JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
I have been working on a 1960 Old Town that was the victim of accidental damage. The prior owner had taken the canoe out of his garage and placed it on sawhorses while he was doing something else inside. The wind blew the canoe off the horses and it rolled downhill into a stonewall. The side of the canoe was stove in, two other holes punched through it and the bow stem area damaged. The owner was so upset he just put it away where it sat for several years before I bought it. In addition to four broken ribs that I replaced and four backside rib repairs with associated planking that I fixed the bow stem was bent and no longer straight. It was not broken. My problem was how to fix the stem and make it plumb again. The obvious solution would be to cut it off and scarf in a new piece. I elected to try to straighten it out again. I wrapped it in cloth and soaked it with boiling water and clamped it straight again. That was not entirely successful. What did work was the following. I glued on a piece of wood on the concave side, cut on a curve to follow the stem, that was tapered top and bottom to increase the width of the stem in the area that was bent. I then was able to file off the convex side to move the centerline to make it straight again. The last picture has some blue painters tape on the stem to make it easier to se. Maybe there was an easier solution but it seemed to work.
Jim
Jim
