A River Rescue, Well Kind Of

Thought I'd share this little tale of a kind of a river rescue we did last night.  Four of us did the 10 mile stretch on the local river, a nice and calm run.  At mile five it was now dark but the moon had breached the treeline and was lighting everything up as it was so full!  I love it when it gets like this!  We came across a group of folks who had put in above us so had already done 10 miles but were floating those inflatable chairs and not canoes or kayaks!  It was getting a tad chilly and they were all soaked and cold by now and couldn't figure out where the next takeout was.  It was just about in reach but they didn't know.  They did ask how far it was to where their cars were and when I said another five miles you could hear them all groan, swear and one woman starting crying!

So, we lead them to the takeout but then they said there was a father with 3 kids downriver who had split from the group for some odd reason!  About a half mile down river we found them.  Dad was in a shitty little kayak towing two rafts behind him with his 5, 7 and 10 year old sons and boy oh boy were they ever cold, scared and couldn't get in touch with anyone.  The youngest, David, was shivering so hard and crying like crazy as he was so out of his element!  We pulled in and let Dad know his group was pulling off but there was no way he was going to paddle that mess back upstream.  We told him that just downstream was a big sandbar with a farm road that lead back to the main road and we would lead them there but we would have to paddle down about another 1/4 of a mile to get to it.  In the meantime I found a long sleeve shirt I had packed as an extra just in case and gave it to the little guy which seemed to help him some.  I told the kids that I would hang right with them for the paddle to the beach and that seemed to help them get a little bit calmer.  I never left their sides and just kept talking to them as we paddled. Scott paddled up front with Dad and just kept talking to him, not sure what they talked about but it went well. 

We got to the sandbar and started leading them to the road and my buddy Scott says to me that we should lead them all the way out to the road which was about a mile and a half walk, although Scott says a half mile.  Dad didn't have a flashlight, we did and we walked. This is through a massive corn field and it was like walking through tunnel.  The 7 year old was having a hell of a time keeping up so I ended up piggy backing him for a long way but ya know I sure wished I had worn my shoes! ;-(  The walking was good as the kids started warming up and the tears and chills stopped.  Since I was in the back of the pack I didn't hear what was going on but apparently Dad got a hold of his wife and she was coming to get them as they were still five miles away from their car down river.  I think this might have been around ten p.m. 
  

Scott and I just couldn't see leaving these kids and Dad who was clueless to their own devices so we stayed in for the long haul.  On our walk back to the boats after leaving them on the road we each just kept chuckling and slapping each other on the backs cause ya know as Scott said to me, "We did a good thing!" 

We still had another 5 miles to the takeout but we sure took our time getting there.  The night was beautiful, the moon was shining so bright and I think we each felt pretty darn good!  So all in all it was a great evening on the river!  Didn't get back home until almost one in the morning and I knew my feet would be a mess for days for going barefoot but it was ok with me!  Some nights the river just treats you kindly and let's you pay back a little!

The Goober Boat

 For the last three years this guy at work in Maintenance has been bugging me to fix his canoe.  He picked it up for two hundred and fifty bucks but a tree limb had dropped on it and the owner at that time fixed it best he could.  Well, somewhere along the way a new crack appeared that was letting water in.  Time for me to take a look at it.

As it turns out it is a 1989 Mohawk 16' Blazer in Kevlar.  Now Kevlar back in the time was not what it is today, more like a chopper type cloth, very rough but fairly light for a boat of it's time.  Ok, so why am I calling this write up the Goober Boat?  Well, the guy who tried to fix this was a Goober and perhaps I'm showing my age but the Gomer Ply Show had a guy named Goober, I think.  Regardless, the name sticks in my gray matter so there ya go! 

Now I guess it was stored in the out of doors cause it had mold spots and a layer of dirt thick enough to start a garden on!  And the previous fixes where like little volcanoes of resin or maybe something else cause ya never know what folks use for patches, there were a lot of them!  Yee Gads I said!

Welcome to the Spider Web of Old Fixes!

It was suggested that to clean the kind of crud off a mixture of vinegar and water would cut through it so I gave it try.  I was amazed at how it worked.  See, ya learn something new everytime you work ona  boat!  I was amazed at how it ate right through the crud leaving what was a shiny but used hull!

