Copper Rivets?

[Dave Osborn]

I just acquired a Shell Lake Canoe #116 329. It appears to have copper rivets that attach the outwales at the decks. The last one has a rod that goes inside a dado on the underside of the deck from gunwale to gunwale. The canoe is as pristine as a Shell Lake can be, but it needs canvas. I need to remove the rivets to get the outwales off. Don't want to damage the mahogany outwales. Has anybody done this sucessfully??
Dave

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Dave,
why not centre punch them and drill the rivet until the rove will come off? Should be no trouble with as soft as the copper is. The Morris I got had the stem bands sawn off, but I'd have drilled the heads out instead.

 

[Denis M. Kallery]

I tried to locate a source of rivets and roves to replace those in our Morrises. Had no luck. Anybody know of a source?
Denis

 

[Ric Altfather]

Copper Fasteners

Denis,

Try:

www.faeringdesigninc.com

Or:

www.woodenboat.org

Ric

 

[Denis M. Kallery]

Thank - you Ric. just what I needed.
Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate it!
Denis

 

[Dave Osborn]

A second look.....

A second look at the copper rivets, and the metal rod in the dadoed underdeck shows that the rod has nuts on each end, and probably emulates the Thompson metal strap. I'm assuming that it held the inwales together while on the form. That still leaves the copper nails, or rivets and their removal. Could they be big ring nails??
Andre, the punch and drill sounds like a good avenue.

I'm kinda waiting for Dave Wermuth to chime in. According to an old post of his, he was less than happy about the darned things. I wonder why screws weren't used as in the rest of the fastenings..

Also, it seems as though Shell Lake canoes rank among the lowly bottom feeders in the world of wood/canvas canoes. I'm not sure how I developed that opinion, but this canoe appears to have been very well built. The red cedar planking is tight and quarter sawn. All trimmed in mahogany, except for white oak stems and oak seat planks.
Dave

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Ding Ding

I have 116 218. No rivets anywhere. The outwales attach to the deck with regular flat head screw. The rod with the washers/nuts and the dado are not a problem. It's possible the threaded rod held the inwales to the inwale backer of the form but I don't think they went on until after the canoe came off the form. I have no way to back this, but I think the threaded rod went on to hold the ends together to make installing the decks easier. The problem i had was with the long galvanized box nails. they are both tenaciously stuck and attract rot. The nails are longish. they go through plank and rib and into the inwale. They also go through just the rib tops into inwale. They also went through inwale and into the decks. Because they are galvanized they do not like to come out. Maybe this is what you have?

Dave, if you are not far from Washburn Co Historical society you could go look in the book and see when your canoe was shipped, its price, and who it shipped to. If it's too far, contact Rod Ripley there. Nice man. He sent me a copy of the record that shows my canoe.

I like the shape of the canoe. The quarters are hollow, as are the gunwales in the quarter. The shear is not too flat and not too highly curved. I had some planking that was not that high quality. What was the worst was the nails and the 'glass resin remnants. But without the 'glass I imagine the canoe would have been landfill fodder years ago.

I would think Shell Lake overall quality is below Old Town but better than Chestnut. For thise that know, am I right?