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Restoring old canvas canoes

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Anyone out there ever restore a canvas canoe? I did 2 in my last year of highschool. First, I would remove the gunalls(think that's how you spell it) and keel. Then remove the old canvas to expose the woodwork. I would replace any of the cedar strips that were cracked or rotten. Then a good 4-5 coats of varnish on the inside of the canoe to seal the wood.

Next would come the new canvas. To do this, we would hang 17-18ft of canvas from one wall in the shop to the other and place the canoe inside of it.(same principal as laying in a frameless hammock) Then we would give the canvas 2-3 coats of a sealer that would stretch the canvas and make it form to the shape of the canoe. Once it dried up and cured for a week or so, we tacked the canvas to the canoe all along the gunall edges from front to back making sure it was perfectly tight with no wrinkles. The excess canvas overhanging past the point where we tacked it would be trimmed flush.

After that, we would untie the canoe from the walls it was hanging from and flip it upside down on saw horses. Then came the bow and stern of the canoe. We would tack the canvas to the ends triming off any excess. At this point, the canoe was starting to take shape. The canvas was all firmed up from the sealer and ready to start painting.

Painting a canvas canoe to a smooth finish is a long tedious procress taking weeks. I would apply 4-5 coats of marine paint with a brush letting it dry completely between coats. Once the 5th coat was dry, there started to be a base on the canvas that was ready for a sanding to smooth it out. After a good sanding, came another coat of paint, then a sanding, then paint, then more sanding, then more paint.......................enough times till I got a nice smooth finish.

After painting was completed, I would reattach the gunwalls to the edge of the canoe after sanding and varnishing them. Then, the keel would get reattached by running a bead of silicone down where the keel would sit, the running screws through from the inside bottom of the canoe. The screws had to be long enough to go right through the keel. I would grind them off smooth and and apply more silicone to seal up the keel completely.

The last step would be reinstalling the brass caps at the bow and stern of the canoe. Once the strips were reinstalled, more silicone would seal them up to prevent leaking.

And voila! All set for the water once again.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Very interesting. I have never even seen a canvas canoe.
Do you have any pictures of the process by chance do you?
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I've got a short history of racing canoes, held a records in college for 3 years until Dargo beat my best times. Never looked into the old canoes, but I'd love to have a wood sided, bright finish canoe.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I wish I would have taken pictures. When the canvas is removed on one of these older canoes, you'd think it's almost impossible for that thing to ever float again. Replacing the old cracked woodwork is the part I hated. It requires two people. I was elected to be the guy underneath the canoe holding a steel block against the ribs wherever the other guy nailed. You do this as you have to use brass nails to nail the cedar strips to the ribs and the nails poke through the ribs a bit so someone has to hold the block against the ribs so when the nails hit the block, they smooth out and don't leave a spur for you to hook yourself on. When the guy doing the nailing on the outside nails it, I would get covered in dirt and mud that has been stuck in the cracks of the caone for over 30 years. It's allot of work but something I would like to do again if given the chance.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Okay, I jsut found these pictures on the net that give some examples of the work I'm trying to describe.

doing some woodwork repacling the cedar strips
canoe5.jpg


canvas already stretched onto the canoe waiting to be trimmed
canoe2.jpg


the finished product
canoe4.jpg


me sitting in a canvas canoe
outers1.jpg
 

cj7

New member
A good friend of mine just had his done. Some helpful canoe owners helped him out...

found them on the internet..of all places.
 
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