BWCA Canoe problem-maybe Boundary Waters Listening Point - General Discussion
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giddyup
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07/07/2020 12:17PM  
A friend used my Wenonah Wilderness canoe and flipped over in the middle of the lake.

Now I am noticing water sloshing around in the air chamber below the bow deck. There are rubber stopper like things (I’ll call them this because I don’t really know what they are called ) on both the bow and the stern decks. I don’t know what their purpose is.

When I look down from above at the rubber stopper thing on the stern deck there is no hole in the center of the rubber thing on top of the air chamber. When I look down at the rubber thing on top of the bow deck there IS A SMALL HOLE (less than the diameter of a pencil) that is open to the inside chamber where the air is. This is where the water is.

So my question is....how do I get the water out of there through such a tiny hole and how do I best fix the hole? Does it matter if the water is in there? I’m guessing it is about 2-3 fluid cups of water. It doesn’t affect the function of the canoe or make it seem noticeably bow heavy. I can just hear it and I think it will get rancid if I plug the hole and leave it in there.

The same friend is going to use my canoe again with probably the same results so I need to get the water out and the hole fixed.
 
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Cedarboy
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07/07/2020 03:27PM  
Flip it over on some saw horses for a few days. Do not fill the holes they are there for expansion and contraction from temperature. The end tanks are filled with foam for flotation.
CB
 
jhb8426
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07/07/2020 04:02PM  
You should be able to pull the rubber stopper and let it drain. The small hole is just so pressure can equalize in the flotation chamber. Never had a Wenonah but that sounds like the same setup as on Bell boats.
 
giddyup
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07/07/2020 04:39PM  
Thank guys. I’ll look into both of those suggestions to see if either one works.
 
MReid
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07/07/2020 05:47PM  
Wenonah doesn't fill their float tanks, so you can pull the stopper and let the water leak out with the boat upside down. It might take a while since there might be a lip on the inside, or an odd corner. And you could roll up a paper towel and insert it half way and leave it to wick out the water (sort of like drying Camelbaks).
 
07/07/2020 06:19PM  
Get a tube that fits in there and attach the tube to your wet dry vac. Maybe use duct tape to achieve this
 
giddyup
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07/07/2020 10:09PM  
Good suggestions. Thanks.
 
07/08/2020 11:19AM  
Once you have the water out you will want to verify how the water got in.

My Bell that I restored a couple years ago had a degradation of the resin & cloth matrix right at the bottom of the bow tank, to the point where any bilge water that came up against the tank would pass immediately through. Closer inspection & testing confirmed the problem, and a 4x6 piece of fiberglass cut to shape was epoxied into place. No more water intrusion in the bow tank! So far the stern tank checks out....

Depending on the shape of your flotation tanks, you may need to lower or raise one end of the canoe to get the water to come out of the hole. Once out, I'd recommend leaving it in the sun for a day or two with the plugs removed to try to get any residual moisture out.

There should be a hole or slit in the bottoms of the plugs to allow for air pressure equalization to occur. If not, a rapid change of air pressure could cause the float tank to delaminate from the hull.
 
07/08/2020 04:41PM  
As others have already stated, those are to keep water out of the air chambers. You can pull the plugs, flip the boat, and just let it air out. I own a wenonah and sometimes swamp it for fun with my niece and nephew (not in the BWCA) on a hot day on the lake.
 
giddyup
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07/09/2020 10:20PM  
Thank you :))
 
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