Repairs to Canoes, Kayaks and Stand Up Paddle Boards are our Specialty
Johnny’s Boat Shop specializes in professional repairs to your canoe, kayak, stand up paddle board (SUP), rowing shells, sailboats, and skiffs. We’ve serviced the needs of canoeists, camps, resorts, outfitters and school boards since the early nineties, keeping their boats on the water more days of the year. We understand that our paddling season in central Ontario is a short one and will work with you to insure a quick turn around time.
We’re able to handle any repair no matter how big or small or strange, we’ve seen it all before and we have a tried and proven technique to deal with even the most difficult repair to your boat. Estimates are always free but we’ll most likely need to see your boat in our Huntsville shop to provide a proper estimate. Groups and organizations choose Johnny’s Boat Shop because we can oversee the maintenance and repair of any size fleet, it doesn’t matter if you have a dozen boats or a couple of hundred, you can rely on Johnny’s Boat Shop to keep your fleet running at peek performance.
Gelcoat Repairs
Gelcoat is the protective outer laying on most composite (Kevlar, fiberglass or carbon) boats. Think of it as the armour that protects your canoe or kayak. Gelcoat can be damaged or cracked when it comes into contact with rocks in the river or on the shore. A loaded boat pressing against a hard object can damage your boats gelcoat. As a basic rule of thumb if you can catch your finger nail on the crack then you should have it repaired. If you can see the cloth through damage to the gelcoat then you need to have it repaired. Ignoring gelcoat damage to your boat can result in water getting into the core of your canoe or kayak and causing more damage that can lead to a much more expensive repair down the road. Remember estimates are always free at Johnny’s Boat Shop!
Hull Repairs
Hull damage is often more extensive than just gelcoat damage and may cause more structural problems with your canoe or kayak. Like gelcoat repairs you may notice cracks or stress marks on the hull of your boat where it has made contact with a hard object. Often the worst hull damage results from a boat getting sideways on a rock in a fast flowing river or trying to cross a beaver dam while paddling a loaded canoe over it. You can detect hull damage by pushing on an area that shows sign of stress with your fingers and noting a softness in the hull as compared to areas next to it. We also fix hull damage on royalex, plastic or wooden boats too. If you have an aluminum hull boat we can recommend someone who can do aluminum welding to repair it.
Seat Replacements
We replace bow and stern canoe seats vs repair them most of the time as it’s more cost effective to replace vs repair. Let us do it for you or do it yourself with canoe seats and hardware available in our online store. Seat replacements are also often quicker than repairing them getting you back out on the water to enjoy more of the paddling season. Whether it’s webbed, boot lace, cane, wood slat, cherry, ash, flat or curved. If we don’t stock it, we will get it for you. See the bottom of the Seat Replacement page for seat products too.
Stand Up Paddle Board Repairs
As Stand Up Paddle Boards (SUP) become more and more popular and users seek better performing and lighter boards more people are purchasing composite (fiberglass) SUP boards. While performing better than other boards, composite stand up paddle boards require more care, like a canoe or kayak, with shore line landings or avoiding objects in the water. If you do damage your composite SUP, we’re there to help. Proper repair of your board is important to insure that it performs well and what may seem like simple damage doesn’t progress into a major repair. Water getting into the core of your board can seriously damage it. We also sell products like Ding Tape and Rail Guard to provide a simple temporary band-aid or protect your board.
Thwart and Yoke Replacement
The thwart and yoke on your canoe is an integral part of its performance and structure. It’s important to inspect your canoe’s yoke annually to insure that the wood is solid and it’s not going to fail while portaging or paddling it. If it does require replacement we’re here to help. If your canoe has a flat yoke and you wish to be able to more comfortably portage it on longer trips you may decide to replace your flat yoke with a more comfortable deep dished contoured yoke. Often we can replace yokes the next day insuring you get back on the water quickly. We also sell quality yokes and the hardware to mount them on wooden or aluminum gunwales in our online store.
Trim Repairs & Replacement
Wooden trim on a canoe is beautiful and functional, keeping it that way involves annual inspection and maintenance. We recommend that you consider our winter maintenance package where we will inspect and maintain not only your canoe’s trim but all of your boat too. If the day should come that you need to replace or repair your trim we’re here to help with a free in shop estimate Johnny’s Boat Shop is set up to handle your wooden, aluminum or vinyl trim needs. Let our professional service get your boat looking and performing like new again.
Other Repairs
If you don’t see information about a composite repair that meets your needs on our website please still contact us, we often get requests to fix odd and strange things, like winter sleds, motor boats or even wooden bears. We challenge you to make us think about a new way to repair an item that we may not have encountered before. Our extensive history with fixing composite, wooden and royalex boats means we can often tackle that odd job too. Give us a call today to arrange to bring your repair into our shop for a free estimate. 705.783.7141
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Some Related Products from our Online Store
Johnny’s Boat Shop not only services your canoe, providing professional repairs and maintenance at our Huntsville shop, but we also sell many of the products we use in our repair and maintenance service, for your canoe or kayak. Do it yourself or let us do it professionally for you.
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