Glen-L.com

Hi All.

On a whim, I started a project yesterday to restore a 35 year-old wood and canvas canoe that has been in our family since new.

There was nothing really wrong with it, other than being "tired" and in need of a good makeover.

I did the tear-down yesterday.

Here are pictures... http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/brucemdow/Canoe%20Restoration/?albumview=grid



My first question is about the covering...

The traditional method is to stretch canvas, then fill the weave, then paint it. Stretching involves clamps, chains, and winches between trees. Like this >>> http://books.google.ca/books?id=DATZgkmvqyoC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=stretch+canvas+canoe+winch&source=bl&ots=FibTx7Lrph&sig=0C-XsZBEopLZMszgw4AatWH3ZkQ&hl=en&ei=NZ-jSu-JHISltgfjz5HTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=stretch%20canvas%20canoe%20winch&f=false

I have read about a method using dacron that is heat-shrunk. They claim that this method results in a finish of equal quality, but it is much lighter, and much easier to apply. Look Here >>> http://www.gaboats.com/tutorials/recanvas.html



While I am mostly a traditionalist, I am open to the new approach. Does anyone have any experience with it?


My second question is about stripping the varnish on the inside. Do you have any recommendations on the products or techniques to use to get between all of those ribs?

Thanks
Bruce.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

These folks have perfected the refinishing and refitting too of wood and canvas canoes. I just sold an Old Town Otca 16 that was fifty years old because I did not get any use out of it. But the boat was super stable and the carrying capacity was even better than most of the new ones. But I went the forbidden route and made it more usable in the rough terrain of shallow water paddling and you may not like my suggestions. Beware that these folks are strong minded when attempting to alter any originals but you will get the answers that you need for sure.

http://forums.wcha.org/index.php

Bruce:
Dacron has been used to cover aircraft for decades, it replaced the old-school cotton fabric of days gone by. In the aircraft world it is called Stits PolyFiber. They used a common iron to shrink it, then filled the weave with their aircraft paints. Poly Fiber is still active with a google search.
They used to cover aircraft with cotton, not canvas. They shrunk it with water and heat, like shrinking your new Tshirt in the dryer.
I got one of these for sanding small areas, it works good.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=67256

I got the same thingy from Ryobi, and it was a POS though.

_________________
God Bless our Troops; especially our Snipers

Bruce

I don't see an issue with modern fabric in a traditional application. They would have used it if they had it! They weren't stupid.

Did you use a plank method on the Monaco?

Bill

_________________
Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

Bill different regions and use in solid plank canoes has given us a pretty good idea on how to proceed when attempting to alter or upgrade the building method of older ones. Up north for sure canvas seems to be a better way to keep a traditional planked canoe unlike many of even the strip planked ones thats encapsulated or just varnished on both sides that has come along. I have several pictures of canoes that were actually built in the early form of laminated veneers of solid woods dating back to before the turn of 1900 that later on I will provide this evening. They are interesting for sure, even one built with a centerboard and sailrig.

Thanks, folks.

From that WCHA forum, I found this link which explains how to use heat-shrink Dacron as an alternative to canvas: http://www.stewartriver.com/images/Dacron.pdf.

I think I'll give it a try.

I'll take pictures and let you know how the story unfolds.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

While we are awaiting Bruce to show us his upfit, this is a canoe that I saw last year at the Beaufort wooden boat show. Its basically a cold moulded hull by today's standards, two layers running at a right angle of each other. It has no frames or ribbands inside. Its very heavy though with a layer of lead between the two layers.

Update from Weekend No. 2.

Stripped the varnish from the interior

Removed some planking to try a "blind back splice" on a cracked rib.

Here are the pics: http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/brucemdow/Canoe%20Restoration/?albumview=grid


Oyster... the WCHA site is a great resource. Thanks for that link.

B.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Great to see you making progress. That site is a gathering of some super guys with some incredible knowledge. If Dan MIller and group says it, you can be your bootie that it works and has worked especially over time. Great that you found them of service. They just had what they called an Assembly, which is like our gathering. I will see if I can find a link for it.

Actually, they have a bunch of regional meetings, too.

Hijack coming.... This weekend there was one at Killbear Provincial Park on Georgian Bay. It is about an hour away from my Cottage, so I took a break from the stripper fumes and went to check it out. It was a relatively small gathering, but there were some nice old wooden canoes there, and I got some good advice.

Because my canoe is in "rehab", I took one of my Kayaks and had a great paddle out on Parry Sound.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Wow, thats some isolated territory. I can smell the clean air all the way here.

Great pics Bruce...both the kayak and canoe ones.

Neat old canoe

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

I am really really hoping to have the canoe in shape to car-top it to the Gathering...

I am planning to use heat-shrunk aircraft dacron instead of traditional canvas. It should save about 10 lbs on the boat.

Here is current status.

- Old canvas removed
- Broken rib fixed.
- Planking re-installed
- planking all sanded and faired.
- interior stripped and bleached
- Dacron and filler ordered
- New seats, yoke, thwarts ordered
- scarfed up some mahogany for new outer gunwales

To go:
- two coats of varnish to seal outside of hull
- install dacron covering.
- fill, prime, and paint dacron
- finish milling outer gunwales and instal
- varnish inside of boat and gunwales
- install seats, yoke, thwarts.
- install hardware (eyes, stem bands)


Here are current photos...

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/brucemdow/Canoe%20Restoration/?albumview=grid

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Bruce,I know they used varnish originally,but would it be better to use maybe a urethane over the cedar,under the cloth?

I mean it will get wet there and stay wet for a long time between the cloth and wood

Just wondering

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

That is a good idea, Warren.

I was using the term "varnish" in a general way. I have some old polyurethane that I may use for the outside of the planking (which will be covered by the dacron). There is no need for UV protection, and I'm getting tired of spending $40 a quart for Epifanes or Interlux Schooner.... My goal is just to seal it to inhibit moisure absorbtion, and to prevent the dacron filler from bonding the dacron to the planking.

It was interesting that when I took the old canvas off, the outside of the planking was completely unfinished.

1) no wonder that boat got heavier and heavier on long trips... I swear on some of those portages, my 70 lb canoe must have been saturated with 25 lbs of water.
2) it is amazing that the 35 year-old cedar is in near perfect shape... no signs of rot... though it soaked up the water, I guess the traditional construction breathed well enough to let the wood dry out.

Beyond the wood being completely unfinished, there were still resaw marks in many of the planks. I guess the heavy traditional canvas coverings were quite forgiving that way. Because I am using the much lighter dacron, I have paid more attention to the fairing and sanding the planking.

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project