Great tutorial. Watched all your vids on these canoes over the years, going to finally pull the trigger and get one in the new year ready for spring. Honestly though, the manufacturer has to reach out to you at some point and at least say, "thanks man". You're selling these canoes for those fellas no doubt... They probably have no idea one guy on KZfaq is doing all the heavy lifting for their sales dept...

I dom't even own a canoe but I still watched the whole thing...

when KeepinItReelFishing uploads, you watch....Thanks for sharing man!

My gawd, this fella deserves an award for this tutorial. Excellent job, and thanks for sharing!

You inspired me gets ago to get my Sportspal. Great job on your renovation!

Thanks for making this video! I just got one today and I need to order that foam liner.

Always an in depth video no matter the subject! Thanks for this!

I just got an old sportspal and will be restoring it sometime this summer ..thanks for the video , i will review again when i get all the parts to begin the project

Thanks for this video. You do a great job.

Great video and very informative.

Carl you are a saint and a scholar thank you ....👍

Thank you for all your hard work

this is the first time i went through the comments. its funny cause i feel how like everybody else feels about you. love watching your videos always from beginning to end. happy holidays!

Lot of hard work looks good bet you can't wait to take it out

good job man . looks great

Great instructions! Thanks for sharing.

Watching again for my Radisson... thanks 👍

Great job 👍👍👍

My man!! Cant wait to watch!

Fantastic job!

Hey Karl I love the swimbait underground sticker on the canoe!!

Hi Karl. Great video! Years ago,I purchased the same one you have after viewing your Canoe Walkthrough, (The BEST fishing canoe).The Sportspal is the best fishing related purchase I have ever made. I don't fish as often as you so the canoe is still in very good shape. Coincidentally, just the other day it crossed my mind to maybe have some "fun" and do the canoe overhaul for the heck of it and to keep busy during the winter/Covid-19 time. After watching the video I think I will postpone it till the next pandemic! LOL. I've seen all of your vids and you've had a great influence on my fishing enjoyment. Good health to you and the Family!

Well done as are all of your videos. Fellow New Jersey resident chiming in (South Jersey) ... I too have a 14' double end Sportspal, got it in September 2019 so hopefully I'm a few years away from replacing my liner & sponsons. Your video from about 6 years ago titled "The best fishing canoe" was instrumental in my decision to pull the trigger on mine. I made a storage rack from PVC pipe. The canoe is stored upside down on the rack about 3' above the ground with a tarp over top. Storing it this way allows any interior moisture to drain off but maintain airflow. I'm toying with the idea of buying a couple of tubes of black silicone caulk and spreading a thin layer over the entire surface of my sponsons to condition them a bit. There were a couple of spots where I had small tears in them and repaired them using black automotive sealant and it worked well, the repaired areas have a tough but flexible skin on them. I figure why not treat the entire thing ?

Thanks for this tutorial! It gives me a good idea of what I'll be facing when it comes time to replace the foam. A few things I think would help make the job easier: 1. Flip one of the C-clamps around so that the handles are on opposite sides. This way they won't interfere with each other. 2. Instead of a screwdriver, find one extra long bolt as a temporary placeholder. This will aid with tip #1 since there's no screwdriver handle to get in the way of the C-clamp. 3. Since there are so many to do, I would jig up the C-clamps by connecting them together with a small spacer to help speed things along 4. Not sure how well this would work but it occurred to me that you might be able to use wood clamps instead of C-clamps. They're much quicker to tighten down but might not provide as much clamping force.

Just passed you on Rt 78 last Wednesday. You had thee’ol sports pal on the Fit. I was on a Harley. Didn’t want to crash while I tried waving lol. Hope the fishing was good.

Great video

Good Job. Thank you. Cheers

Great job. Thank you.

Good job. Cheers

Woot woot new upload

Such a cool channel.

I would bet when they put the ribs in at the factory the to cross supports were not installed yet, I would consider drilling out the rivets at least on one side so you'll have more flexibility to install the ribs us a couple long clamps to draw the sides back to gather after the ribs are in and put stainless steel bolt and nylon nuts to reinstall the cross supports, this would also give you an option to add an accessory or too like a rod holder or what ever you can think of. Nice video thumbs up.

Took longer than expected but it all worked out!

I filled mine with water, supported t only on the ends and the weight of the water pushed down the bottom enough for me to get the ribs in. Probably could be a disaster but it made it easy.

Nice move on the clamps

Great video! However you can also try the video "changing ribs in a Sportspal/Radisson canoe" by Gettenany Outdoors. Its less tear on the foam mat and less stress on the Hull.

