Peter Engelking
New Member
I picked up this canoe a few years back that I would like to restore and re-canvas. There is very little rot except at the top of the sheer line planking which is also split and splintering. The ribs, stems, decks, thwarts and in-whales are made of what looks like ash and are all in excellent condition. The front seat has a crack in one of the spreaders that was repaired about 50 years ago by the person I bought it from.
So far I have removed the canvas and started to strip the varnish from the inside surfaces.
The canoe is 16' long, has a beam of about 36". It has concave decks 11 1/2" long, generous tumblehome and the centre thwart is around 33 1/4". The serial number on the rear stem is C25847. The ribs are 1 1/2" by 3/8" and are spaced at 1 1/2". There is no evidence of a decal anywhere on the decks. All the dimensions seem to match the lower grade Deer or Pal pleasure canoes except that mine is about an inch deeper at 13 3/4". The outside of the 3" planking is very roughly finished with lots of rasp marks showing. I was thinking it might be one of the lower grade models that were sold by department stores but the extra depth of my canoe doesn't seem to match. I was hoping someone might have an idea of what this deeper canoe might be.
I was planning on ripping the new sheer line planking from a 6" x 6" piece of quarter sawn western red cedar but I have a couple of questions regarding that. The color of the new wood is a little darker that the original in the canoe so I was wondering if is wise to try to bleach the planks with one of those 2 part wood bleaching products. Also, when ripping the planks, which way is preferable to orient the the grain lines with respect to the the face of the plank?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Peter
So far I have removed the canvas and started to strip the varnish from the inside surfaces.
The canoe is 16' long, has a beam of about 36". It has concave decks 11 1/2" long, generous tumblehome and the centre thwart is around 33 1/4". The serial number on the rear stem is C25847. The ribs are 1 1/2" by 3/8" and are spaced at 1 1/2". There is no evidence of a decal anywhere on the decks. All the dimensions seem to match the lower grade Deer or Pal pleasure canoes except that mine is about an inch deeper at 13 3/4". The outside of the 3" planking is very roughly finished with lots of rasp marks showing. I was thinking it might be one of the lower grade models that were sold by department stores but the extra depth of my canoe doesn't seem to match. I was hoping someone might have an idea of what this deeper canoe might be.
I was planning on ripping the new sheer line planking from a 6" x 6" piece of quarter sawn western red cedar but I have a couple of questions regarding that. The color of the new wood is a little darker that the original in the canoe so I was wondering if is wise to try to bleach the planks with one of those 2 part wood bleaching products. Also, when ripping the planks, which way is preferable to orient the the grain lines with respect to the the face of the plank?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Peter
