First time cedar strip Refurb.

walshy

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Fairly avid paddler, traditionally have been using an old aluminum that got the job done for me, however near the end of last summer I noticed a cedar strip for sale on the classifieds here at work. One of the Doctors at the hospital was selling an old cedar strip, in much need of some TLC, for a very reasonable price. After a few emails I was sold. Made the 5 hour round trip to pick it up within the week. Despite appearances it was still very much water worthy and I did get to enjoy it a good number of times last season as is. The craft was huge compared to the old aluminum we were using before, and incredibly steady on the water (a must as my finance and I almost always bring the dog out on the water who just loves it).

Now the canoe has been in storage in the barn back home for the winter, and looking ahead to spring I'm finally ready to take some action. As mentioned before, there are no ribs which makes this project a little easier. The entire thing does have a fiberglass coating (inside and out, as I've heard that surfacing only one side poses issues) but it will definitely need all new gunwales and to replace at least one seat. I am not a wood worker by any means at all, though at the same time not my first time with tools either. Looking at the project ahead, from what I can see I'll be stretching my knowledge but not completely over my head. Pictures of the canoe as were sent to me before purchase here.

After calling a local dealer (trail head for anyone near Ottawa) I will likely have to wait until May or so before I can get my hands on a new set of gunwales for replacement, as well as the seat. In the meantime I plan to set up shop in the next few weeks and make a brace to store the canoe on, remove the gunwales and broken seat, and look at sanding down the body. This brings me to my first question, What options are available to me when looking to refinish the body of the canoe? As seen in the pics attached, some of the pain and look etc of the body is pretty patchy. Ideally you would like to sand down and re stain/varnish the wood, but with a fiberglass coating this is out of the question. I care more about function than style, but hey if you can get it style is always good right? Any tips, advice etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!!!

Evan
 

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From your pictures looks like you have some good wood there with the exception of the outer gunwales. Is it fiber glassed?, assuming most strip buillts are, if so the glass appears to be in nice shape, either way with some careful sanding and some good grade varnish you should end up with a beautiful canoe.
 
Thanks Woodpile,

No the gunwales are not glassed, while the rest of boat is. Doesnt look like the gunwales were treated at all, and I know from the seller that the owner the generation before him just stored the boat downside directly in the snow outside over the winter. This has caused some decent rot in both the bow and stern where the boat was allowed to soak in the spring thaw, but it doesnt seem to of penetrated more than an inch. I'm thinking a full replacement of the gunwales plus some darker pain to these to contrast the body would do the trick.

Being completely new to wood working as I mentioned, I've got a very true beginner question. When were looking to varnish the body over fiberglass is there anything specific to be looking for? A specific grade/brand of varnish to recommend?

Thanks for the help, and the quick reply. The canoe bug has bit partly inspired by a cousin who actually was curator of a local canoe/paddle museum. I get some tips here and there from him, but with some brand new kids his advice is a little few and far between these days :p
 
Replacing gunwales, seats and other trim is pretty easy and seldom a problem. What makes (or very often breaks) the task of restoring an old stripper is what kind of shape the glass layers are in. Fractures, delaminated spots and places where water has gotten in and discolored the wood under the fiberglass are not at all easy to fix and are very often impossible to hide. It makes most of these old strippers picked up at a bargain price (or even for free) very questionable projects from a labor and money invested standpoint. With the application of enough money, time, and maybe even paint, they can probably be made usable again, but being made beautiful again is on a whole different level. It's often not much more work to start from scratch and build a new boat that's clean and properly constructed.

The photos don't show the condition well enough to be able to tell what sort of condition the hull is in. One hint though, is that most folks would never leave a nice stripper in good condition out in the weather to deteriorate. The UV alone can ruin it, not to mention water damage. Probably not what you want to hear, but that's just the way it is. Unlike wood/canvas boats which can often be restored piece by piece if needed, unless they are really clean and in good condition, used strippers are usually not worth buying.
 
