Glassing an old wood canoe

[Wally Brown]

I am fixing up an old Thompson wood canoe that I had purchased about 30 years ago. When I fiberglassed it the first time many years ago I used a cheap grade of masking tape to cover the cracks between the planking before fibergalssing so that the resin would drip through. Problem was that the tape reacted with the resin and wouldn't harden where the tape was. What is the accepted proceedure these days for this problem?

[Ric@Noah's]

Epoxy resin is better to use on wood than Polyester. Mix some 3M Bubbles or Micro balloon in with a small quantity of resin and hardener, to make body filler. Fill the cracks with this mixture and sand smooth before glassing

[Wally Brown]

Some of these spaces are as wide as 1/4 inch. Would masking tape on the inside work to "push against"? Is epoxy resin better to use for the whole canoe, or just for the gap filling? Is there a preferred brand or type of epoxy? I have several gallons of epoxy on hand that I could use for this project.

[Ric@Noah's]

You should be able to mix the filler thick enough to fill the gaps without taping. Just about any epoxy will work with the filler. For the fiberglass you should use an epoxy that is relatively thin and has minimal blush. East System or MAS will work well.
Epoxy would be best to use for both filling and fiberglass.

[Wally Brown]

I am using an epoxy called "system Three" "T-88". have you heard of it? Using it to repair and scarf joint ribs, etc. Would this work for filling cracks? Says it is non-brittle but cures to an amber color.

[Ric@Noah's]

Have never used T 88 but it will probably work OK. Try it and let me know what happens.