Layer of Dirt and Crud

Crud and Clean

Half Way There on the Cleaning

Cleaned Up!  Looks Pretty Damned Good!

So  the next step was to fill the new crack.  I used my usual mix of West System and G-Flex mix with Dyanl cloth cause I know this is a rugged fix and being on the outside and near the chine it was a good fit.  Now, I have been experimenting with Peel Ply and this stuff is turning out to be a God Send!  It makes for a smooth finish compared to my wax paper affair and keeps run off to a minimum.  I think I may be love.  My patch came out so clean compared to past attempts is was crazy

To the novice eye this probably looks like a mess but believe me it is clean as hell and will take only a little bit of sanding on the edges to make it smooth.  It's the third patch I've done with this stuff!

So next step was to sand down all the old patches.  Did I mention volcanoes?  These patches that were there were thick enough to pave an old road down smooth enough to skate board on after you took it all down!  S-glass was the underlying foundation which is good but the goop that was spread on top was a lesson in not HOW TO DO THIS!  Christ, I started with 120 grit and then said the hell with that and went to 80 grit and still had a tough time with getting it down to a level near the hull.  In the end I called it quits as I was getting to near the skin of the hull.  My plan is to lay a layer of resin which I may thicken a tad just for spreading reasons over each patch and call it good as they don't leak but need some attention.  I'm not adding new cloth as I think the existing bond is tight enough!

Beautiful ain't it?

More To Come.

August 9, 2014

I was curious about this leaking problem and was wondering where it was so the only way to find out was to take the boat out for a cruise.  I didn't think it was coming from any of the existing patches nor from my new patch but had to find out!  I put in on the Contoocook River where I was kind of accosted by a party boat owner!  "Hey, ya gonna park yer car there buddy cause that's where I always park!"  Like the stupid ass owns the public boat ramp?!  Where's the freaking reserved sign for Joe Asshole was all I could think!  But even though I was kind of in a surly mood I moved my car into a shaded area and called it good.  The best though was his engine on his party boat wouldn't start and as I paddled off I could not resist to yell out, "Should have checked it before ya left home!"  I got the salute for that one!

Ok, out on the Merrimack I started looking all over for water leaking in.  I knew it would be a slow leak but a leak is a leak is a leak.  I had my thoughts about where it was coming from but I really didn't want to guess.  It only took about a quarter of mile to see it was coming from the bow where I knew two chips through the hull to the core where.  Slow but it added up pretty quick.  I made it up about a half mile and then pulled into a sandbar and flipped the hull as I was paddling it from the front seat facing the back and wanted make sure I was looking at the right end.  Yup!

The Culprits!

That is an easy fix but it will mean yet another paddle to test the new patch!  Oh man, this is just misery having to keep test paddling!

I'm so Unhappy!  NOT!

For a twenty-five year old boat that had a tree fall on it and twist it as bad as my back it handles really well.  The gunwales have an interesting turn to them from that event but all is good. Very light and tracks sweetly!  Nice and stable as well.  If it weren't for the inner kevlar lining I would be very interested in this hull but it is as I mentioned it is more like the chopper layup. 

Showing Her Age but Still Going Strong!

So a small patch and another chance to play with Peel Ply to patch these two minor holes and the of course the burden of another test run!  Oh my, how hard life is with these rebuilds!

More To Come.

August 10, 2014

Well I thought I had it all nailed down, no more leaks so I took it for another spin today but GODDAM IT leakes!  Within a quarter of a mile I had enough water to use my sponge to dry things up.  I kept looking down to see where it was coming from.  Damn, this is a frustrating process!  I pin pointed where water was coming in from on the inside but now need to figure out where on the outside it is coming from.

When I got back to shore I flipped the boat and looked long and hard, just the usual scratches.  So on the way home I hit the car wash and sprayed the hell out of that hull, inside and out!  I think my car was jealous!  Back at the shop I put it in the racks and waited for a long drying time.  Low and behold there are a shit load of pin holes in the hull and they all correspond with the places that were leaking on the inside.  I marked them with some chalk and then marked it out with masking tape for the job!

Damn Pin Holes!

