An English Birchbark Canoe

[Nick Dennis]

Over the last weekend during our WCHA-UK Chapter paddle weekend I went and met a gentleman at Wargrave on the River Thames. The outcome of the meeting was that he very generously gifted to me the canoe which Henri Vailanncourt built for him in 1987. He hadn’t used it for 15 years and wishes for it to be repaired but more importantly used. The canoe was dry stored in a barn for 15 years.

I drove home with it in the rain yesterday and today gave it a thorough wash with water from our rainwater butt, The canoe had 15 years worth of dust and bird poop. Below are some photos but on my initial assessment what I can see is:

• Minor woodworm to the rails
• Some of the lashings have snapped
• A couple of ribs at either end have moved as you can see ghosting on the planking. The ribs are however tight.
• Tape and gum/sap resin at ends lifting in places
• Gum/ resin over the gores may be cracked?

What I may do is take it to the river nearby and see where it leaks. Rainwater collected in the hull last night and did not leak out. I need it to take on some moisture from the atmosphere so for the time being it has been moved to an open sided covered gazebo where it will be out of the sun and rain.

I am in contact with Henri about how to repair appropriately. Obviously here in the UK popping out to get some rendered Bear fat and split spruce roots is not easily done so we may need to find some local alternatives. This is one of a pair of Henri's canoes which we have found in the UK. Both have similar issues and hopefully we can support each other in the repair process.

I will treat the woodworm soon with some proprietary treatment so that it doesn’t get any worse. Both ben who has the other canoe and I wonder if there is a knack to get the rail caps off which are fitted over the lashings and secured with what appear to be tapered nails.

Welcome aboard for the ride as I progress this!

Nick

 

[John Sand]

Wow! What a gift! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[Nick Dennis]

Quick update.
I put the canoe in some slings under the garden gazebo where it was out of the sun but could absorb some good ol' English Autumnal moisture. Whilst it was there I treated the wood worm but will apply another dose soon as I spotted the occasional flight hole in a couple of ribs.

We were due to go to germany for a week so I put the canoe in the garage in slings with a few buckets of water beneath as the weather was still quite mild.

Today whilst Angelika was out I grabbed a "window of opportunity" and loaded the canoe and took it down to the disused mill pool at the bottom of the lane. I deliberately didn't take my pfd or a paddle otherwise I would have been too tempted too early. I need to get 15 years of dryness out of the canoe and its fabric.

I tied a painter too the thwart (not really needed as the canoe sat happily in the eddy) and put the canoe in and left it there for 15 minutes to see if there was any seepage. There was none.

So next stage, I staddled the canoe and applied nearly 300lbs of downward pressure ( I blame the steak & ale pies at the Swann Inn!) first at the centre and then over each quarter thwart in turn and sat there for a few minutes. This sight was much to the amusement of passing dog walkers! Not a fully laden test I know but still nothing came in. I then heeled the canoe over to each side and repeated. Again nothing. So,after about 1 1/2 hours knee deep in water nothing had come through. My cedar rib canoe would always seep unladed until she had "taken up" so I am encouraged by these initial but not conclusive tests on the birchbark.

Whilst in Germany where spuce is plentiful, i pulled a few roots up and examined the sap on the trees. I can get neither in eastern England so my thought is to go with 5mm rattan basket weaving lapping cane for the lashings and a smaller 3.5mm cane for some of the finer decorative work. Soaked it will be nicely piable and with the bark still on will match in quite nicely with the original.

I can buy some ready cooked pitch pine tar goo from some UK bushcraft sites and just need to add some rendered fat to reduce the amount of brittleness.

I have now put the canoe back umder the gazebo to hopefully take up some more moisture and will call henri Vaillancourt over the next couple of day to get his advice having explained the limitations of material availability here inEngland and the need to make substitutions.

Cheers,

Nick

 

[patrick corry]

What a beautiful canoe and a generous gift from the previous owner! How good of him to recognize the value in having the canoe conserved and perhaps used rather than wasting away in a barn. Perhaps someone here in the USA with access to them can send some coils of split Spruce root by mail? Once the rail caps are off I imagine you can repair the lacing once you have the materials.

 

[Nick Dennis]

What a beautiful canoe and a generous gift from the previous owner! How good of him to recognize the value in having the canoe conserved and perhaps used rather than wasting away in a barn. Perhaps someone here in the USA with access to them can send some coils of split Spruce root by mail? Once the rail caps are off I imagine you can repair the lacing once you have the materials.

Looking at the UK Gov advice the import of spruce root and any spruce derived products is prohibited. That’s why I am looking for home based alternatives.

 

[patrick corry]

the import of spruce root and any spruce derived products is prohibited.

Oh my...maybe the provider here can label the item "basket making supplies" and avoid the bureaucrats! Good luck. Please keep us informed of your progress.

 

[Nick Dennis]

I arranged and had an hour long trans-atlantic telephone chat with Henri Vaillancourt who built my canoe. Coincidentally, I am also reading John McPhee's book "The Survival of the Bark Canoe" of which henri was quite dismissive and is now writing his own version from his POV.

We had a good chat and covered a lot. The pertinent points being:

•The canoe is in excellent shape overall.
•The woodworm treatment is good.
•The broken lashings are mostly superfluous and can be glued down or replaced where accessible.
•The inside woodwork can be oiled with Tung oil.
•The wood and bark can be rubbed over with clear polyurethane to improve and give life back to the finish. That's what he does.
•A tin of tempered and colour-matched gum can be sent to me from New Hampshire to cover the stems and gores externally.
•The canoe should be kept out of sun and rain and stored in an unheated building if indoors.
•The canoe should be used but not abused.
He now uses square hand forged nails to fix the cappings and gunwales together rather than wooden pegs which he used initially. The former would shrink and loosen with use of the canoe causing the canoes to go out of shape. He confirmed that getting the cappings off without breaking them would be impossible. Beneath the cappings the bark skin is clamped and nailed between the gunwale rails so even without complete lashings, it's not going anywhere.

A good positive conversation which will enable me to move forward with the repair with far less work than I originally anticipated. Limited materials now ordered. It's raining here so moisture both in the atmosphere and our depleted rivers in Eastern England is a good thing.

 

[samb]

No need to go on a bear hunt then

 

[Nick Dennis]

No need to go on a bear hunt then

The Bears of Thetford Forest are safe………..for a while !