What to do with a VERY soft glass boat?

[Mike W.]

WOW, I've got a ton of information now Thanks Guest! Will the blue foam just come apart when working with it, or will it continue to come apart after it's in the boat?

I am a little scared to stand this boat up & fill either end with water. I don't know if the deck will hold that kind of presure. I also don't think that my hose can keep up with the leaks that I think the boat will have Guess I should tape the big holes first

Scott, the purchase price was a deal. Getting the boat into a condition that I can paddle it may not turn out to be such a deal It was a bit of a shock to my wife since the last boat that I brought home was a sparkly, glittery Acrobat. The prettiest boat that I've owned This old wildwater boat is the extreme opposite probably the ugliest boat that I've ever owned

Roy, I hope that I'm getting the boat builder's manual for Christmas. It's on my list with instuctions on where to get it used. PAC recently loaned me his copy & there's a lot of info there. If Santa doesn't bring it I'll buy it myself.

Gee, 2 folks that I have paddled with & 1 that I've never met are calling me "nuts" on a public forum. What will y'all say after you see me paddle this wildwater boat? or my Acrobat? Call me what you will, just keep letting me know right up front when I come up with stupid ideas Just joking guys. I know it's all in fun & I can take it. I still have the poggies that I made from Bob P's pattern to keep me warm

[Guest]

The blue dots will be around forever. It is the nature of styrofoam, and a big reason other, more expensive, materials are used to make walls. Try painting the styrofoam walls with epoxy resin before final installation. Let them dry completely before installing. (Don't paint the top and bottom edges until you are ready to install the walls.) That might help control the flaking for a while.

Ethafoam is a reasonable cost alternative material for walls. Not as cheap as styrofoam, and getting hard to find these days. But ethafoam is good stuff for building strong, lightweight walls. Until minicell became readily available in the eighties, ethafoam was all that was used by most boaters. John Sweet may know where to still get it in small quantities. See the John R. Sweet website for contact information. Post if you find a good source.

You may be aware that the early paddlers often used plywood walls. See the Walbridge manual for how to do this. The cost is low, but the weight is high.

If your boat is leaking through obvious cracks and holes, just slap some duct tape over them and paddle an appropriate stretch of river. If you deem the boat worthy of the time and cash it is going to take to make it tight, get out the glass and resin and start sanding!

[Guest]

Well, after I made ethafoam seem like a tough product to find, I googled for it and up pops NRS, Inc.

Seems they sell 2" thick planks big enough to make a bow or stern wall for $17-$24 US depending on color. The white stuff will work fine. Never used the black, but I think it may be more dense. Ask the vendor.

Northwest River Supply is a well-known retail mail-order vendor with a good reputation. Most paddlers have purchased from them at one time or another. They are not always the best price, but it is convenient source for small quantities. If that price suits you, a couple of those 2" thick planks should make good walls for your old boat that will be much more satisfactory than the styrofoam dot-producing variety.

Go ahead and cut a set of the blue walls for sizing purposes once you have made a brown paper pattern. The cost for the styrofoam will be minimal, and you will be able to get the $35-$48 ethafoam walls to fit very well with little error or waste. Trust me on this: there is little to be gained by cutting the ethafoam planks without first making a well-fitting pattern of 2" styrofoam walls to guide you. The paper patterns made using the high noon or carpenter's square method are usually in need of significant size adjustments.

Ending up with a set of ethafoam walls that are too small is a hassle to make right. Gluing on additional foam from scraps is a real time and material waster. When working with ethafoam (or the more expensive minicell) the old adage "measure twice, cut once" is a real smart way to operate. Good luck.

[Jim Michaud]

I've saved two C-1s that had become very soft and leaky by covering the boats with another layer of S-glass using epoxy resin. I first covered the hull, going a little beyond the seam. I next covered the deck, again extending a little beyond the seam. This gave the boats a great deal of rigidity and extended the life of the boats for a couple of years.


Jim

[Mike W.]

I added 2 layers to the hull inside the cockpit & a 3rd layer where my thight-strap anchors will be. I've sanded around the big cracks in preparation to lay glass. I have the rope & glass cut for anchors & am now waiting for warmer weather to help the resin set. I really need to at least get it outfitted so I can get on the river & get used to this thing.
Thanks for all of the advice on this old boat.

[clt_capt]

Mike,
A little trick we used to use to keep the weight down was to use blue foam - Pink foam if we could find it and glue a srtip of 1/2 inch neoprene (or sleeping bag pad ) to the top and bottom edges of the walls before we glued them in - this helped to keep the walls from getting beaten up when you hit something and goes a long way to eliminating the dots.

Ethafoam will soak up water over time - the blue foam won't.

Good Luck

F

[Mike W.]

I had a chance to read through the West System User Manual today & found that 205 fast hardener can be used with temperatures as low as 40 I'm putting together an order for John Sweet tonight & will be outfitting my boat next week

I think I like the idea of neoprene edges for the walls. I would think that it would reduce the stress risers created by the walls too. Neat idea, especially on this old, worn out boat.

I found 3/4" thick blue foam under the 'styrofoam' brand. I'm going to use 3 layers to make the walls 2 1/4" thick. Then coat with a (hopefully) thin layer of resin.

clt_cpt I see your from RTP. Do you paddle Falls dam when it's running? Going to the Armada?

[Mike W.]

I have now learned what to do with an old, soft glass boat. Do like the last owner did. Make your wife happy & give it away! This does several things:
1-It makes your wife happy
2-It creates a vacume in your fleet that needs filling
3-It makes the new owner happy for a little while
4-It stimulates the economy since the new owner will buy tools, glass, foam & resin

Here's what happened:
I fixed & outfitted the boat. I went to Weldon & caught the water rising from 3,000cfs to 9,000cfs. I thought cool, I'll have rapids to paddle in The first hole I punched (about the size of Quarry) broke the boat There are now 3 splits & 2 cracks in the deck, along with 13 cracks in the hull. This damage was done without hitting rocks. It looks like the boat tried to buckle. Judging from the size & location of the splits & cracks, even if I were to patch them, I still have a major stress riser along the seam all the way around the boat. This boat is just too old & in too poor of a condition to be paddled in heavy whitewater. I think it would be fine as a flat-water cruising type boat though. I may patch it & use it for the Neuse River Rally in April. It is the fastest C-1 I've ever tried.

Here's what I learned:
1-Make dam sure that the walls are SECURELY attached to the boat After I punched that 1st hole I noticed that my right big toe hurt. Somehow it got stuck between the stern wall & the hull
2-Respirators make boat work much more pleasant.
3-Keep the receipt for the new random orbital sander...you'll need it.
4-Peel-ply makes my glass work look much better. A big thanks to Trevor for turning me on to peel-ply
5-Acetone eats vinyl gloves
6-Old boats are good for practicing glass work.
7-Glass boats don't last forever.
8-If you think squirt boats are tricky, try wildwater. Heck, just try getting into the darned thing. I flipped it in the front yard

If anyone wants this boat you can have it for free. It's in Roanoke Rapids, NC. If I still have it in April I can deliver it to the Neuse River Rally or the Nelson Co. Race. If someone wants it I can deliver it to the Armada. If there are no takers it gets cut up & put into a dumpster so speak up if you want a fast, C-1 for very mild water.

Thanks for all of the help. I sure had fun with this boat.

[sbroam]

I came to a similar conclusion about old beat to heck royalex boats!

The trick is to trade the boat off while it is still worth at least a case of beer! Right Bill?

Scott