Guess I messed up ...help !

Nessmuck

Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
So I busted my butt and sanded and put 4 coats of Ephines on the inside of my 16 foot Old town OCTA....per the instructions. It sat out side for a Couple weeks to really cure. And it looked awesome. Fast forward to a vacation on a lake ....and using the canoe was a dream. A big rain / wind storm was coming....and I was not at camp for 2-3 days....so my nephews moved my canoe out of harms way. But being a wooden canoe Nubie...I did not tell them to tip it over....I didn’t give it a second thought. Well ...it filled up with water ....and it might have been maybe 36 hours or a touch more,before the water was emptied out. And to my surprise....a lot of the varnish on the bottom is now blistered. So I assume this is normal ?.....and a lesson learned? Thanks Ness
 
That's a grade A bummer. Even at a few weeks the varnish was still pretty fresh. What probably ruined it was water the was absorbed into the hull from under the canvas. There's not a lot you can do other than to embrace the suck and repair the damage. The first step is to get the hull dried out. You'll need to get rid of the bubbles by sanding them down. Then you can re-varnish. You probably won't be able to get the same nice finish that you had before the flood but it will still be serviceable.
 
Yup.....unsealed backside of planks and ribs absorbed water and popped the varnish. Sand 'til smooth and re-varnish. Like MGC said, make sure wood is completely dry first.
 
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Bad luck. I bet you'll come out ok though, once it's all done and you've used it for a month or two your thoughts will be elsewhere:)
 
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