Thanks Todd,

For the most part the glass was laid down well. Functionally, it is excellent. No issues like leaking or fractures. The main thing I'm trying to fix can be seen in Picture 1 above, where you see a large discoloration from, what I can only assume is extra glass sheets laid down in one area and not another. Looks like the original builder may have also ran our of stain or varnish etc in this area. You can also see around the bottom of the boat the glass was laid on a little extra thick and haphazardly. Plan is to sand this down a bit to remove some of the extra bumps etc, and if I could put on a few layers of varnish to kind of mask the color difference I would be more than happy. A new gunwale with a nice dark stain would help take the eye away from this.

Overall this will be a guinea pig for me. Perfection is not going to be the name of the game. Rather something to get my feet wet, gain a little bit of experience, and learn a bit to hopefully take on a bigger project with a nicer true cedar strip canoe in the future.

I will take much better quality pictures with my own DSLR when I am home in a few weeks. Once I strip off the rotten gunwales etc I'm sure I will find a few other areas I have some quick questions about. All of the help is very much appreciated!
 
You need ultra-violet ray protection -- multiple coats of a good marine vanish such as Epifanes or Petit's Captain or Flagship varnish over exposed epoxy will do the job. Varnish has a bit of color, but variations in color will usually be quite apparent through coats of varnish. Stains may be added to the varnish itself, but doing so will darken the finish and may not hide color variations, and stained varnish creates itos own color variations when it chips away in the ordinary wear and tear a canoe receives.

Paint will also give you UV protection, and may be the way to solve aesthetic issues that remain after (or arise from) your sanding. If the discoloration apparent in your first photo is under the fiberglass, painting the hull exterior may be your only solution.
 
If that canoe is built with poly resin, which many older ones were, (and my guess it is from the colour) then no amount of varnish will make it look new again. Take a scraper tool and scrape off a shaving and you will be able to smell the poly resin. On the end, I would venture to say that it delaminated due to water ingress and someone patched the end with new glass, hence the difference in colour.

Wet sand the hull, clean with water and when wet, that is what it will look like with varnish. Or strip off all the old glass with a heat gun and start all over, but as Todd says, would be better to start from new. I just did one that meant a lot to the owners and it took 10 hours just to strip and then $ to redo
 
What about canvasing? There's nothing too beautiful about the wood as I've mentioned, so no harm in putting a canvase over it to try to breath life into it. Is this a big no on something thats already been fiber glassed?
 
Sounds like a great candidate for a coat of paint outside, and inside, if necessary. It would be like canvas without the cost, extra weight, and effort.

Bob
 
Thanks Bob, that is probably my best option.

Like I posted originally this will be a boat to "play with" as I try my hand at refurbishing. I guess I need to check myself before over reaching and jumping into projects that dont even need to happen to fix this boat up.
 
Paint it. There is nothing there to hook the canvas to, and the force would most likely break the hull, which is going to be pretty floppy with the gunwales removed (not to mention the substantial weight increase it would cause).
 
Just painting it is probably your best solution. Covering with canvas (or any other material) will do nothing except adding needless weight. A quart of good porch and deck paint or marine enamel will easily give you a couple-3 coats of paint. Pay attention to surface preparation -- at a minimum. wash thoroughly and then sand (100 or 120 grit) so the surface has some tooth to hold the new paint.

If keeping the gunwales natural, as most people do, give them and seats and any other trim a few coats of a good marine varnish for UV protection. And if you are so inclined, try a bit of decorative painting -- a simple stripe parallel to the sheer, for example, is very little work and gives your canoe a bit of extra visual interest -- you need not do anything complex.
 
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Thanks Greg,

I like this idea. We are planning our wedding for Sept 2016, and the plan is to use the canoe as a decorative cooler for Ice and beer (with a plastic liner of course). I like the idea of adding a little extra decal to it, giving it a bit more of a sharp appearance and something that we can keep forever.

Thanks to all for your help. Will be sure to follow up with some pictures of the finished product.
 
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