Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Well, my buffalo almost made it a decade without any major incidents, but Ms. Lee had a different plan for it this year.

After doing some digging, it looks like Mohawk's repair guide pretty much sums it up (JB Weld and G/flex epoxy) but I still have some more questions...

Fiberglass or Kevlar? I'm leaning towards kevlar, probably due to the hype, but are their different weights/sizes, should I get it in town/order it?

The damage shown below is only from one of the sides and if the repair area is 24"x10" how much resin do I need? How many layers of fabric?

And How much money am I saving by doing this myself and who else does it? Cause I'd like to go all out and do the skid plates too, plus the other side that's not pictured, it's about half as bad as the one below. Yeah, we almost had a taco party on the river.

edit: and since it appears the inner material is cracked, should I be putting patches on the inside as well?





Thanks a bunch yall!

Patches? Patches? You don't need no stinking patches. G-Flex 655, the thickened version, should be all you need for that repair. I repaired an XL-15 with a 2" hole in on the side of it, due to shipping damage, earlier this year. All I used was the G-Flex 655 and it is holding great. If looks are an issue then pigment can be added to the resin. If after applying the G-flex you feel that a layer of reinforcement is neccessary, then I would be conservative and use only one mid-weight layer of kevlar/fiberglass using the regular G-flex 650. However, you shouldn't need it. G-flex is super tough stuff. There is a great video on the West Systems (makers of G-flex) website where they saw a kayak in half, repair it with G-flex, then torcher it by doing all kinds of things including dropping it off a bridge onto pavement. So I would try using just the G-flex 655 first. As for the skid plates, I'll pm you. I hope this helps.

Your local Mohawk Canoe representative,
David Thomas

Actually, I have a bit of different advice. Don't know about G-Flex, but plain old GOOP to replace the ABS layer, and then used(dried) dryer sheets with cheap 2 part epoxy for both inner and outer plastic layers have worke for me for a lot of years. Dale

thanks for the advice! but, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and patch it since it's a load bearing wall with the seat right over it. don't really care what it looks like

any bed liner recs?

I have an old rental canoe that I got from Wild Bill's Outfitters about 10 years ago. Since then I have patched it i guess 4 different times and not in the same place. I have always used fiberglass. I am not exactly sure what my canoe is made out of but it is some type of hard plastic. If you do decide to use fiberglass which I recommend, use a lot of the resin. Dont be shy. Also prepare to get dirty. lol. Anyways my other suggestion is to remove a couple of strands from each side of the fiberglass cloth. this will allow the patch to be more flush with the boat and prevent snagging on rocks and tearing the patch off. There may be more effective ways out there but this is the only one I have tried. Good luck.