 I knew where the inner hull leaks where but marked them with tape as I want to put a layer of resin on them as well.  In the meantime I am going to let this hull bake in the shed, it gets hot in there, so the foam core can dry out.  My plan is to lay a layer of resin over this whole area.  I marked out the area I want to address and am hoping I'm not missing anything.

To do this I decided to try out a foam roller.  I have not done this yet but have read a lot about its application.  Sounds pretty simple to me but I know how this shit goes!  Usually it is dismall!

So a bit more waiting time before I can try to fix this stubborn bastard,  Damn, this is a painful go!

More To Come.

August 15, 2014

I had laid out two layers of resin on the pinholes after using a syringe to try to fill them best I could.  This morning I took it out to the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack!  Holy Shit, the rivers were cranking.  At the putin the water was about eight feet above normal!  I unracked the boat and put in and just kept paddling around the Tookie, I just didn't feel like fighting the hard current and kept to the back eddies for about an hour.  Not one drop of water leaked in so I know the patches are all good.

I think all I really need to do is a little bit of sanding and then fill the hole in the carry thwart with some G-Flex and this hull is done.  Nothing fancy as the owner doesn't care much about looks as this hull is pretty beat up.  Good to get it done though.

Put a layer of resin on all the S glass patches

Pin holes filled and double layer of resin to protect.  Done Deal

August 19, 2014

Although the patching looks like hell the Goober Boat was a wreak to begin with.  I finally, after two days of toting it around on my car hooked with the owner.  He was quite happy with the whole fix, please picture that every other word outta his mouth starts with F and I've known him for a long while.  All is good in his eyes and so it good in mine.  I think the best part was coming up with the moniker, Goober Boat!  Of course I didn't mention that to him but maybe I will. 

Done Deal!

Going Back Home

Where to start on this tale?  I guess it started with a fire and the generosity of people I haven't seen in too many years.  They rallied despite me being a guy who left his hometown and disappeared.  The only thing that brought me back was my mother passing and even then I didn't see a lot of these folks and then I was a ghost again.

I am not sure what made me want to come back to the town where I grew up but I knew I finally wanted to .  I was wanting to see my two best high school friends, the guys who stood by me through many a year.  Brothers to speak.  I don't know if I feel that time is running short but it was important.  Others said it had been to long as well and we got our dates together and it was a done deal for me.

July 4th found me racking a canoe early in the morning.  I seemed to recall it was a six hour drive but the GPS and maps said four.  I was going to take my time as this was going to be a ride back in time for me driving a route I hadn't taken in over ten years and the roads had been changed by man and nature.  It was very much like driving through a haze of memories and I found myself stopping here and there to just do nothing but look and recall from days past.  It was like walking into my past and I had grin on my face because I guess I hadn't been in that place in a long while and was finally comfortable with it.  Yeah, very comfortable a feeling I had not felt in a long while. 

So why a canoe racked up?  Well, my buddy John seemed to need one and with seven hulls to play with it just seemed like the thing to do.  He needs it more then I do and living at the gateway to the Adirondacks he, well, just needs it.  When I pulled into his place he said, "A big canoe on a little car!"  It was a done deal and a good one at that.

I checked into the fleabag hotel and just sat for a long while wondering what I was doing, what the hell was I doing here, how was this going to go?  I was nervous about seeing folks since they were all pretty tight and I was the outsider so I thought.  I got a call later from my friend Kevin, "We're at Alteri's, get your ass over here!"  I guessed things really hadn't changed.  When I got there he was tucked into a back corner with his wife and her friend and it was like the years had not made one bit of difference.  He is still the Bear and thought he'd break me with the hug I got.  We picked up the conversation that we started long ago, it was yesterday but today.  How good can that get?  And it became the theme for the visit.  People kept stopping by and saying hello.  Ken Grabeldinger was a real surprise.  I was never close with him but that didn't stop him for a second.  I swear as the next day or so went by and he was there he was the funniest and most sincere guy and I just don't recall him that way.  As I thought about things later he was always a stand up guy but we traveled in different circles back in the day.  I look forward to your company again!

I am still impressed with the 4th parade!  It was perhaps the longest and best parade I have seen and do not recall that from my childhood.  You could tell how much pride there is in this community, that part has not changed at all!  I had an ear to ear grin on my face.

