Help! What is under my canvas?

[floydvoid]

I have a 1948 OTCA that I am currently working on. It appears that someone in the past attempted to restore it but was not familiar with canoe building.

In taking the canvas off, which is not original, I discovered a white powdery layer underneath, it almost looks like stuff you would spread under tile work or under linoleum flooring. In the pictures you can see the lines in the substance that look like it was spread with a trowel.

I peeled the canvas and got it into a trash bag , and wore my respirator.

I got some 3m lead test sticks and tested it in three places- they turned a rusty color which I believe means lead.

Is this someone's attempt at leveling the hull with some kind of compound? Did people use some kind of lead based compound in boat building like this? Am I just getting a false positive and picking up lead from the original canvas filler thats long since gone?

The person that redid the boat had some knowledge- they scarfed ribs in the mid section from center to starboard gunwale, about 7 , then put a "keel-son" in the middle to support the fact that the ribs are not cedar and don't really hold the proper shape.

Anyone know of a place I can send a powder to ?

Wash the hull? Neutralize?

 

[floydvoid]

Ok, in case anyone is following along.
My plan: I bought Ledizolv lead dust cleaner. This is supposed to chemically react with the lead to make it inert or less harmful, TSP is supposed to do something similar to lead but less effectively and TSP has some impact on the environment as well.
-Make plastic sheeting tub in the driveway
-wash boat down with the ledizolv and rinse, maybe repeat
-let boat dry, soak up water with shop vac and throw away plastic
-Paint a thin varnish coat over the hull after it dries to keep any remanning dust down

THEN : Perform structural repairs, 7 ribs in the middle and a section of planks, bow planks and last cant rib.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

lots of surprises can show up under that canvas. WE've yet to see it all. Imagine all those guys doing the best they can with no resources but the guy at the hardware store.