My girlfriend and I are about to try and give a new lease of life to a old canoe. Its not in the best of shape, having had a few coats of rather inexpertly applied varnish over the years. There are some pics of it here:
http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/fredster_photo/janes canoe/
Our plan is to sand it back to bare wood but then what? It has a couple of holes than need filling - they're enough to half fill the boat in 30 mins or so of going on the water. Would it be better to oil or varnish this boat? If anyone has any tips I'd much appreciate them. I'm assuming these boats left the factory with a varnished outer, is this correct? My girlfriend is of the opinion that boats of this age and type are supposed to leak slightly until they have been left in the water to 'take up'. Is this true?
Its sat in a garage for a decade or two so wood is a bit on the dry side, but to my inexperienced eye there's no rot. As pics show it has at some point in its life been coated on the inner surface with a coat of something like tar. This isn't sticky and whilst not as appealing as wood its my guess is its not causing any obvious problems. My main concern is to get this boat in a useable condition. Due to its leaky state its languished in a garage for a good twenty years, but I'm of the opinion that things of beauty such as this should be used, not just looked at once in a while.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
fred
http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/fredster_photo/janes canoe/
Our plan is to sand it back to bare wood but then what? It has a couple of holes than need filling - they're enough to half fill the boat in 30 mins or so of going on the water. Would it be better to oil or varnish this boat? If anyone has any tips I'd much appreciate them. I'm assuming these boats left the factory with a varnished outer, is this correct? My girlfriend is of the opinion that boats of this age and type are supposed to leak slightly until they have been left in the water to 'take up'. Is this true?
Its sat in a garage for a decade or two so wood is a bit on the dry side, but to my inexperienced eye there's no rot. As pics show it has at some point in its life been coated on the inner surface with a coat of something like tar. This isn't sticky and whilst not as appealing as wood its my guess is its not causing any obvious problems. My main concern is to get this boat in a useable condition. Due to its leaky state its languished in a garage for a good twenty years, but I'm of the opinion that things of beauty such as this should be used, not just looked at once in a while.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
fred
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