Canvas to Fiberglass

[W. Wittig]

I was gifted with an Old Town wooden Canoe that had its canvas stripped from it. I recovered it with fiberglass and painted it with marine paint. How, if at all, does switching to fiberglass affect the sale price?

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Yes, drops it like a rock.

 

[Michael Grace]

Agreed.

 

[Dave Osborn]

It also prevents you from making proper repairs in the future.

 

[MGC]

And glass totally ruins the "feel" when you paddle it. There is a very distinctive way that a glassed hull responds to the paddle and also to the water conditions. An old Veazie I once acquired was used by the same woman for over 70 years. She began paddling when she was in her teens (in the teens). In the late 50's, some helpful family members replaced the failed canvas with fiberglass. She wrote in her journal about how the glass had ruined the joy of paddling the canoe. It made the hull hard and added to bounce and chop on the lake she paddled it on. It made it noisy and changed how it felt when she paddled it. It also made it very heavy. The once elegant canoe was transformed into a beast.
This link should help you get a feel for the affect that glass on a wood hull has on the valuation.
https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/57/
For me, unless the canoe is rare, historic and one I do not already own, I walk away.
Removing glass is not fun and if modern materials and resins have been used, not easily done.

 

[John Sand]

There are many glass on wood canoes, I believe Old Town built some. I think that the market for wood canoes is limited, and many prefer traditional wood canvas. In recent years fiberglass covered wc style canoes have been built and sold by Great Canadian and American Trader, among others. I bought an old wood canvas canoe that had been saved by stripping and glassing. I paid $1000 for it in excellent condition. It's valuable to me because it's light, 50# at 15'.

 

[MGC]

Something to keep in mind that is often overlooked, most canoes that have been purpose built to be fiberglassed (including the noted Old Towns) differ in construction from canoes that are intended to be canvased. In part to save weight and to provide some degree of flexibility, they are generally planked with thinner wood. This is also a reason why these hulls are not suitable for stripping and canvasing.