July 5 found me looking for Kevin's house.  French Road!  Crap, stupid GPS had me going everywhere but Kevin's house so I gave it up for the time being.  Instead I drove into Clinton, parked and do what I think I do best, I walked.  I walked by the school, I walked by my old house on Marvin St, I walked up to historic district and on to Brimfield St only to see four deer crossing the road, down past the old movie theater which isn't there anymore and then down to the library and on to the Milk Station road.  I must have walked two hours but it seemed like a minute as I used to do these walks in my youth all of the time.  This town is just a beautiful as when I was a child.

I finally headed back to John's place for another visit and again it was like we hadn't missed a beat.  He's one of my brother's by virtue of our past, you can't out run that.  We have too much history of being good, bad and family.

Later in the day Kevin got in touch to say there was a gathering at his place!  Ah Christ, the elusive French Rd.  Did another search online and with a few landmarks found it.  It's the goddamn house without a number but is the one by the cornfield, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT except me.  Now I do!  I can find that house with my eyes closed!  I got introduced to Madison and Molly.  Two of the sweetest dawgs I've met and honestly since the lose of mine I was smitten!  I will stop there before it gets sloppier then the doggie kisses.  It was more than a great time and we all were having a good enough time that the bar called to see where the hell we were as folks were waiting there as well.

So off to Alteri's it was. As we walked in there was Kathy Karin, Kevin's sister and I had not seen her in more years then I could count.  Holy Crap, she grabbed my cheeks and pulled on them like my grandmother used to!  I could only laugh it was so good. 

I was taken aback by the number of folks there.  I could list all of your names but we all know who is who and how good it was,  more then good to see each and everyone of you.  The night was filled laughter, memories, story telling (how much was true is up to each of us), and just catching up again.  My nervousness was gone and I was where I was  a teenager again with all of the friends I had.

One of the highlights was catching up with a friend, Karen, who helped me see a late night, it happens when you get talking and comparing lives.  We walked the town and talked and talked.  For me it was like walking through a portal into time to when we were young, when the village was alive with all of us hanging in the Village Green, shooting the breeze and all of the things we did back in that day.  I could almost hear the conversations, the drama, the bragging from those past days.  I thank you so much for that my friend, I will never forget that ever, although a visit to the Rock is not on my list of things to do again. 

July 6 saw me up early.  I was headed to Vermont to visit a friend and I had been thinking that the best route would be through the Adirondacks on Route 8.  I had not been on this road in more years then I can remember and again a walk through time.  I pulled over more places just to pull some memories through the fog of my gray matter.  It is such beautiful country and do know why I walked away from it but now have to question myself.  I think I will have to revisit it again with at least one of my canoes, there are a lot of good rivers to run in that neck of the woods.  

So, I finally get back home and I am  sad.  I was saddened by how I had abandoned these friends for so long but they hadn't me is what I was thinking.   

I was missing my friends, my youth, my past, my history.  Then I got a text from Kevin:

"I guess what they say about family is true.  If you don't see someone for a long time and pickup where you left off then either you are family or close.  We my friend are family like it or not!"

Yes we are brother, that part doesn't change!  

So I responded that I have missed too much time by being the missing person.  I'm not going to be that missing person anymore and look forward to being with family again,  When you are raised in a small village for a lifetime you are family because we all were at one time even if we didn't think so and in so many ways still are.  

Mad River Adventure Canoe Repair

July 7, 2014  Vermont

For a while now my buddy in VT had been telling me he got a Mad River Adventure canoe from his sister that needed work on the stern.  Now in my minds eye the MR Adventure is this ugly thing:

http://www.madrivercanoe.com/product/index/products/recreation/adventure_destiny_series/adventure_14/

After several discussions he assured me that this was really a canoe and not that ugly thing!  I kept disagreeing with him!  When I got to his house I was stunned to find a real canoe and couldn't believe it!  I had never seen this hull before and honestly thought that the only Adventure was the ugly thing!  What really sent me reeling was how light it was considering it is made of Royalex!  I racked it and headed home.

