16' Cedar Strip Canoe

Opa is German for grandpa

 

I finished removing the keel

 

The problem is that you are asking experienced boat carpenters what to do and yet your grandfather says Bondo is okay and cloth isn't needed everywhere.
He is wrong if he says these things------ according to pros. Bondo will fill small areas, yes, but plaster of paris would also work I suppose. And without cloth, you have very little tensile strength, meaning resistance to staying sealed. Epoxy alone will crack open if flexed enough.
If you can't afford materials to do a proper job, what exactly is your budget? You could use polyester resin instead of epoxy and get a few years out of it. You could use Bondo and it would hold up for a good while as a filler. For fifty dollars more, you could buy epoxy and get twice the longevity. Choose your poison. But you must use cloth to do the job right, or else you are wasting your labor.

 

My wife laughed to think that people don't understand OPA. Her German descent means there is almost no other term.

It is a pity you are hampered by budget, but its your boat and you certainly can get it in the water.
If you use bondo the boat will look like it has ugly cancerous spots, gray or dull red is common. To keep the bondo on the boat you will need to cover it in fiberglass.

If you don't strip down to bare wood inside and outside and re-fiberglass it won't look like most of us here want. But it is not our boat.

Good luck. Maybe you will get the bug and later build one for you grand kids to work on.

There are many good books on building canoes (or kayaks for that matter) and lots of Videos on line.

 

I think he means Bondo brand polyester resin. It's owned by 3M. It is sold in all the big box stores for around 15 bucks quart (hardener included.)

When I hear the word Bondo, I think of a pre-thickened paste used to fill dents on auto body panels. Just to be clear about that.

 

Make sure Opa is happy, that's more important than a silly canoe. Do what he says and have some fun.

 

I guess Crabbiguy will tell us.

 

His first post suggested he had Bono resin, which is the retail "boat resin" stuff the local marina will have. As polyester resins go, it's not very good stuff. Using it as a bonding agent on wood, especially questionable wood, it's abilities will be tenuous at best. All of us that do this sort of thing for a living, have pulled hundreds of yards of sheathing, attached with these resin systems and know how well it works.

Crabbiguy, the piece you've removed isn't a keel. Your boat doesn't really have a keel, though the piece you removed is often referred to (incorrectly) as a keel batten. It's actually just a rub strip, a sacrificial strip to protect the bottom of the boat. If designed and installed properly, it's intended to be removed and replaced as necessary, it gets enough of a good beating to warrant it.

Again, make a decision about what you want from the boat. Will it be a restoration, maybe just a quick fix or possibly just a patch job so you can have some fun with it. With this decision made, you'll have the various avenues of pursuit open to you.

 

So basically, this canoe isn't going to look like new when I'm done. My opa says that be has used the bondo for minor patch up jobs before. Now I know that a full repairing is out of the budget. I just want to keep this thing on the water. And not cut my hand when it scrapes up against the rotten gunwales.
By the way, I've got to clear this up. I'm still in middle school! I don't have nearly the skills or experience to do a major operation here. Thanks for all the help.

 

No time like now to start learning.
Much of strip planing can be done by someone your age.
You do have to have some tools, and a space, and a little money.

You probably have enough to figure out how to do the gunwales and keel strip, if you are still interested.
This is the kind of project guys on the forum love.
The biggest problem is probably too many experts!

Do you have access to some tools?

 

Looking better already. Time to get those gunwales off. Save all of the screws and try to remember how everything was fastened together.

 

I've started on the gunwales. But the screws used are on the inside and I can't see the head. So I'm just going to grind off the part that is sticking out and use new screws.

 

That might be ok, Is the strip on the inside of the hull (opposite the gunwale) in much better condition? I'd like to see a picture of the inside strip (it might be called a sheer clamp.)

 

Canracer
Is this the picture you wanted? The wood there is not rotten and in good shape.

 

Use caution with that grinder. Eye protection, ear protection and work gloves.