1935 CS Guide Canoe

[Larry S]

I'm restoring a 1935 18' Old Town CS Guide's Model canoe. Sometime in the past, (I'm thinking 40 or 50 years ago, the boat was fiberglassed. The fiberglass finish is a professional quality job. Whoever did it knew what they were doing. They used a light weight cloth with only enough resin to saturate the cloth. I think the boat is lighter than if it had been canvassed.

I know how the board feels about fiberglass on a wood/canvas canoe, BUT, I'm thinking about leaving it in place. My concerns are (1) removing the glass - Will it tear up the planking? and (2) I've never re-canvassed a boat and I'm not sure I can do a good job.

The glass question was the main reason for the post. I also have another question - What kind of wood are the seats? I need to make two rails for the rear seat.

Larry S

 

[pklonowski]

If you post pictures of the existing seat parts, people can make better guesses as to what wood they are.

If the fiberglass job is really that old, it's probably polyester resin, rather than epoxy, which is supposed to come of more easily than epoxy. Hopefully someone with more experience than I will chime in here.

 

[Steve Ambrose]

Probably oak or ash. Post the serial number to get the build record, it might have the species noted. Poly resin glass should come off fairly nicely with a heat gun, the kind sold in most paint departments. Depending on the condition of planking, some wood may come off with the glass but the heat gun with a stiff putty knife or scraper should help free the glass if you decide to go that route.

 

[Larry S]

OK . . .OK . . . I hear you. The lack of a response to my post told me what I already knew - fiberglass has no place on a wood/canvas canoe. The plan is to strip the boat down to bare wood - inside and out.

I have already started stripping the inside - removing 77 years of varnish is not easy. In some places, it is a quarter inch thick, and everywhere smooth as a cobble stone street.

The boat is in remarkably good condition for its age. It has four broken ribs, and mushy planking in the area of the broken ribs. Other than that, it's good.

I want to do this right so the boat lasts another 77 years. I'm sure I will have many more questions in the future. I had some information wrong in the original post. It is not a CS (Common Sense) it is a GS (Guide Special). Spruce gunwales - ash decks, thwarts, seats and keel.

Thanks.

Larry S