Once I had it on sawhorses I did some measurements.  Fourteen feet long by thirty-six wide and a free board of fourteen and a half deep, that is some serious free board!  My Courier has that beat by only half and inch!  I started looking at the dent and wondered how in the hell I was going to get that popped back out, deep and long.  A hole had worn through the other side and I could only wonder how in the hell did this damage happen?

Dent and Hole

I finally had to confer with the Guru who was a little stumped about it not being the ugly thing.  A search through his catalogs came up with it being a short lived production coming out in maybe 03.  This one is an 04.  Here's a link he sent me but you need to scroll down to page six.

http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/archived_catalogs/2005%20Mad%20River%20Catalog.pdf

As far as getting the dent out my thought was to use a heat gun but I am very leery of using those as I usually end up doing more damage then good!  He suggested a halogen lamp which I several of.  I decided to give it a shot!

July 9, 2014

This morning made the plunge and started to setup for getting the dent out.  Now, I have now maxed out my working space and had to empty another shed of mowers and the such to make room for this.  Goddamn, I either have to downsize or build another outbuilding!  With whatever had on hand is what I made due with.  Within a half hour I had it all jury rigged and turned on the lamp.

I thought it was going to take a good long time but was really surprised at how little time it took.  I had a rubber hammer, a piece of two by four and my hand to try to and pop it back out.  The hand won!

Being smart this time I put a glove on because this material was now hot, real hot!  I wondered if I had gone to far yet again!  I kept rubbing it and pushing with my fingers until it started working back out.  After a good ten minutes I got it as far as thought I could and then planted my fist against and moved the light back so it could cool.  Another long wait but it panned out just fine!  It held fine and I figure I can now just fill in any gaps with resin and thickener to try to get it as smooth and uniform as I can.
Now I knew this would not be a perfect fix, the crease in it turned out to be a tad too stubborn and I didn't want to keep heating the RX, I could start to smell it!  In the end I was OK with the results.

I am not really concerned with the appearance as I still need to patch the hole and any other imperfections will be hidden with resin and cloth.

Now in the meantime I talked to my VT buddy and said I really liked this hull and he should consider selling it to me.  I was amazed when he replied, "It's yours!  We'll figure something out later!"  The plan has suddenly changed to make this into a solo!

More To Come!

July 19, 2014

Today was an experiment.  After mis-measuring a brand new thirty-three dollar seat, cutting it wrong, drilling through the end of it and finally setting it aside I decided to use the bow seat which still had enough length left on it to move it to the solo position I wanted.  The only problem is that it's a cane seat and I hate cane seats!  Ask my scrawny ass about the several that have failed me in mid trip!  Enough said on that subject!

After doing a bit of research I decided to try to either steam it off or use boiling water to heat it out.  In the past when trying to get that freaking spline out I've damaged the seat.  I thought steam would work the best so I got out my stove, a few small and thin screwdrivers, a pair of gloves and a can of liquid courage.

I got the water to a steaming boil and held the seat up to it but almost right off I could see this was going to be slow going.  It was coming off but way to slow for my liking.

Perhaps if I had some kind of pipe on the end of the kettle to concentrate the steam it might have gone faster.  In the end I decided to just pour boiling water on the spline and it worked like a dream!  In under a half and hour I had the whole mess out and almost totally cleaned out.  I was smiling!  I will say that the cane does need additional boiling water on it to soften up and then that will pull out smoothly but will leave a few ends. 

Cleaned Out

Future use? Fire Starter!  Ha!  I hate cane!

So I did have to take a utility knife to cut out a few scraggliers but it turned out much better than I thought it would.  Next I sanded down the entire seat to almost raw wood.  That took the better part of an hour but I don't mind it so much.  The plan is to throw three coats of spar varnish on it but in the meantime I had to the dreaded task of placing it in the canoe hopefully correctly this time around.  Hell, this is the last freaking seat I have to play with!

I decided instead of cutting it right off I would drill the holes first but I wanted to patch the old holes first.  In the past I have used Plumber Epoxy to fill holes and I swear by the stuff.  I have used to for my poles as well and going on almost twenty years with one of them it is still holding strong.

I pulled a hunk off and spent a good ten minutes rolling in my hands to mix it and then rolled it into a long strand that would fit through the holes I was trying to fill.  It took a little doing but it worked.

