Every year with some friends we rent a couple of canoe’s and go canoeing, fishing, camping, etc, great fun.
Those canoe’s are the heavy thick plastic ones which I don’t like too much.
For the same money as renting a canoe 10x, I could also buy a used one, which I did.
It needed some repairs, and I had some idea’s for modifying it, so it would be perfect for ‘hiking’ trips and fishing.
Here is how I got it.
The edge between the 2 halves was originally properly covered, but that cover has been long gone, and was now covered by some duct tape. Also it’s not that smooth anymore.
Some damages at the back.
Damages at the front.
And on the other side of the canoe, also the edge was in bad state.
Other then that I discovered a couple more small damages, and 2 small holes in the canoe while cleaning it up.
With a lot of sanding it down, fiberglass and epoxy, I went to work.
Small patches to cover the from and back holes.
1 long patch over the whole length from front to back.
1 complete patch to cover the whole bottom of the canoe.
And here it’s ‘glassed’ or ‘epoxied’.
Then a lot of modifying it, and spray painting it, with this as result.
On the front and back added plastic hooks, to hold bungee cord in place. Here you can store some (wet) things that you don’t want inside the canoe for example.
Added a wooden fishing rod holder for the front seat.
Named it.
Made some lightweight seats of webbing and replaced the old heavy uncomfortable wooden seats. Also I please them a bit lower then originally, you can see the original holder still in it’s place. This I did to increase stability, which can be useful during fishing.
Added D-rings in the middle with bungee cord to hold backpacks in place. It is easy removable.
Added on each side a wooden fishing rod holder.
And back seat also replaced same like the front seat, and added a removable back support as well.
And bungee cord in the back as well, same as in the front.
Instead of buying those expensive flotation bags, i used ‘peanut’ shaped exercise balls, size was something like 90×45 cm. They fit perfectly in the front and back, although I didn’t inflate them to maximum, just that much that it stays in place and puts no stress on the hull of the canoe.
Also added D-rings and bungee cord to keep it in place.
And here with fishing rods and a slightly modified bicycle bottle holder in front and back, which is easy to remove or put in place. This is for holding your nice cold beer during those warm canoeing days 🙂
