Canvas paint and outer gunwales

[IthacaBill]

Any suggestions on what to use (and where to get it) for painting a canoe? Do I need a primer over canvas filler? How many coats should I do? Does anyone have a good source for ash (or cherry) gunwale stock?
Thanks,
Bill

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Hi Bill, I am just a hobby builder of only a few canoes. So with that disclaimer here goes. You can use any paint you want. Brushed or sprayed. My preference without question is Kirby's paint. No primer. Rub the filler as smooth as possible when you apply it. Sand it. Paint it, Sand it. repeat til desired effect. I sand most of the first coat off. Alot of the second coat off. Third coat is not bad. Four coats should be quite good. One thing about these various decisions I have learned, is that the builder is the creator and can do it any way he wants. BUT. the tried and true traditional methods are best. I was privaleged to visit Horace Strong over the Labor Day Holiday at his shop. He had one Grand Laker that had an awesome finish on it. He also had a very fine, very old canoe that had a finish that was like sandpaper. The builder experimented with a filler as I recall. Now this was an old and very nice canoe that I'd have been proud of. Just a bit textured is all. Having said all that, here's another suggestion. Check out the builder's catalogues. Their web pages are full of great tips from filling to painting and more.
Regards, Dave.

 

[Andy Hutyera]

Bill,

I'd vote for Kirby without primer as well although I'm sure there are other fine paints out there. Before the site crash there was a really good thread about painting. Primer was one of the issues discussed. On my last canoe I used Kirby primer and found that after the canoe got wet small blisters appeared. They mostly dry up an shrink, but a few break. Belatedly I checked the thread and found that others had had the same experience. They found that by not using a primer, the blisters did not show up. Needless to say my next paint job will be as Dave suggests, essentially using the paint as a primer and sanding between coats.

One other suggestition: add some Penetrol to the paint. It makes it much easier to brush out a thin coat and avoid runs.

 

[ebeeby]

Ditto Kirby's. I used Bottle Green.

You will need some Penetrol to cut the paint.

Plan on lots of sanding as the filler orange peel shows very nicely with the paint on.