Lightweight substitute for canvas?

[garypete]

I'm restoring a 16' x 39" x 15"-deep Rehbein canoe that originally came with fiberglass/polyester resin and weighed in at about 90 lb. The fiberglass is now gone, the wood is in good shape after some repairs, it's down to about 60 lb and I'm set for canvas–or some substitute covering.

Regular canvas, filler, and paint will put the canoe back into the unacceptable weight range. For all the reasons we all know, fiberglass-epoxy is not an option. What else is feasible that's lightweight?

The canoe will only be used for lake fishing with a 2 hp OMC outboard on the removable motor-mount board. Rocky rivers are out, so the covering need not be very robust or abrasion resistant.

I'd appreciate any ideas on coverings that you may have had good results with.

Gary

When people finally figure out what's important in Life, there's gonna be a run on good canoes.

 

[pklonowski]

Search these forums for "Dacron." As with anything, there are pros and cons, but the canoe will weigh less than if you use canvas.

 

[HEBlumer]

I have used heat shrink Dacron on 5 canoe restorations and love it. I simply don't have the room in my shop for the stretching equipment and operation to use canvas and was forced to find an alternative.. An article by Alex Comb of Stewart River Boat Works published in the WCHA magazine several years ago convinced me to give it a try. It is put on with heat sensitive glue at the same places staples or nails are used with canvas.. You lay the material on the canoe bottom, heat the edges with a household laundry room iron where the glue has been applied which makes the material stick... then you simply apply the iron lightly over the entire surface till it shrinks and fits tightly with no wrinkles... You paint on a water based filler material which contains an aluminum pigment to prevent UV damage to the Dacron, and then do your finish painting... water based primer and whatever finish paint you want to use. The dacron does not rot. Water seeps between the covering and the planking on all these wood canvas canoes and is perpetually wet causing canvas to rot from the inside out. The Dacron is as strong or stronger than canvas... Your exterior planking surface must be meticulously smoothed before applying the Dacron as even the slightest bumps show through the very thin cloth... As with canvas the Dacron floats on top of the wood, is easily repairable and allows the canoe to flex in the same way that canvas does. Do some searching for Comb's article.. Wish you luck. Harold