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Might be better off in /diy/ but any of y'all know anything about canoe repair?
I bought a small solo canoe project, the hull is mostly in good shape aside from a little 1-2" crack in the fiberglass, not all the way through but like a weak point where the fiberglass wants to bend sharply instead of flexing smoothly, and a couple of chips through the gelcoat (and minor gelcoat cracks). Also basically all the woodwork needs replacing, gunwales basically already gone, I have the seat but it's broken, and the yoke is barely hanging on.
What the best course of action? It's fragile without gunwales obviously, but I'd rather paint before attaching new ones if possible. Thinking wash and sand down the chips, crack, and gelcoat cracks, patch the crack both sides, then get some thickened epoxy putty to fill in the chips and gelcoat racks (after sanding/grinding them down), prime, paint, then woodwork?
As far as wood, was thinking of doing cherry. I know ash is the usual recommendation but cherry is about the same price and I think looks nicer for the canoe (it's orange and I'm going to keep it the same color). Original wood was apparently Parana pine. Is a table saw enough to rip boards? I'm going to be scarfing them also, no long wood readily available near me (even though it's just under 14' but still). Also going to try to cut out a shelf into the outwale to cover the fiberglass, not sure how difficult that's gonna be.... Also do I have to drill new holes in the fiberglass when attaching the gunwales, or can I re-use the old ones? If I need new ones, do I need to fiberglass the old ones? Don't want to end up creating a perforated tear line lol.
As far as the seat since I have the old one, just going to do my best to produce a close copy, it's fairly basic, sorta trapezoid that had premade cane webbing.
Any tips? Shit I've got totally wrong?
