Repair Time

I can’t even imagine allowing someone to use such a fragile and valuable item so carelessly.

Thanks for sharing the repair info. That’s an awesome canoe. Can you elaborate on the history and details of it? What type of wood is it made from? It looks to be quite fragile since it’s so thin.

When I paddled for the Waikiki Canoe Club, the outrigger canoe we used was made of solid koa. It weighed 600 lbs. dry. We had to carry it to and from the beach to the water every time we practiced in it. It took the whole team of girls and a few guys that we could co-erce to do this 20 yard dash.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Great fix, Tom. It’s always interesting to read and see how someone solved a problem. Thanks

-- Thos. Angle

how horrible that moment must have been and how horrible it still is that this was damaged.
Thank goodness for folks like you who are able to put things back together for others to see and learn from. Thank you for saving this piece of history.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

stages hands…nothing but butter fingers…ah, but stage carpenters and woodworkers…a miracle in a minute.

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

Quite the repair, I am wondering if you would not have been better to use resorcinol glue, far superior for actual use in the water.

-- Dan Wiggins

Thanks for the kind words folks. Let’s face it though, accidents happen, there’s probably as many reasons or excuses why as there are occurrences, but that’s a whole different forum.

I don’t know what kind of wood was used for the canoes but it was hard and dense. I just referred to it as jungle wood. They were thin though as you can see. The one in the photos was not hard for two people to lift and re-position while working on it.

One of them, I was told, came from Panama. The story was that the guy who they borrowed them from had bought one of them right out from under the guy who was paddling it at the time.

-- Tom Landon, Lakeland, Fl. When you're through learning, you're through.

Good question Savannah. I didn’t want to use the resorcinol glue because of the purple glue line it leaves and the canoes would most probably never see water again. Just in case though I used the powered Weldwood Glue.

They built the wood landing craft during WW II with it and when mixed with fine wood sanding dust makes an acceptable gap filler. Until the two part resorcinol glue came along it was the glue of choice for boat building although the Mfg did not recommend it for underwater use. It’s still used today for wood welding.

-- Tom Landon, Lakeland, Fl. When you're through learning, you're through.

Killer fix.

-- Just 'cause a cat has kittens in the oven, it don't make 'em biscuits.