Carl a tip for you if you want but if you put 3 pool noodles at the bottom of the canoe (same direction as the ribs spaced evenly) it should stop the rocking while your working in and out of it .

@KeepinItReelFishing I wonder if you could cut a plastic milk jug into a sheet (or a couple sheets) to act as a shoe horn/friction-reducer for putting those ribs in over the foam....idea being that the milk jug plastic would let you slide the rib into place, and once it's in place, remove the milk jug sheet piece and leave the rib in place.

Nice love it you made another video on your canoe very cool. Your doing a great job on sharing info thank you 🙏 I am considering buy this canoe 🛶

There's a video from another guy that works on these canoes for a living. He has a video on how to make a tool similar to what they use in the factory to put the ribs in. I made one and it's still a pain but I got all my ribs installed in 20 or 30 min. Except I got a little too grunty on a couple and broke one completely and cracked 2 others. I just had mine apart to reseal the seams and fix a crack.

Hi again; Karl great video like usual: i’ve been using my sports pal 14 ft.sq.end canoe; that I bought from your lead on previous videos still liking it a lot ; doesn’t need rebuilding at this point just wondering I thought I had watched one of your earlier videos that you stepped up to a 16 footer may be a square end with a high thrust trolling motor and I was wondering if that was being used and how you were liking it ? well take care thanks John keep up the good work

Don't own one and never will but still watched. Lol.

Karl, my dude! Looks great man! As soon as I seen your issue I was thinking clamps and then you showed up with them. If the measurements between the ribs are all the same I wonder if you could cut a piece of 2×4 that length to place between two of them then use a clamp to bring them to it to straighten them out if you understand what I'm saying? Either way it still looks great!Hope all is well brother! 👊💪

A trick I used was to take a ~1/8" bamboo kebab skewer and push that through the sponson from the outside to match the hole, leave it there to retain location, then remove and insert the screw. The point penetrates the ethafoam easily. Seemed to be easier for me.

I'm sold on this canoe; now I have to find one. Thanks for the great videos you've done on it. Comment: do you think maybe the liner has shifted along the length of the hull under the tension of the ribs? How much do you think the sponsons help with the stability of the canoe ? I'm actually considering driving to the factory (from Seattle) to get one of these.....good job on the upgrade- I like your style.

Always enthused to see an upload! Whilst watching, a query came to mind, albeit one that is entirely unrelated to the video's content. As such, disregard any of this if I am mistaken in my recollection... I recall a video of yours wherein you'd shown a Savage Gear Browser swimbait rod that you had recently purchased. How has said stick treated you? I am curious as to how parabolic the Browser rods are, and what weight ranges you would advocate for pertinent to the respective models you've used. I tend to use marginally lighter tensile strengths for larger hard swimbait applications than most folks, especially glide-baits, so very interested as to whether these sticks load in such a manner that they will cater to the use of said slightly lighter lines. If you have any insight to those ends, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Oppose the clamps. No more bumping. 😉

You-tube gold

Great video and to help with tightening the c clamps put the tightening sides of the clamps opposite of each other one on the inside of the canoe and the other on the outside so you can get full turns on the handle

Very very interesting video, Could you please tell what the protecting material at both sides of your canoe is made of? Would be very gratefull for your answer. Regards from the Netherlands, the country below sealevel. Jan

Drill out those seat/cross braces, would add tons of flex, making install of the ribs so much easier. Maybe do front and back seperately. Replacing a couple rivets could have saved you tons of time

Could you put the bolt and washers just on the foam and tighten until the washers make an indent into the foam, then install the boat?

I've never done this but would it help to position the canoe so the floor is not touching the ground? My thought is that laying it on the ground may push the floor up making positioning the struts tough.

Good vid, where did you get the sponsons?

