Newbie here in Charleston, South Carolina

lowcountrylarry

New Member
Hello All,
New guy here in the Charleston, SC area. I recently bought a wood and canvas canoe in need of restoration. She had been left on the ground and suffered rot on inner and outer stems, gunwales, transom, and a bit of the planking. I have some (very) amateur woodworking skills, but certainly no experience with canvas canoes. Looking for wood & canvas canoe folks in my area or region for advice and encouragement. Is there a way to search the memberlist by location?

Thanks,
Larry
 
Is there a way to search the memberlist by location?

Yes, the page at http://forums.wcha.org/memberlist.php?do=search will let you search the members of this forum by location (assuming that they have shared this information). The actual membership list is not generally available due to privacy concerns. The chapter list at http://www.wcha.org/local-area-chapters/ includes a Southeast Chapter although it is based in Florida. The list of builders and restorers at http://www.wcha.org/buildsupply/ includes Tom MacKenzie at http://www.wcha.org/buildsupply/sc.php in South Carolina. Your best option may be to get some books from the store at http://store.wcha.org/Books/ and search this forum because most restoration problems have been discussed here at one time. Eric Beeby's pictures of his restoration at http://www.wcha.org/Beeby-canoe/intro.html document this process well. Feel free to post some pictures and your questions if you have an issue that hasn't been discussed before. Welcome,

Benson
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Benson. A search of South Carolina members found very few, but the links are quite helpful. I have been in contact with Rollin Thurlow, the builder of of my boat. He very generously offered to advise me on the condition of the Kingfisher, and also directed me to this site. With these resources available, I feel pretty confident that the Kingfisher will see the water again, and (hopefully) in fine fashion.

I am a wooden boat lover and novice woodworker, who is fortunate enought to have good friends that are accomplished wooden boat builders. The Kingfisher came to me through this bunch. Born and raised in West Virginia, canoes were part of my upbringing. Beautiful wood & canvas canoes were treasures to be revered. When fate brought the Kingfisher my way, I could not resist.

Brought the boat home yesterday, and tried to clean the mud, sand, grime out of her today after work. In the process, I found a broken/cracked rib that I had not noticed during my first look at the boat (love IS blind, you know...) and found 2 cracked/broken half ribs as well. There is a fair amount of rot in the ends of the boat, and several pieces will have to be repaired or replaced. With the resources and encouragement I have already found, I think a decent restoration is within my reach.

Here are a few pics of the boat from today:

HPIM2967.jpgHPIM2973.jpgHPIM2971.jpg inner stem rot.jpgstem port 1.jpg

Looking forward to the days to come.

Larry
 

Attachments

  • HPIM2970.jpg
    HPIM2970.jpg
    492.1 KB · Views: 433
Last edited:
Back
Top