All I had to do was find the bottom end, feed a little bit more so it "overflowed" so to speak and then smooth it out with my finger as I did on the top.  A touch of paint later if I really care to will hide it nicely.

Now on the brand new seat I had drilled holes at fifty-three inches from the stern of the hull as from spending some time sitting in it I thought that would get me about dead center while keeling as this is going to be a whitewater boat.  I had thought about make my own hangers but decided to save time I'd use the ones that came with the boat.  Using the front holes I drilled already I carefully measured out for the width and this time came in right on the mark instead of freaking quarter of an inch off.  Believe I must have measured that a dozen times before I made my marks for drilling.

Front Bolt is at 53" and the rear hole was drilled out.

For drilling the holes through the seat I decided to lay it on top and go from there, first through the wood making a mark on the gunwale and then drilling through that.  It does have an aluminum insert.

I was quite pleased with it and will most likely go this route in the future.  Works for me!  Next I marked off where I needed to cut the seat and this was the part that had me fretting but a can of liquid courage helped me make my way through that.  On these gunwales for some reason there are lines, indented for some reason and they made for helpful markers for lining up the marks for the cuts.

I used a Sharpy and made my marks and then using my Japanese saw I cut them.  Man, I was sweating bullets on this one but when I mounted the seat to the hangers the only thing I had to do was pull in the hull a tad to line up the bolts!  SWEET!  I was almost laughing!  I had a shit eating grin!

Using the Existing Hangers

Seat Mounted in Dry Fit

Good Spacing from the Hull

And what was especially nice was that they weren't against the hull but had enough meat left for the bolt!  Next was just another quick sand job, wipe down and then the first coat of spar varnish.  In all of this madness I got a hankering to use the syringes I bought for the Adirondack rebuild.  I decided to fill the gap from the spline/cane with spar and that syringe did it just fine.  Of course that will mean more drying time but what the hell, I still have to attend to the dent and hole in the hull.

It is waiting time now so I can flip it and do the other side with spar.  After three coats I'll put the webbing on, I bought thirty-six feet of it so I should have enough.  Time for a can of liquid courage!

More To Come.

July 25, 2014

It was time to finish this seat and get it mounted again.  Today was a simple task of cutting webbing and putting it in to make a new seat.  This is a very straight forward and easy job to do once you have your webbing on hand.  I had to search around but finally found some without ordering online, Rocky's Ace Hardware.  Ah Gawd they have everything!  Almost like an old fashion hardware store from when I was a kid!

I bought thirty-six feet of webbing cause ya know it goes fast on these kind of projects!  The first thing I do is lay out the seat and the pull out the roll of webbing and pull out a length and start wrapping it around the seat to see where I'm going to cut it.  On my work bench I have a bunch of hash marks and today added two more to mark the length I needed to cut.  Now I should specify that by cutting I mean melting the webbing to the ends are melted and will not fray.  To do this I use a few simple tools that most folks have, a propane tank, a putty knife, a staple gun and a measuring tape.

 OK, so I pull out a section of the webbing and wrap it around the seat so it is tucked into the inner wall of the seat and then do the same on the other end.  Then I mark it and heat up the putty knife for the cut/melt.  If it is too long I just cut/melt it off to fit.  It is just a simple task .

Using a blow torch to heat the putty knife

Cutting/melting the web

A second later all done!

Once I have the correct length measured out I go into production mode and cut out the number of them I will need, in this case eleven.  In order to get my weave right I used the messed one as a guide.

This is the second time I've done this and I just eyeball how close to put the webbing.  Any mistakes will be hidden by the second round of webbing in the weave and of course being me doing this I was off a bit but is all good.  I cut out the pieces and laid them out to see where and what I was missing.

I thought I was spot on but I spaced them wrong enough to leave a gap at one end when I was done but that was not a deal breaker as when I weaved the other strands through it would make up for it.

So, all one has to do is staple one end in and the pull like a bastard, it helps to have strong hands for this and then staple the top end in then bend the web in and staple that in as a second anchor.

The tab gets stapled as well

First row done.

Now the beauty of this whole thing is that once the weave is started any sagging becomes taut.  It becomes like a drum head.  You could bounce a quarter off of it.  Very nice for a rehab and only about an hours worth of work.  Webbing cost me twelve dollars for thirty-six feet vs buying on line.