🙂 Thanks for a great video with lots of information an good ideas, I just lowed it, you are the man! I happen to have an identical Canoe and I'am not looking forward to replace the ribs I think,,,,,, Have some thoughts that might do the job a bit easier,,, SPONSOR It might be better to not do pilot holes in the sponsors, do only the first hole, and the fasten the first bolt and line up the sponsor alongside the hull and drill the rest of the holes from inside the hull, one by one after fastening, think that is the only way to get a accurate positioning of the holes. It might be better to make your own screw clamp from wood for pressing the sponsor to the hull to be able to get the nut fastened to the screw. A fork type with pressure on both sides, or even better with a circular washer a bit smaller than the sponsor washer, and with a hole in the middle for the nut and screwhead. RIBS I really do recommend Sportspal guidelines regarding the ribs, put them in vertically and do not try to push them back an forth. Moving the ribs forward/backwards is almost impossible without damage, as you have sorted out. But they do slide quite easy the other way (vertical) Instead of the recommended screwdriver, I think it is better to use a homemade tool, cut a 1" pipe in two, and put a small screw that you grind flat at the end that can slip under the gunvalve lip on the canoe, or just make a notch at the end of the middle of the pipe that point upwards. Then press the rib down with this tool, and the rib can be pushed in place quite easy, the rib will easy be pushed to the side inside the halfpipe. (the screwdriver can slip on the gunvalve and the rib, and do not have the hookup to the railing)

where did you get those squared off sponsons?? can only find the round ones

Would a couple of thin flat sheet metal strips to help slide the spar into place then pull the shim out.

Can you send me a link to where have you bought the sponsors and floor for your sportspal

Could have just bought 1" longer bolts to speed up installation, then just cut off the excess. A quick file to remove the sharp cut edge and...done. But your way came out nice. Don't forget to return the 8" clamps to HF.

My guy... good video bro... how was your fishing this year through all this COVID crap?

That's were I ordered my parts from. , Sportspal canoe parts.

What state are you in im in ny and fish very similar out of a rowboat

Where did you buy the liner and sponsons? Looking to finally refurbish the old canoe out back and need some important parts. Thanks.

I’m in Rhode Island was told it was going to be $120 just for shipping to get the liner. Did you have pay this crazy amount to get it delivered to Jersey?

Purchased the 12 foot, if you are going to buy a sportspal PURCHASE the 14 foot. Still love it

Have a link to order the bumper

i just want to know where to get the liner.

■■■...Perhaps you could cut some flat sacrificial discs out of the old side rails and marine glue them over the outer semi exposed screw ends to prevent them from scratching/scraping whatever they might come in contact with. Just a thought.

Thank you so much!! helpful!! Where did you buy the liner -I can cut myself. Thanks again !!!

Thank you for this. I have an older s14 that has a small leak, and I've been contemplating removing the liner to seal from both sides. Seems like it might not be worth the hassle if an external seal works and everything else is in good condition :)

Have you heard of Molnar Sports?

Those sponson where you buy them all I can find are cheap ones

I think putting the c-clamp adjusting screws on opposite sides of the gunnel would stop the adjusters from hitting each other.

I need to order New sponsons for my 12 foot double pointed Sportspal canoe, do you have the info to do that? Thanks

I guess this is a bit late, but putting the ribs back is pretty easy with a motorcycle tyre iron.

■■■...If you were to run a thin ratchet strap, strap(ensuring the end is cut so it is a single thickness...some straps are doubled over at the end to prevent fraying) and loop it under the trouble side of the rib first...then when you get that side seated underneath...you could pull on the strap to line up the rib, rather than pushing it with your hands. Once you are comfortable with your alignment, simply pull out the strap. (Silicon might aid in reducing friction.)

Forget the screwdriver. Too hard. Use these: Fasmov 15.5" Tire Iron Set Irons Changing Tool Kit, Set of 3. Nice hook lip that catches under the gunwale and provides great leverage to push the rib down preparatory to banging it into place. they rock. $20.

I think I'd go buy longer Bolts to do the sponsons and tighten em down nice then cut off the extra bolt. No clamps for me.

Someone please msg me .. is the sponson necessary? Why not just use the canoe with out them ? I highly doubt those two little foams are gonna make a huge difference ? Or am I wrong ?

Thank you for the video. I just bought a Sportspal that needs new foam, some ribs, and a hole patched. Appreciate you busting your knuckles publicly to help everyone out. Cheers! Edit: I found this video of dudes replacing ribs in a repair shop - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orFkaNeXra2Xc6s.html

Cudos for your sticktoitivesness. What a bummer on the hardware. Good content, im sure it will save someone a headache.

Soapy water next time?

I dont think you want to be inside the boat because your body changes the shape of the hull.

use soap not silicone

Bad message on the ribs. Liner info appears correct. Complete wrong approach; look at the Meyers’ rib replacement video. You should take this down.

I hope you will consider bringing your channel to Rumble. Our nation is politically divided and I've decided not to support providers who do not permit free speech. I don't want to miss your content so please consider Rumble.

I'm wondering can you spray it with truck bed liner put a few coats that stuff is real strong

Doesn't help you now, but Gettenany Outdoors. They make it look easy.😉