Wood Boat Repairs.

[hairymick]

G'day guys,

I broke my Laker yesterday.

We finally got a chance to paddle part of our Mary River (Proud Mary) yesterday and play in some small rapids.

Long story short here, I bottomed out in one of the races on a sharp rock - hard and fractured part of the bottom panel of my boat.

This is in no way the boats fault. She is completely sheathed in epoxy and fibre-glass cloth inside and out and I think that any fibreglass or timber boat that hit the rock as hard as I did would have failed. Another boat, a commercially made fibre-glass canadian canoe suffered extensive damage in one little run.

I guess what I am looking for here is some advice or ideas on how she might best be repaired. The panel is only 1/8" interior grade ply and I am allmost certain that water has got into it at the fracture.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[seedtick]

replace the bottom is the best but likely more work than you want....

how about just sistering a panel on the inside that covers the crack and extends to the sides. fillet the panel to the sides and cover with cloth and expoxy. reglass and epoxy the bottom on the outside to cover the crack.

 

[Kayak Jack]

What Seedtick said, but consider drying hte panels either inthe sun or with Mz Robin's hair dryer first?

 

[dangermouse01]

Ouch!!!!

What Seedtick & Jack said is pretty much what I would suggest.
Dry it out, push on the fracture from the inside to make it flat (if its not) epoxy a backing panel on the inside, put cloth over that. Sand down and re-enforce the outside with another layer of cloth, no need for the entire hull, just the football shape area that is the bottom area. You used really thin cloth anyways (4 oz or lighter) if I remember. So the extra layer on the outside will help.

DM
mike

 

[oldsparkey]

One of the guys did that to his canoe. He cut out the damaged section and used it as a pattern to cut and fit a new piece of wood. Then glassed it like he did when he made the canoe.

This way he was sure there wasn't any water in the wood. It was starting to deliminate on him so he basically had no other option.

Chuck.

 

[Too Busy]

2 options for repair

1. I'd go with Sparkey if you're in the mood for a serious overhaul. Cut a dutchman and glass it in.

2. Much easier, just make sure it's completely dry before you start
a. rough sand the entiere area and sand THRU the broken glass, but leave the wood intact
b. cut a piece of glass cloth to cover the repair. It should cover the area by about 3 inches all around and STRECT the cloth to put the weave on a bias or bias cut the cloth to begin with and Epoxy in place
c. Cut another pice of glass cloth (I'd use 10oz for this ir heavier) to cover the inside bottom and epoxy in place. Only the middle 1/2 of the boat really needs the reinforcement.

The laker will gain some weight but be nearly bulletproof.

I did this on my 16 foot stripper after a similar mishap quite a few years ago. It's like the Energizer Bunny now....just keeps going ang going

 

[tx river rat]

Mick
Is the outside of the boat cracked or did it give and just bend in.
If it isn't cracked on the outside get it flat then sand down the inside till you have raw wood for couple inches on each side of crack take your pocket knife v out the crack then set in the sun let it air for a couple days
saturate it with epoxy and fill in your gouge let dry sand it smooth the add glass till you have a smooth surface then lay another layer of cloth and epoxy should be solid that way.
Jack does that look familiar we were running 10 to fifteen rapids like that a day.
Ron

 

[JEM]

Might want to consider widening the crack, but just the width of a jig saw blade. Go VERY slow when doing this. Store the boat indoors to ensure everything dries out real good.

Fill in with filleting material.

Glass over. Be sue to have at least 2" of glass coverage in every direction from the crack. Glass inside and out.

If you're really concerned the area is weak, double up on the glass on the inside. Even a wooden patch would work on the hull interior.

 

[Kayak Jack]

OK, now I know what happened. That damned sneaky Texas river rat shipped a Brazos rapids - complete with rocks - over to the Mary river in Australia. I remember him talking about it one night, but never thought he would actually do it.

Mick, you have grounds to sue Ron Smith for the damage.

Man that guy's sneaky!

 

[hairymick]

Thanks a lot guys,

This is the first time I have actually managed to damage a Jem boat. apart from that one rock, Little Laker handled it all with aplomb.

In hind-sight, I think she may be a little low on the volume side of things for these types of waters, in that she floats a little deep with me in her. Average depth of the little rapids (and there were lots of them) was only about 6" with lots of standing rocks coming up to just under the surface.

Maneuverability was so good that I was able to avoid most of the rocks. I think I might need to build a similar boat, only a little bigger in the volume. I think Matt's new T-V is just the ticket. Will be talking to Matt soon.

Oh yeah, miss Robin has never paddled in small rapids before and she LOVED IT! She is allready talking about the next trip. 8) and camping overnight along the way. 8) 8)

 

[JEM]

The Laker 13 was meant to be lower volume. It was originally design with concept of being a simple kayak someone would build for their wife or kids. Mick pushes the top end of the weight range for the little Laker 13.

But, if a spray skirt was fabricated then she'd be a little more "worthy".

I've often thought about drawing something for playing in rapids but plastic and rolyex does such a good job, it would be hard to specify the right wood and fiberglass to compete.

Build-your-self boats are more for open water and bragging rights.

 

[john the pom]

I thought you was s'posed to go around, or between rocks? :shock:
Will watch the repair with interest though. Probly gonna need to know one day... I s'pose I'm a bit of a cautious type and less likely to venture amongst boulders, but them rocks can be sneaky little buggers.

 

[Kayak Jack]

... I'm a bit of a cautious type and less likely to venture amongst boulders, but them rocks can be sneaky little buggers.

Some rocks, John, after having once engaged you, have been observed to run ahead and get into the water for a second shot at your hull.

On the Brazos, whole damned truckloads of rocks did that very trick! If they do it under cover of darkness, you may lose sleep from the noise. Unless, of course, I'm along on the trip to cover up the noise with my Lynx's faux snoring sounds.

 

[hairymick]

OK,

Thanks very much guys for all the tips and advice. This place is a gold mine of knowledge and information. 8)

To tell the trutth, I was pretty gutted when I saw that I had damaged my little Laker. Robin was furious with me We both love these great little boats.

Taking on board all the advice so freely given here, 8) I have made a start today.

Bottom is sanded and scraped back to remofe the graphite.

Damage to the outside is minimal

Inside is cleaned up and the cracks cleaned out with a dremmel. These little tools are priceless for this. Took about two minutes

A patch of 8oz cloth is wetted out over the outside. (Waiting for it to set up a bit now)

Also while waiting, I have marked out and cut two patches for the inside floor. The second patch is a matching one for the other side of the boat.

 

[JEM]

Should be a solid repair. Probably stronger than what had.

 

[tx river rat]

Mick
Can you give us a pic of inside the boat so we can get an ideal where the fracture was and desribe what kind damage was on the outside.
Repairs are looking good
Ron

 

[hairymick]

G'day Ron,

These are of the inside and taken before I started the repair.

Seat front is to the left

Same cracks - cleaned out with dremmel

 

[tx river rat]

Thanks Mick
seat had it stiffer so that was the only place it could give.
Ron

 

[digr57]

Look like a simple fix ecept for the graphite sanding yuk. Hey now you can say your hobbys boat building annndd repair.

Russ

 

[hairymick]

Thanks guys.

Sanding off the graphite is definately no fun

Bit more done this afternoon.

Backing plates are glued in. I decided not to add a fibreglass patch between them. I really don't think it will be necessary on this boat.

Plates held down while glue goes off.

Fillets done

This is turning out way easier than I expected. also got three filler coats on the bottom today.