I was psyched to get it in place and spent a bit o' time doing that.  I had the original hardware and used that although I am not a fan of those nuts that have the nylon insert in them, they are a bear to use but being the cheap ass Yankee I am I went that route, I do know they are rock solid!

Not my favorite nut to use!

I got the seat in and decided to add the thwart as well and thought it turned out pretty good.  I may dick around with a second thwart down the road but need to attend to the hole and dent next.

Seat all in!  Good Deal!

Thwart in, had to pull in a good inch to make it fit. 

All in all a fairly quick job and recycling old materials is always good.  Next comes the hole fix!

More To Come.

July 26, 2014

This morning I hauled the boat out as I needed to empty it of what is bits of shale.  Now, I have no idea where this poor hull was stored but it seemed to have a lot of stone under the gunwales, wedged tightly in there.  One piece had me puzzled right from the beginning and I thought it was part of the boat.

I've worked on a lot of boats and had never seen anything like this before.  So, I got out a rubber mallet/hammer a piece of foam and started pounding on the gunwales and holy shit it was an avalanche of stone that came pouring out!  I just couldn't believe my eyes.  This thing must have been on a shoreline of shale and just kept collecting it somehow.  No wonder it is so scratched up and has a hole worn through!  I must have pounded for twenty minutes and finally kept flipping it over and in the end resorted to just picking it up and dropping it!  I swear if you had been driving by you thought I had an evil thing going on with a canoe!  I could not believe what I was seeing!

First round of pounding!

This was the stern end!

It just kept coming out and the whole hull sounded like a freaking rattle!  It was driving me mad!  Then this bugger fell out and all I think how much that would hurt to kneel on in the middle of a class II, III rapid!  Might as well shoot me in the freaking knee with a 357 magnum, that I would prefer! 

A boulder!

With all the pounding I was still far from getting this cleaned out so got out an awl, a screwdriver and a bigger hammer and just spent the next hour trying to clean this mess out.  I thought I got most of it but in reality it will most likely take a long while to get it free of this shit!  I did keep flipping the hull and was amazed that more and more came out.  Christ, as if the hole isn't a big enough job but now this! 

Make shift tools to get out the rocks!

Next purchase!  Knee pads!

More To Come.

July 29, 2014

Time to try to fix the hole.  I decided to try to patch the hole from the inside and from past experience I thought maybe a hunk of cardboard would make a good backing patched on the outside.  I haven't done this before but am using thickener for the epoxy which according to everything I've read will turn it into the consistency of peanut butter which is what I want.  I cut a piece of cardboard and taped it onto the outside of the hole and then mixed my butter up.  It was slick and like working it. I should mention that before I did this I borrowed a heat gun and with help got the majority of the dent out but playing with heat guns and royalex is dicey work.  In the end I split the vinyl cover a bit.

Heat gun in action

Had to stick my finger in to push out the heated stuff.

Pushing with my fist to pop out the dent as best I could.

I got it good enough that if I want a slight layer of thickened epoxy will fill it flush, kinda!  I sanded down the edges of the hole as it was still jagged and then mixed up my epoxy.  It came out as a thick goo that I needed to use my fingers to gob on and then smooth out on the inside of the hole.  I had taped the piece of cardboard in from the outside as a backer.  I wasn't sure how this would pan out!

Cardboard taped into place

All secured

Thickened Epoxy

Once everything was in place I waited.  Somewhere around three in the morning I woke up and decided I had to see how it went.  I pulled the tape off the outside and tried peeling the cardboard off.  Goddamn It, the whole plug pulled out and there was still a hole in the boat.  A dismal failure!

Don't do this!  It don't work!

Still left with a hole!  Aaaaaggghh!

Back to the drawing board!

More To Come.

July 30, 2014

I thought about a new approach all day and after work I decided to tackle it from the outside.  So, I resorted back to wax paper and tape on the inside to seal the back of the hole as I know this works.

Invest in masking tape!

