Loose canvas

[rowboy]

At the recommendation of Andreas Rhude, I am soliciting opinions regarding a canvas covered Thompson Take a Long rowboat. It is late 30's early 40's vintage, with original paint. The paint was checked in a pattern resembling a desert. After a session of wet sanding, narrow patterns 1/8" or less of canvas fabric is visible. While vacuuming with a remote vacuum, (lead concerns), I noticed that in some isolated areas, a slight lifting of the canvas from the wood. No bubbling or tearing of the canvas anywhere. My plan at this point is to apply the vacuum to create a slight space and inserting a hypodermic needle with spar varnish through the canvas in several places for each space. After assuring that the varnish has spread thinly and evenly, I will weight it down with a paper spacer in case the varnish oozes out. If varnish creeps into the interior, so be it, the inside will be varnished with the same spar varnish. If anyone has suggestions, they will be carefully considered, especially those relating to the drying of the varnish in such a confined space. I am using man o war spar varnish on the interior, and George Kirby vintage ivory on the exterior, at Andreas' suggestion. Thanks in advance for any viable suggestions.

 

[Gil Cramer]

The canvas was never glued to the wood so it is expected that a strong vacuum would pull the canvas away from the hull in some areas. That is not a concern. Go ahead and simply paint the exterior and varnish the interior. Keep in mind that the 60+ year old canvas has more than likely lost a fair amount of its strength.

 

[davelanthier]

If you glue the canvas to the planking you will eventually have an unsightly spot where it is fastened to the planking. The canvas moves, expands and shrinks differently than the planking.

 

[Mark Adams]

I'm going to 3rd the idea of NOT trying to glue the canvas down. You be better off spending the time recanvassing the boat. It is a beauty, and trying to save the original canvas does nothing but defer normal maintenance til such a point that you regret spending all the time initially. Also, if you have sanded the hull to the point that canvas weave is visible, the canvas is toast anyway. There is no good way of hiding weave once it shows that is permanent. Recanvas now, and let your great grandkids worry about doing it again!

 

[rowboy]

The vote is in

...And now that gluing down the canvas is an idea whose time has passed, I will pursue the idea of recanvassing when next winter makes it's appearance. Due to current space constraints, (the boat is in a 24' airstream trailer), I will concentrate on refinishing the interior, paint the exterior to allow me to put it in the water, and row around awhile to see if the boat is a "fit" for me. And even though I may not be a traditionalist in the traditional sense, the ideas of fiberglassing the hull, or motorizing the boat are out of the question. And going with the theme of, "If you don't have the time to do it right, when are you going to find the time to do it over", I will educate myself in the art of recanvassing, or the lesser art of finding someone who already knows how.
And since the question of how I got it in an Airstream trailer is bound to come up, I acquired the trailer from a person who had de-riveted the entire rear end, hinged it, stripped the entire interior and turned it into the Airstream equivalent of a military cargo plane.
Many thanks to those who responded with answers that prevented me from doing the wrong thing, and thanks also to those who merely read my post.

 

[Greg Nolan]

Nice looking boat --

Concerning its repair or restoration, you would do well to get, or at least look at, "The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance" by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok, and/or "Building the Maine Guide Canoe" by Jerry Stelmok.

The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe. These are available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon.

The construction of your boat is much the same as that of a w/c canoe, and these books will give you a very good idea of what's involved in recanvasing/refinishing such a boat.

If you are going to paint your boat to use it for a season or two, just painting over the old sanded paint and canvas will serve well enough functionally. If you wish to improve appearance a bit, with some more work, you might use one or two applications of a one-part auto body spot primer/filler/putty/fairing compound on places where you have bare canvas, to fill or mostly fill the exposed weave. Sanding smooth before painting -- this will smooth the surface considerably. Bondo, 3M, and other companies that make auto body fillers produce this stuff -- it comes in a tube, and is a thick liquid that dries fairly rapidly -- it is not the "bondo" used for filling serious dents. These links show the kind of stuff I mean:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...amilyName=Bondo+1+Part+Glazing+and+Spot+Putty

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...ndo+-+UV+Sun+Activated+Glazing+and+Spot+Putty

This kind of stuff can usually be obtained at an auto supply place -- if you go this route, get big tubes -- you will likely use more than you first expect.

And as to refinishing the interior -- I believe that most here would suggest varnishing after the old canvas is off, and before the new one goes on, at least if refinishing will involve stripping the old varnish.

 

[bredlo]

Rowboy,

I'd love to see a shot of the boat in the trailer, if you happen to take one sometime! Sadly I have an unmodified Airstream (no Lamborghini door end cap) but I had given some thought to the idea of passing our canoe through the large front window for long road trips.

However, we'll probably just stick with the roof rack on the tow vehicle.

 

[rowboy]

The photo of the boat was taken on edge inside the Airstream, rotated 90 degrees in the computer. When the boat emerges in the "spring", here in Pa, I will post a photo of that process. I have digested all the suggestions for getting the boat into action in the short run, and turning her into a showpiece in the long run. I didn't consider the ideas to be competitive, rather complementary, and I am grateful for all.