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 Sooner
or later, most of us have to deal with the repair of a canoe
that is damaged while we are out paddling on a trip.
Damage can range from simple problems like a loose seat or
portage yoke to holes in the hull or in a worst case scenario, a
canoe that is folded around a rock in fast water and all but
demolished.
The most important way of preparing for this eventuality is to
have a decent repair kit tucked in your equipment pack.
With a few simple tools and some other equipment, most damaged
can be repaired 'in the field.'
It's important to remember that the repair doesn't have to be
permanent in nature, nor does it have to be pretty. The
only consideration is getting the boat back in serviceable
condition. If if floats and can be paddled out, you've
performed a successful repair.
Small holes can almost always be patched up with the judicious
application of a piece of duct tape. If you want your duct
tape to stay in place, take the time to dry the canoe hull
before applying it. A piece of good quality duct tape
applied to a minor crack or hole can last the rest of the
paddling season, if you aren't inclined to do a permanent
repair.
A major hole can often be patched if the 'pieces' are salvaged.
If you smack into a rock and punch out a section of fiberglass,
you can usually put it back together 'jigsaw style' and hold the
whole thing together with duct tape.
For a higher-strength, more permanent repair, you can apply a
patch in the field using fiberglass cloth, resin and hardener.
Epoxies set up quite quickly, and you can be paddling a
previously-demolished canoe in fairly short order.
Our "patch of last resort" is a piece of vinyl
swimming pool liner and a small can of contact cement. If
we ended up getting a major hole, and our patch job wasn't
keeping out the water, I'd contact cement the vinyl over the
entire area.
The minor repairs like loose or lost seat bolts, shaky portage
yokes and the like are an inconvenience if you have the repair
items in your kit, and a major pain if you don't.
It's these times when the creative genius of your group has to
rise to the forefront. Given some time for sober
assessment, creative problem-solving and hay-wire type repair
strategies, there are few boats that cannot be put back into
paddling condition.
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My
only experience with a major repair involved a fiberglass canoe
that got wrapped around a rock in Cedar Rapids on the Spanish
River in Ontario.
After it was freed from the rock, it was found to have two
broken gunwales (extruded aluminum), five holes of assorted size
and severity, a missing portage yoke and a half torn-out thwart.
Our first impression of the canoe (folded into a banana shape)
was that it was a complete write-off.
However, there were two paddler counting on it as a means of
transportation back home, so we pulled out an assortment of
tools and our repair kit and set to work.
In less than an hour, we had pounded the boat back into a canoe
shape, refastened the thwart and yoke, patched the holes with
duct tape, and were on our way again.
The lesson learned? Don't give up a a canoe, no matter how
bad the damage looks. It's amazing what a little duct tape
and ingenuity will do.
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