Crack's in Coleman canoe's

A brother gave me a 16' Colman canoe with a huge crack in it. Didn't have a clue how to fix it so stored it till I had several more smaller cracks. Well finally had to do something and got to checking around and found a you tube video on the subject. Needed steel window screen, clear plastic milk jug's and soldering iron. First I drilled a hole at the end of the crack; supposed to stop it from spreading. The cut a patch to cover the crack from the window screen. Melted it into the side of the canoe with the soldering iron then filled the thing with the milk jug melted into the canoe with the soldering iron. Really was pretty simple but just finished it recently so don't know how long it will last. I don't use a canoe a lot. I tried the same thing on a plastic barrel I run my outboard in but didn't melt in any milk jug. Just melted the plastic over the holes then melted in the screen. It did stop the leaks. Probably if you have one of those plastic kayak's with a crack you could fix it the same way. Took me a long time to get an answer for the canoe so thought I'd pass it on here.

I have watched the videos on that technique. Seems like a good fix

There's one thing I did different. I patched both the outside and the inside using the screen on both side's.

Sounds like a good idea

Harbor freight has a plastic welding kit. less than $20. Iron rod, sticks and a few other things. When I fixed my canoe I used those cheap plastic figures from the dollar store and it stopped the leak. That milk jug plastics may get brittle after a while. The soldering iron has a flat head so the new plastic can melt into the canoe plastic.

If I were patching, I would roughen the surface a little with sandpaper, use the cloth for fiberglass as a mat and use epoxy glue both inside and out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JayByrd

If I were patching, I would roughen the surface a little with sandpaper, use the cloth for fiberglass as a mat and use epoxy glue both inside and out.

---

I though about fiberglass but couldn't find anything on it. All I found was the wire screen and ilk jugs. Thought about epoxy too but I use a bit of it and it dries to brittle. The screen is melted into the canoe with the soldering iron. I thing that would hold best. Especially because I did it inside and out.

Video I watched use plastic piping like you hook up ice makers in fridges .

Never though of that. I got a ton of plastic pipe laying around to.

I had a small crack on my Lifetime kayak. I found some JB weld for plastic at wally world that I applied over the crack. So far, it seems to have held up, considering that the crack was on the corner of the keel. I also have some flex seal tape over the epoxy. Have about 8 hours of floating time and so far, no leaks.