Super helpful video, I was scared of messing up my prized canoe but that looks easy. It's a 1985 Mad River Explorer 16, older than me lol, and I swear it's better than any new canoe for sale regardless of price.
Lisa, incase you’re interested, “It’s good in the Woods” posted a video today “Canoe Camping DISASTER strikes” of a very recent pin on the Connecticut river on the Vermont/New Hampshire state line. Everyone is fine. There were no injuries. It was a mild C-2 section of river. He was one of 3 canoes on the trip. He was in the lead canoe and the middle canoe was the one that pinned. Again, there were no injuries. There is no footage of the pin as it occurred but there is footage of the pinned canoe taken immediately after all people and gear were taken to shore.
I checked out the video thanks for the heads up on that. Here’s the thing, I’m old, back in the day any canoe that small with the seat in the middle was a “play boat”. You had the seat in the center of the boat and air bags at each end, you spent the day getting wet on purpose and you played. I’ve started running into people trying to use those loaded for river trips and they’re miserable. The boats ride low, so they end up bailing and constantly cold and wet and bailing in moderate waves. Cramped quarters and those boats are delicate. Really delicate, compared to 16 & 17 foot tripping canoes. And gear, don’t even get me started on that. Those boats are best suited to carry air fore and aft and little else. Hate to sound like an old grump but twice Guiding this year I’ve run into it. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
I've heard it suggested that regular fiber glass cloth and GFlex can make a decent skid plate, stem guard over the more expensive kevlar ones and fiberglass is easier to work with. I'm interested in the Pathfinder you have. Most if not all my boats have some additional patches on them, nothing shameful about that at all. I get a kick out of seeing those clean fancy boats and not being able to actually use it for all its worth.
You should wear gloves for this task. I’ve used. G flex several times with limited success. It claims to stick to all plastic boats, but in my experience you need to use a course sandpaper first to creat a better adhesion. Repairs don’t have to be pretty, they just have to work. I’ve also used G Flex with a thickener on a Kevlar boat to provide a layer on the bow and stern for some abrasion resistance and that has worked great.
It works really good for Royalex. I’ve never used it on other materials, but have used it several times on Royalex with no complaints. Also used marine Tex
I have used these boats as ice breakers when I used to trap. I have never seen cold weather cracks. I suspect they are UV damage cracks. If so, not much you can do unfortunately. Good luck and thanks for watching.
Great series… can’t wait for Part 3!
Super helpful video, I was scared of messing up my prized canoe but that looks easy. It's a 1985 Mad River Explorer 16, older than me lol, and I swear it's better than any new canoe for sale regardless of price.
Lisa, incase you’re interested, “It’s good in the Woods” posted a video today “Canoe Camping DISASTER strikes” of a very recent pin on the Connecticut river on the Vermont/New Hampshire state line.
Everyone is fine. There were no injuries.
It was a mild C-2 section of river.
He was one of 3 canoes on the trip. He was in the lead canoe and the middle canoe was the one that pinned. Again, there were no injuries.
There is no footage of the pin as it occurred but there is footage of the pinned canoe taken immediately after all people and gear were taken to shore.
I checked out the video thanks for the heads up on that. Here’s the thing, I’m old, back in the day any canoe that small with the seat in the middle was a “play boat”. You had the seat in the center of the boat and air bags at each end, you spent the day getting wet on purpose and you played. I’ve started running into people trying to use those loaded for river trips and they’re miserable. The boats ride low, so they end up bailing and constantly cold and wet and bailing in moderate waves. Cramped quarters and those boats are delicate. Really delicate, compared to 16 & 17 foot tripping canoes. And gear, don’t even get me started on that. Those boats are best suited to carry air fore and aft and little else. Hate to sound like an old grump but twice Guiding this year I’ve run into it. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
@@3_Minutes_With_a_Maine_Guide I commented and suggested they learn to pole a wider canoe.
I've heard it suggested that regular fiber glass cloth and GFlex can make a decent skid plate, stem guard over the more expensive kevlar ones and fiberglass is easier to work with. I'm interested in the Pathfinder you have. Most if not all my boats have some additional patches on them, nothing shameful about that at all. I get a kick out of seeing those clean fancy boats and not being able to actually use it for all its worth.
I can totally see that. I keep a strip of fiberglass cloth in my repair kit. Thanks for sharing.
You should wear gloves for this task. I’ve used. G flex several times with limited success. It claims to stick to all plastic boats, but in my experience you need to use a course sandpaper first to creat a better adhesion. Repairs don’t have to be pretty, they just have to work. I’ve also used G Flex with a thickener on a Kevlar boat to provide a layer on the bow and stern for some abrasion resistance and that has worked great.
It works really good for Royalex. I’ve never used it on other materials, but have used it several times on Royalex with no complaints. Also used marine Tex
It gets mighty cold up there. Do you have any advice for cold cracks in ABS?
I have used these boats as ice breakers when I used to trap. I have never seen cold weather cracks. I suspect they are UV damage cracks. If so, not much you can do unfortunately. Good luck and thanks for watching.