I have a new to me northwind Solo and looking at the stems the Kevlar is worn away on both ends, i'm wondering if this is anything to worry about?

Also, i have a lot of cosmetic scratches on the hull which do not bother me, but some come up the sides. And the other thing i have noticed is the hull is not smooth at all, feels like your dry skin does in the winter. I've repaired my Souris River in the past but i'm not sure how to refinish a Northstar canoe, is there anything i can or should do for these issues?

As far as the frayed ends go, I think I'd just put skid plates over them.

Lucky!!!! I have canoe envy. I've rented a Northwind Solo on my last 3 solo trips with the dog and love it.

Sorry, I can't help with the repair advice, but I bet Ted and/or Bear would give you great advice if you contacted Northstar. Also, I think the folks at Spriit of the Winderness Outfitters are pretty good at restoring Northstar canoes and might be willing to offer you advice.

I refinished a used Magic last year. Near same condition. On the stems, you can see where the very outer skin of Kevlar is worn through and there is an internal skid plate reinforcement of Kevlar/resin. The fuzz around that area is the outer Kevlar. It will not sand down but just get more fuzzy. Adding skid plates on top of that area would solve it, but would then change the aesthetics of your beautiful canoe. Here is what I did:

I wanted to fix the stems and a few deep bottom scratches. The boat was perfectly seaworthy, but I had a 260mi paddle coming up and couldn't bear to think of the drag all those scratches would generate over that distance. Northstar canoes are hand-layed vacuum bagged with vinylester resin. Vinylester is different than epoxy in that it doesn't fully crosslink to itself chemically. (SR uses epoxy). What this means is that you can't count on chemistry alone to bond a hull refinish layer: you want to maximize the mechanical bond of any additional resin you put on the hull. The risk is that your new refinish layer starts to flake off over time(years). Some people say that varnish will shine things up and hide scratches, but that won't help the stems and i worried about having varnish on the hull for any future repairs.

For the bottom: I taped off a 4 inch waterline because I didn't want to pull stickers and refinish the whole hull: the sides were pristine as they were. This means I would later have to blend my sanding into the side surface. Scuff sand the whole bottom with 180-200. You can feather any deep gouges but the main purpose is to get a rough surface to bond epoxy too. Be careful to scuff only and not sand down into the Kevlar or you will have to build epoxy layers over that part to smooth it out later. Wash the dust off and fill the deeper scratches with epoxy. Once cured, coat the whole bottom with epoxy. It doesn't take very much at all as it is a very thin layer. It will look glassy when wet, but not once it's cured. Then start sanding. I started at 250 and did 4 or 5 grits all the way to wetsand 1000 and 2000. Then cut and buff with auto polishes. I used a combo of hand sanding and a DA sander to speed things up(the electric one from harbor freight.). I used system 3 silvertip epoxy because it is UV protected and I had some leftover from another project.

For the stems: I wish I had a 'before' photo, but really they looked just like yours. Lightly sand to scuff things without making longer fuzzies. Coat with some thick epoxy and stretch Saran Wrap over it to lay it smooth- as best you can. The goal is to epoxy the Kevlar fuzzies laying down against the hull. Saran Wrap won't stick to epoxy and leaves a smooth surface. Stretch and tape it to the hull with masking tape. There will be wrinkles. Do this for a few layers to build some thickness to the stems- epoxy thickened with micro balloons or chopped strand fiber or something might even better, but I didn't have any of that on hand. Once you have appropriate thickness after a few layers and a good round stem profile without voids you can sand it smooth. Use some aggressive 120grit to really shape a smooth curve, then sand it smooth as described above.

Based on the weight of epoxy used and the weight of the boat before/after being within the error resolution of my big scale, I estimate I added 8-10oz to the weight of the boat. It looks great, and has a mirror finish. What has yet to be seen is if it will hold over time. I did this a year ago and it is still looking perfect(aside from a few new scratches- but no chipping or flaking).

Stems aside, will varnish alone help with the roughness of the hull, will it smooth it over at all, or just hide scratches.

I had some 2000 grit paper so i did test a small area and wet sanded, it did smooth right up but of course leaves it dull. So i'm wondering if the hull just needs a good buffing with a random orbital polisher? as for the stems i think i could address those with epoxy in just that small area.

I needed to make some repairs to my Magic a couple of years ago and Charlie (sorry, I can't remember Charlie's last name) who is the head technical Guru at Northstar gave me very good advice. He recommended that I use the vinylester resin mentioned above because it would bond chemically as opposed to epoxy which would not. You can get the vinylester resin from Northstar.

campnfish: "Stems aside, will varnish alone help with the roughness of the hull, will it smooth it over at all, or just hide scratches."

A coat or two of Epifanes spar varnish will provide the glossy smoothness that you are searching for. Just be sure to thin it as directed on the label, otherwise it won't lay quite as smooth as you desire. Pics of two of my canoes before and after are below. Muddyfeet provided some excellent advise on dealing with the stems of the canoe.

unshavenman, what did you sand your northwoods with prior to varnish?

You are being misled about the possibility of chemical bonding to a cured resin surface. That just does not happen with any of the boat resins. Ask any chemical engineer that deals with resins. I am surprised that the Northstar folks would tell you that. It just is not true.

Mechanical bonds, however, are quite successful for a coating application, even with different kinds of resin. Vinylester is a fine resin as is epoxy. For home repairs epoxy might be easier to use. It works fine over vinylester or polyester for that matter.

The key is in surface prep. It needs to be squeeky clean, no waxes or oily deposits from hands or sweat. A "toothed" surface needs to established with sand paper. I have always had good results with 80 or 100 grit for a thick coat of resin, or 150 if I am trying to get a real thin coat for weight saving. Change your paper often so you are getting clean, sharp cuts in the surface. Trying to get a lot of miles from your sandpaper is fine for smoothing wood, but not for surface prep for coating.

I have never seen the value in preparing a mirror finish on a boat that I am going to scratch up again, but others require a good looking craft. My boats often look rough because they are used hard.

The forefoot on your boat needs repair. If you are going to crash your boat on to shore all the time as the last owner did, skid plates would be nice. If not, fill those crevices with resin thickened with silica or milled glass fiber and cover it with a strip of glass.

campnfish: "unshavenman, what did you sand your northwoods with prior to varnish?"

Random orbiting sander with 150 sandpaper. Makes the job quick and painless. The black Northwoods just received one coat. The SRQ17 was brought up from Florida and was sun damaged so it received three coats. It really is an easy project that provides immediate gratification.

I am just getting around to these repairs for the front and back of the boat, is there an epoxy i can purchase locally here in MN. In the past i have ordered West Systems for other projects, but id like something i could get this weekend that is still considered a quality product.

Look here.
https://www.westsystem.com/where-to-buy/

Let's try that again

West System

Northwest Canoe will have what you need.

NW Canoe I think carries MAS and maybe another brand, but it should be as good as West. Just follow the directions for mixing. I'm sure Dennis would give advice if asked.