Next I got out my Dynel cloth and cut a piece big enough to cover not only the hole but the crinkles and wrinkles I put in the hull with the heat gun.  I then mixed up a cup full of thickened epoxy and using a putty knife gobbed it in the hole, over the crinkles and even into the divets of the dent to try to fill that a bit.  Because I'm using slow cure I knew I had time to mix up a fresh batch of resin which I added G-Flex to and then saturated the Dynel and laid it on smoothing it out somewhat with my fingers.  Next I cut a larger piece of Peel Ply and laid that over the patch and then really spent time smoothing out the Dynel using that.  What was really sweet was how the Peel Ply kept the excess resin from dripping down the hull and how quickly everything smoothed out almost perfectly!

No Dripping!

I waited about two hours but of course in between kept pulling up a corner to test how close it was to pulling off the Peel Ply, I've never worked with this stuff before!  When the time came I pulled it off with one hand but it was a bit hard to do and thought maybe I had waited too long.  Nope!  The Dynel stuck with out pulling off at all!  It was also much smoother to the touch then without using Peel Ply!

A tug

keep tugging

grunt a little more

almost done

A very clean patch!

I'm not concerned about the strands as the cloth was still moist enough to cut those off and I will be painting over the patch so am not worried about the little bit of resin that spread out from the cloth.  Very smooth and is just a matter of waiting for a total cure.  I will take out the inside tape and wax paper tomorrow.  I think I'm going to like this Peel Ply stuff!

I also got the middle thwart in and this boat is rock solid now!

More To Come.

July 31, 2014

I laid down the last patch this afternoon on the side of the hole.  The thickened epoxy I put down yesterday needed a little help.  A patch of Dynel and called it good.  Now it is just drying time and when a few days have gone by I'll paint over the outside patch with Hunter Green paint and call it good.

I am hoping this will be a sweet solo whitewater boat and plan on taking it out on the confluence of the Merrimack and Contoocook River on Sat morning where there is a nice mix of small rapids and flatwater by the putin.

All in all it has taken me three weeks to pull this hull back to water use again but most of that was waiting time for drying of seats, resin and other materials!

Aug 1, 2014

I decided it was time to take this hull out for a test paddle.  I put in on the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack.  The first thing I noticed is that my seat is too far back!  Goddamn IT!  Next the free board is huge on this small hull.  Now the worst thing was when I tapped my foot on the bottom it was like a big piece of fat that ya slap and it ripples!  Holy Christ the whole floor of the canoe was like wave of Royalex!  I thought I was going to go mad!  Why O' Why!

Despite this I kept paddling just to see how the rest of the boat responded.  I knew at fourteen feet it would be one of those hulls that keep you on your toes, constantly correcting but it does track fairly well as long as you keep up a good cadence with your paddle is fairly fast.  I was not disappointed with this aspect and it was about what I expected.  It turns on a dime which is mighty sweet as I am not a fan of boats that make me plan turns ahead of time!

So from this shake down cruise I know I have to move the seat forward maybe four inches and lower it maybe an inch and am thinking of tilting it for kneeling purposes.  As for the quivering floor after talking with the Guru I think that after Mad River sold out to Confluence they had a couple of years of shitty Royalex and I think this hull is one of them as it is an 04.  It is so soft it is crazy!  I'm going to try to put some foam blocks under the seat to apply some downward force on the hull.  Apparently another canoe company does this on a certain model and see if that will stiffen up the hull some.  I'm still trying to get used to the unusual  free board.  My Colander has a half inch on this hull but doesn't appear as deep!  It visually creeps me out like I'm reaching way to far to reach the water with my paddle!

So with all this shit to figure out I guess I'm not done so there is...

More To Come.

August 19, 2014

After much thought, testing, and more thought I have decided that this boat is going to live on my buddies lake.  The RX is so weak that I have absolutely no desire to try to reinforce in any way shape or form.  This despite having putting in a second forward thwart.  It would be costly, time consuming and because of the thinness of the hull I wouldn't trust it for any whitewater I want to run here in New England's rocky rivers, now way now how!   I am not kind to my boats as they are meant for running hard.  Damn! 

I want to curse Confluence for putting in the RX stoves in backwards and messing up a bunch of good hulls but what the hell ya gonna do!   It was a good fix just on a shitty hull which almost makes me want to cry, hell, a can of liquid courage saved me from that fate!  Guess this little chapter of canoe fixing is over.  Just a quick lesson that I can use down the road!