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Hi Chris,
I do some canoe repairs for the local Wenonah dealer. The only times I've had to fix those spiderweb cracks were cosmetic. One was a new Spirit II that fell off the rack, and he didn't want to sell it at a discount due to the blemish. The other was a beautiful aqua Solo Plus that a guy had loaned to a friend, and it was used as a touring double, so it was overloaded and went over a few logs and rocks and caused some serious crazing.
If you want to get rid of the cracks, you have to grind them open with a thin wheel on a Dremel tool so you can get gelcoat into the crack. Mix up some gelcoat and squeegee it into the cracks/chips. When it cures, sand it smooth with progressively finer sandpaper, and then buff it 'til it shines. Not worth it unless you're really worried about appearance.
If there are chips and the weave shows, mix up a bit of gelcoat, cover the weave, and then sand it until you're satisfied with the finish.
The gelcoat is mostly just there to protect the underlying weave from UV and physical damage.
Shawn
> I purchased the boat at a good price, the dealer was trying to move
> several solo boats because they were not moving due to the popularity of
> kayaks. While cleaning up the boat, and putting on a needed coat of wax, i
> noticed several small handling scratches, but what bothered me more were
> some spider like cracks. Crazing ? One of these was in an open area of the
> hull, the other two extending from under the aluminum gunwhales. These
> areas do not seem to have structural problems if you press on the area, it
> looks like the cracks are only in the gelcoat. This boat was stored
> outside, wrapped in blue plastic, on a boat rack that was covered.
> Does anyone know if this is something common on gelcoated glass canoes, or
> is it something that I should even worry about.
> Thanks for input.
> Chris
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
