell him you've already got him logged in, and we'll see what his side of the story is :)

Trust, but verify. The Lord will provide !!!!

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kanoes

10/12/2010 05:55PM

quote jb in the wild: "Ok Jan what did you decide to do? IMHO skid plates is the way to go.
Then you can ram it into the shore, rocks or icebergs. Just never ever lend it out to Canoe Bender.:)

JB"
im just going to take care of the spots and not ugly it up with skid plates quite yet.

i emailed north west canoe and asked if they could color match. they told me because of the color of my canoe (cream) they couldnt add enough pigment to the epoxy for it to overpower the yellow of the kevlar felt. well, if they did add enough it would really weaken the epoxy...and that would be bad.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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kanoes

10/12/2010 06:22PM

quote Amok: "JB, you need to get CanoeBender on the boards. Sign him up with that name, tell him you've already got him logged in, and we'll see what his side of the story is :)"
canoe bender? "she" is already a member here. :)

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Camp Cook

10/12/2010 09:04PM

So disappointed; thought this was another " cute alternitive for saying I have to poo" thread... Could have been clearer Jan.

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kanoes

10/12/2010 09:15PM

sorry i let ya down matt.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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BWPaddler

10/12/2010 09:30PM

You can go with black skid plates, or non-kevlar felt, right? Black might look sharp with cream (same thing I told Koda with his red boat).

Guess you got nothing to lose trying it this way first... unless that leak gets worse on a trip.

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

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kanoes

10/12/2010 09:33PM

ive learned my lesson the hard way now. i wont be draggin up on shore anymore. :)

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Cedarboy

10/12/2010 09:53PM

Have NWC do the skids in Black, nice contrast color. They do Black all the time. Also matches your end caps.
If you dont like that just get the skids and paint them with some Krylon plastic paint. They may have a colr that is close.
The older SR canoes were painted, didnt use any gelcoat.
CB

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kanoes

10/12/2010 10:06PM

the damage isnt worthy of skids yet. im just going to treat the areas and paddle on for a few years.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Koda

10/12/2010 11:16PM

quote kanoes: "the damage isnt worthy of skids yet. im just going to treat the areas and paddle on for a few years."

That was my thought from looking at the picture. It looks like more of a chip or gouge than a large scraped-through area. But given that it's in the tank area, best bet IMO is to put some kind of fabric over the hole and the small worn area. Fiberglass works great (let me tell you how hard it is to remove!) and since it's in a non-flexing place you can even use hardware store epoxy.

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Soledad

10/13/2010 02:14PM

I had very similar damage on my Northwind- I tried hardware store epoxy and it eventually flaked off.. The real fix was to use some leftover 'glass/resin from my dad's stripper. A skid plate would work well, but would add more weight and cost(for me at least).

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BWPaddler

10/15/2010 08:41AM

k - I had a place on the SR I am working on where I was a tad overzealous with the sander (outside hull near end of skid plate). Yesterday I was patching some other cracks or deep scratches and I saw that spot and decided to do something about it. I added some fiberglass "fuzz" or threads left from cutting other patches and just sort of mixed it with epoxy in the area and covered with plastic. It worked beautifully and is nice and smooth and level today. I thought of your issue and wonder if something like that would work for you.

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

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