Gunnel repair
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Gunnel repair
I took an usual line on my local river that left me with a large chunk of gunnel missing. The chip was probable 1/3 the thickness of the gunnel and about 5" long. It s located just behind my offside hip. It s not broken so I d rather not replace it or splice in a new piece. Any ideas?
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Re: Gunnel repair
I would rebuild the section with an epoxy/sawdust mix. Sand with a low grit then high grit to get it nice and smooth.
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canotrouge
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Re: Gunnel repair
Shape it in a long banana shape, make a piece of wood that will match at the matting surfaces, epoxy, clamps, and when dry shape to the same profile as the rest of the gunnel, oil and go paddle!!
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hazardharry
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Re: Gunnel repair
I broke mine too. here is the bomb proof epoxy for wood repair.
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Re: Gunnel repair
It would help to see the broken zone, but without that, I would shape a piece of ash and glue it on with West G-flex. Then I would carefully carve, plane, and sand down the graft. I might consider putting some cloth (Dynel, or Diolen = polyester) over the repair to back up the joints.
In such a case, what sort of repair is needed will depend both on how clean or rough (splintery) the break is, but also on an examination of the grain of the ash.
My Millbrook has some grain runout in the region of the center thwart, and my paddle shaft has been raising splinter ends in that zone. I taped it as a short term expedient, and emailed Kaz to see what he recommended. I thought I might have to "glass" the zone, but planned to use polyester rather than glass to avoid glass splinters from use. But Kaz thought that, since there was only a bit of surface splintering, I could get by with just applying a layer of G-flex. I haven't done anything yet.
Someone mentioned mixing in fibers to thicken and straighten the epoxy applied to the broken zone. I don't know how much fibers would contribute, but I wouldn't use glass fibers. West's fiber additive might be OK.
In such a case, what sort of repair is needed will depend both on how clean or rough (splintery) the break is, but also on an examination of the grain of the ash.
My Millbrook has some grain runout in the region of the center thwart, and my paddle shaft has been raising splinter ends in that zone. I taped it as a short term expedient, and emailed Kaz to see what he recommended. I thought I might have to "glass" the zone, but planned to use polyester rather than glass to avoid glass splinters from use. But Kaz thought that, since there was only a bit of surface splintering, I could get by with just applying a layer of G-flex. I haven't done anything yet.
Someone mentioned mixing in fibers to thicken and straighten the epoxy applied to the broken zone. I don't know how much fibers would contribute, but I wouldn't use glass fibers. West's fiber additive might be OK.
Re: Gunnel repair
A picture would really help with advice/prognosis. Depending on the thickness of the outwale, location of damage, gunwale material, etc. you may have a more simple fix
JD
Re: Gunnel repair
Thanks for the input folks. I wish I would have taken a photo but I was impatient. I didn't think the missing piece was big enough to cause structural problems so and smoothed out the damage area with some thickened g-flex. I bashed it with a mallet a few times and seems solid. It'll do for now anyway. Thanks again.
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