I was given an Old Town Canoe with a big crack in it. According to the owner, they used it twice and then while it was in storage in their back yard the wind picked it up and dropped it on a tree stump. Now they are moving and wanted it gone.
It's an Old Town Guide series 147. From what I can find it's a mid-end canoe from about 10 years ago. Polyethylene construction.
I've been watching videos and it looks like there are two schools of thought on repair. One is to plastic weld the crack, and melt in some new material. The second (and what Old Town seems to recommend) is to use an epoxy and cloth and lay it up like fiberglass.
I'm not as concerned about looks as I am having it be sea worthy and am looking for advice. One thought I had because of it's size and location was to drill holes along the sides of the crack and then 'sew' it together. Then use the epoxy/cloth to cover that. If I were to go that route, what would I use for thread?
Or maybe this the perfect application for FlexSeal or FlexTape?
What would you do? Do you think this can be saved or is it just too big?
