I have acquired a vintage SAWYER Charger in Kevlar. Its pretty beat up.

How would one go about repairing scratches on the bottom AND a worn through bow. Its been abandon, left for dead, but with my 30+ years of carpentry, design, set building, home construction and fiberglass boat building experience I'm always eager for a new project.

I don't just want to glass it over and go. Is there a proper way to work on this nice older boat to make it close(r) to new to get it ready for sale this spring?

That looks like a fun project!!!

A good cleaning first.

Then start sanding to get some of the rough spots knocked down. Depending on what you see after cleaning again most likely you will need to patch with some fiberglass and epoxy. Sand the patched areas, clean. I would then coat the whole boat with a fresh coat of epoxy. Yes i know....but as dry as that is and as scratched up I'd do it.

Sand varnish sand varnish sand varnish.

As far as the bow and stern, your gonna have to reinforce that and build it back up, obviously.

6 oz. E glass fiberglass. Might want to do an epoxy end pour.

I would finish it off with Kevlar felt skid plates.

I would love a project like that!!! Good Luck, I'm sure it will turn out great!!!

There are many here that have refinished/rebuilt canoes. Do a search on this site. Tons of info.

Here is a link to my refinish. Not as challenging as yours.

Link

Man that canoe is rough but definitely repairable. I once took ownership of a wood canoe that was in a front yard used to grow flowers out of it. It turned into a beautiful canoe that to this day is quite a lovely to paddle.

For your canoe, buy some epoxy such as West System

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/product/product-detail/3760

The brand is not that important. It's a two part epoxy, a resin and a hardener. Epoxy cures rather slow, like in hours. Research how its used. It's not very toxic but still should be kept off your skin and out of you lungs.
Buy some fiberglass cloth (like one linear yard) as was already mentioned. 6 oz cloth will do. You will need to apply it in layers. You need to build up the thickness again to match the original shape of the canoe. You can put on about three layers of glass at a time. You need to gently brush on the epoxy and let it soak into the glass. Don't try to force it in too aggressively or you start pushing air into it. You need a squeegee after it's on to help push it into the glass and push out the air bubbles and smooth it out. Some wax paper over it after you apply it will help hold it in place while it cures.
A lot of sanding will be required and it's not something we can teach you in writing but Youtube will drown you in knowledge.
That canoe will certainly be a fine craft come spring.

For the bottom with all the scratches, sand the bottom with 220 grit sandpaper to get the surface more uniform since all those scratches make for a lot of rough edges. Apply a thin coat of epoxy over the bottom, or perhaps the entire hull and let cure for a day or two. The scratches will mostly disappear but the deep scratches will still be there but less visible.
Sand again lightly to smooth out the surface and finish with two coats of spar varnish.

The key to all of this is thin coats. If you apply varnish or epoxy in a thick coat to save time, you end up with runs that will cause more work than you could ever hope for. Just take your time on this job. You have plenty of time.
Tom

Yes, Thank you for the help. I've done glassing before on my older speedboat and have the layup thought process pretty well in hand....

I've got the bent gunwale off and will have to anneal it to make it soft(er) in the hopes of bending it back to the correct parabola style curve for the hull, once I've got the hull kink undone and reasonably back to its intended shape Hopefully I can marry it all back together with the new cross braces and have it be all good again. I'm looking forward to replacing the rusted steel pop rivets and there's nothing rusty on her.

Hey, was this the boat for free on Twin Lakes Blvd? I'm an Assistant Scoutmaster with T671, we meet @ Twin Lakes Park in the summertime.

I'm in Grayslake just a couple miles away if you ever want to meet, paddle, etc.

Yes, that was the canoe from the road next to the park, twin lakes.

I'm probably not going to have time to go for a paddle. I'm socked in with work for the foreseeable future, especially in the summers.

Mostly going to have time to repair the canoe and get it on the market.