It's Amazing What You Find at the Side of the Road

Wolfe64

Super Member
My daughter texts me this morning at 7:15 to go out to the lake, turn right on Lakeshore Road and down the road a ways there is a peddle boat upside down in the ditch.
Reluctantly, because it IS 7:15 AM and I have to go to work, I drive the 7 kms and sure enough there is a peddle boat in the ditch.
It is in a spot where there is no houses, only fields on one side and a bush on the other, so I take it this was abandoned there.
I flipped it over and it is a Pelican Energy boat.
The seat backs are missing and it has a makeshift wooden rudder,some of the rubber banding on the side has come off and it is very dirty.
I called Keely back and said that it needs work and I have no way of getting it home.
She tells me to treat it like one of my turntables that don't work when I bring it home and that her boyfriend is home and will be there in 5 minutes with his truck to take it to my house.
So by 7:45 the boat is sitting in my garage and I proceed to work.
After supper I get the boat up on some tables to work on because I am too old to work on things on the garage floor, get out my heat gun and stretch the rubber back into place.
We flip the boat over and there is some REALLY strong ducttape on some of the bottom ribs.
After peeling all that off there is a few spots where the ribs have been worn a bit from dragging the boat and 1 spot that has a 6" crack in a rib.
I am thinking of going to get some fibreglass to repair that and build up the other spots.
If anyone has another idea on how to fix that I'm all ears !!!!
Mrs. Wolfe and I have been thinking of buying one of these for while and were just waiting to see if we could get a bargain on one.
Go figure. The things you find at the side of the road..........:biggrin:

Mark

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Nice save.

Many parts missing but you sound handy

I am leary about fiberglass working.

Maybe check a boat repair shop.
 
Thanks BL
I have been doing a bit of research and it appears fiberglass is not a good repair for this type of plastic.
But do a plastic weld instead.
The parts that are missing are readily available. I think tomorrow we will go to and outdoor outlet store called Sail, they sell all types of kayaks and these boats, maybe I can order the parts there and someone will have a way to suggest to me to fix this.
I have done plastic welding before too.

Mark
 
Plastic weld is the way to go or if the crack is not too bad you could try epoxy (marine).Strange find ,truly odd that nobody came back for it .Possibly stolen?
 
I did do the plastic weld on the crack and it worked out good.
Took the drain plug out and put a bunch of water inside the hull, left it for an hour and no leakage.
I don't think it was stolen, abandoned it a ditch me thinks.
It was very dirty missing essential parts and by the looks of the bottom sat on an angle in dirty water for a long while.
I had no luck trying to find the parts I needed around here, no one seemed to want to help even though everyone sells Pelican kayaks, so I ordered the parts from a place in Texas and they are enroute as I type. Ordered one day and shipped the next with a tracking number.
As much as I wanted to get them locally, I got totally frustrated with the attitude of people so the Internet got my business instead of keeping it local.

Mark
 
Looks an abandoned wreck to me, finders keepers. Consider Silastic for waterproofing repairs unsuitable for plastic welder.
 
Not sure if it would stick but you might look into one of the products they use to coat the bottom of wood drift boats. Its a high build epoxy type material that creates a sacrificial layer to combat scratching and wear on rocks. It would also do a great job of protecting your plastic weld repair. I know they make versions for wood, fiberglass, and aluminum one of them might work and I am sure the people who sell it would know. I would assume Ontario CA would be an area of the world familiar with drift boats.
 
Thanks for the info Mark, I'll have to do a Google search and see what I come up with.

Mark
 
Thanks
I did get this protective tape that my daughter told me about. Paddle boarders use it on the sides of their boards for protection.
It's about 3" wide and needs to be cut with a knife

Mark
 
Here is some pics I just took.
According to the tracking number my seat backs and rudder assembly are now in Canada enroute to Toronto.Hopefully they aren't held up at customs too long and I get them before the weekend.
I am using the Fast Orange hand cleaner to clean the scum off the bottom part of the boat.
It is working but it's alot of scrubbing.

Mark

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Thanks guys, it was fun to bring back to life and I just about got the trailer done for it. I just have to buy a light kit for it, hopefully install this weekend.
Right now we are relying on the Son in law and his pickup truck to get us around.
When this trailer is done then it is on to the next project, which is under the orange tarp :biggrin:

Mark

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We Will !!!!
Spent today installing a hitch and light converter on the Escape and finished up the trailer.
We are now self sufficient !!! :banana:

Mark
 
Out on the water and a bit of exercise to boot :D

Fun project and well done to bring it back from the roadside grave yard ...
 
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