Rizzo Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Got my hands on an old fibreglass canoe. The wood gunnels are starting to rot a bit. Anyone ever replace these before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Ive had a couple of old fibre glass canoes as well but never had to repair the gunnels. Shouldn't be to hard to replace with a little ingenuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdelongchamp Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Ive had a couple of old fibre glass canoes as well but never had to repair the gunnels. Shouldn't be to hard to replace with a little ingenuity. I replaced them once but had a lot of problems. Suggest you use one piece material, no joints and preferably oak that you will need to soak in water and shape. Having said that if indeed you decide to go that route prepare to spend time and money. IF weight of a canoe is not your concern CTC has some Ram x material canoes on sale for under five hundred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted June 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 I replaced them once but had a lot of problems nuts. I'm not the handiest guy but was hoping to take a stab at this! What kind of problems did you end up with? The plan for this canoe is to use it floating around in the ponds near my house (1-4 acres in size). It will have a easy life - no rocks, no rapids, no aggressive paddling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinnimon Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 nuts. I'm not the handiest guy but was hoping to take a stab at this! What kind of problems did you end up with? The plan for this canoe is to use it floating around in the ponds near my house (1-4 acres in size). It will have a easy life - no rocks, no rapids, no aggressive paddling! Ive pulled aluminum ones off once,too recoat the canoe,a mistake for me and I sold it. Rizzo there is a place under the skyway in the hammer ,cant miss it.Thats all they do,make and fix canoes,rent as well.Cnt recall the name but they are very freindly and helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjcanoe Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 got it done about 12 years ago at Novacraft in London, beautiful ash gunnals I think it got around $200 if I'm not mistaken.. jjcanoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishindude Posted June 29, 2010 Report Share Posted June 29, 2010 Ive pulled aluminum ones off once,too recoat the canoe,a mistake for me and I sold it. Rizzo there is a place under the skyway in the hammer ,cant miss it.Thats all they do,make and fix canoes,rent as well.Cnt recall the name but they are very freindly and helpful. I believe this is the place: http://www.beach-marine.com/ Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted June 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2010 starting to sound like this is a job for someone else to do. Its not like they are turning to mush yet so I'll probably just leave as is, and see what the future brings (when it becomes a necessary fix rather than a cosmetic fix) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLofchik Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 How rotted are they? A good sanding and hitting them with Tung oil might bring them back to life. Gunnels aren't that hard to do if you have an adequate suite of powertools (table saw, router, planer & sander), if not you can buy them roughly made and fit them to length with a Skilsaw & powerdrill. If you don't have a Skilsaw just pony up the $200 and have one of a half dozen canoe companies do it. Personally I'd steer clear of Beach Marine, he doesn't do wood gunnels, his prices aren't that great and their canoes are on the lower end of workmanship. Holy Cow Canoe in Georgetown or Hand Crafted Canoes in Cambridge do this kind of work all the time and are pretty good. Same with Nova Craft but they're a long haul from the Hammer. Oh and use Ash or Cherry, for gawdsakes anything but Oak. You might run into problems Noahsmarine.com in Toronto will have all the lumber, advice and stainless hardware you'll need. They even used to sell roughly made gunnels last time I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinnimon Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 I believe this is the place: http://www.beach-marine.com/ Cheers you got it fd!The lady is very nice.DO NOT DISTURB THE HUBBY!He is a nice guy as well.Just busy!Too busy! BTW dont pull them off,I DID what a mistake!Eveything warped !Thats why I sold it and they new as well,the buyers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted July 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 thanks for all the input...obviously this is a bigger task than I would have guessed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodro Posted July 2, 2010 Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 thanks for all the input...obviously this is a bigger task than I would have guessed! I had a simialr situation as you. I needed to refinish my canoe very recently so I called Roger Carlise Canoe Repair in Milton 905-659-0883. He gave the option to do the repair himself or allow you to use his shop, tools etc, at a small fee. In my case, I paid him to do the major repairs to the haul. He then showed me exactly what to do for the remaining touch ups to save a bit of money. I would honestly call and talk to him to understand exactly what your dealing with, he's a really nice guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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