Canvassing

[Dave Wermuth]

Canvassing can be intimidating until it's done once, then it ain't so bad, right? ONly recently I began to think about the way canvas is done and in my understanding, there was the:
1. upside down with come along
2. right side up with come along
3. the way Joe Seliga did it with the come along and clothes pin.
4. the upside down with no come along as demonstrated many times by Gil Cramer

So, one night I thought, why not use Gil's method and then turn the canoe right side up once the temporary staples have been put in the stems. I tried it recently and it was a success. I used heavy weight dacron I got from Gil. It is more difficult to apply than standard canvas in my opinion. I first layed out the material and squared it up. I stapled one end just around the curve of the stem and put three staples in. I pulled the other end as tight as I could by hand with my knee braced against the stem and put three staples in that end, around the curve of the stem just a bit. From that I turned the canoe right side up in the cradles and fastened as usual alternating from one side to the other, doing about three ribs at a time. Closing up the ends was as usual, which for me is to leave about two feet or so unstapled along the gunnel until the stem is fastened. Stretching the last two feet as the final step allows me to pull the material into the hollow of the canoe, if there is one, and there usually is. That way there is no trampoline of canvas in that area.

I found that I saved about half an hour of set up time and my body did not suffer the next day from all the squatting and getting up and down. Here are some photos that may help.

 

[Howie]

I was just talking with a fella on the phone the other day about using Dacron instead of canvas. He had never done it himself - he just owns a Dacron'd canoe - but he thought highly of it. I've never used it myself. Got 2 questions for ya:
1) I assume Dacron doesn't stretch very well. But even if it does you must have to deal with wrinkles. The guy I talked with suggested using a hair drier on medium heat to get rid of wrinkles. Really? Were wrinkles a problem for you? What technique did you use to get rid of 'em?
2) I guess I'm too sloppy a canvas'er because I find that I need to pull out and reposition a lot of staples before I'm happy with the wrinkle situation. The holes left over from repositioning staples aren't a problem with canvas - you just mud them out. But you can't do that with Dacron - seems to me you have to be extremely careful where you staple. Am I far wrong?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

It's super heavy duty dacron. It's not the thin type that saves weight. Pulled staples are no problem. I pull a few and restapled. But this is a 16' canoe so it's not as difficult as a shorter one. For any difficult puckers or wrinkles, (I wouldn't call them wrinkles really) I use an iron set to cotton. The material shrinks rigtht up. I thnk a hair dryer would do a similar job. A heat gun would probably be a disaster.
Dacron doesn't stretch as easy as canvas. Wrinkles are not prob and staple holes arent' either for this heavy stuff.

 

[Jan Bloom]

Dave, what sort of filler did you use for the Dacron?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

I've been using exterior latex primer/sealer. Sherwin-Williams has what they call ProBlock. It seems to work for me. I've tried a little latex spackle mixed in to help fill the weave. I'm going to try mixing a bit more next time. Maybe as much as two parts problock to one part spackle.

 

[Jan Bloom]

Have you tried that latex filler with canvas as well?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Yes. I'm happy with it. It dries quickly.

 

[Jan Bloom]

Should be lighter than a silex paint mix then. Any tricks in application?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

I don't know that it is any lighter. My last 16' canoe weighs 59#. No trick to application. I brush it in good. I usually can do a couple coats, one right after the other. The next day I sand and two more coats and the next day sand and more coats. Mix in spackle for the top coats. Once a gallon is gone I sand and switch to primer oil base. Then let it set two days and sand and paint. But I'll warn you, I'm no Pam Wedd. Kirby primer is my favorite, by far.

 

[Jan Bloom]

I have not seen anyone that can roll paint on the way Pam can so don't feel bad. 59lbs for a 16 ft canoe sound pretty good to me considering that there are a lot of 50lbrs at 15 ft that weigh close to that. I think I will try this the next time which will hopefully be soon.