# Starting my first project



## Bissell (Feb 27, 2010)

on my old noe me n my dad sanded to bare glass and filled the gap of the delam with resin then glassed right over it and itwas sloid and good to go ;D


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Sand off all gel-coat or paint in the area to be repaired
including a 4 inch overlap. Then repair using several layers
of mat and tooling cloth. To ensure a solid repair, glass the underside also.


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

You have a girlfriend that will grind fiberglass? [smiley=1-smack-myself.gif] Don't let her get away!

Cool looking project and listen to Brett he has done enough research to last a few lifetimes. ;D Good luck!


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## Un-shore (Sep 27, 2007)

My wife will be mad at you for posting a picture of your woman working on your boat, and I'm the one who's gonna show it to her! ;D

How long is the boat and what are your plans?

Will it have a square stern?


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome Sir [smiley=1-beer-german.gif]

Use Epoxy Resin ...

I use my "projects" to get time away from my women ...


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## Frank_Sebastian (Oct 15, 2007)

Yea Jake, what Dave said "use epoxy" and welcome to the forum.

Best regards,
Frank_S


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

The project is a 16 foot canoe her father built years ago. Its just a standard canoe and its going to be paddle power nothing more. That way i dont have to deal with registering a home built boat. And it does not have a flat back anyway. I did think of another question for you guys. Why does everyone prefer Epoxy to poly? And thanks for the votes on her sanding. She is a hands on kind of girl. She keeps thinking she is going to make a mistake and i keep telling her that i don't care (that and she likes hand sanding over using power tools). Which just means i get to work less. I will post more photos when we get some more work done.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Epoxy is so much stronger than the esters.  question for you - why are you sanding down to glass?  If you are just going to paint then just sanding smooth would be sufficient.  If repairing then you need gelcoat removed.  You might be overkilling.

Good call on the girl...she's a keeper!


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well to update on the project. We have the entire inside of the canoe sanded. We also had to rip out the foam in the bow and stern. If was soaking wet and full of mold. But all i can say is i hate sanding the interior but the exterior is so much easier. 


















And as you can see there is a hole in the hull as well but this is supposed to be a learning project so its just more to learn on.


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well work is getting closer and closer. I am doing my initial fairing. I am hoping to finish it up this weekend or maybe next. Then we are going to skin the canoe in 6oz cloth to add some strength and add abrasion resistance.


Hopefully the next picture will have some epoxy and glass then primer.


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Glassed up the ends for the floatation. Also glassed up the rear seat. I have a lot more work to do but at least its going forward.

















Also laid up the first layer to patch the hole in the hull.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

looks good man  ,your well on your way   before you know it shes gonna be brand new again   whats even better is that theres history in this boat, something you might consider keeping in the family and passing on to your kids..... now thats cool!!


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Ok now i have to ask a semi stupid question. As you can see on the outside of the hull i have been fairing it before i lay down a layer of 6oz and epoxy. But my question is i think i have made a stupid mistake in my choice of fairing materials. My thought was to fair the canoe with bondo with fiberglass then use regular bondo to finish fairing. then finally add my layer of fiberglass and epoxy since epoxy is water tight and abbraision resistent. Now i am wondering if the bondo material is going to hold up and for how long?


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Normally regular (auto) bondo is not used in marine applications. Might be fine once it is covered with glass and epoxy. You can't apply it after you use the epoxy. There is a product specifically designed to be used with epoxy - Silver Tip Quickfair by System Three.


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well its been a couple weekends and i am finally able to get some painting started. Today i applied the first coat of paint but shortly i started to get a lot of bugs started in the paint. oh well thats what you get for painting with the doors open at night in florida. Its a good thing i am planning on adding more coats.


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well I finally got to the big part of the project. We added a layer of 10oz and a partial layer of 6oz. And did some fairing. The girlfriend did not realize what working wet on wet meant. Now she says that she does not want to rebuild another canoe. I think i can change her mind but it might be awhile.


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## DSampiero (Oct 18, 2009)

Excellent practice for when you find a gem to restore! keep up the good work!


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well got to the first layer of paint this evening. still got a ways to go but making some progress.


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Got most of the project finished. Need to add some stabilizers but its getting pretty close to getting wet.


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## joshuabward (Apr 3, 2010)

Man that is a really nice canoe, I wouldn't want to use it around the shell beds with paint that nice and shiny.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

looks great nice work


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## snakes32907 (Feb 18, 2010)

Well finally the canoe got wet i finished the stabilizers on friday. On saturday morning my girlfriend and her son joined me for a test run. I am so glad i spent the extra time to add the floatation. Having a 4 year old on a canoe could have ment a few un-intended swims. I built a push pole out of a pool skimmer. It was 25 bucks from the depot and i just added a pvc foot.


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## joshuabward (Apr 3, 2010)

It came out great. It looks like you had some good weather to test it in. We need a pic of the push pole up close, budget is my middle name ;D so 25 bucks sounds good to me.


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