my current project

[Dave Wermuth]

I decided to work on the 17' HW from 1935. Having done in the neighborhood of 40 or so restorations from mild to derelict this is the first sponson canoe, with the exception of my very first canoe. That one I still have and is a 1926 HW. My plan was to keep the sponsons but the tumblehome looks so nice I think I may leave them off. The '35 HW had the original canvas still. The ends, especially the bow was repaired but needs a proper job this time around. This canoe has the inwale reinforcing screws at the thwarts. I've also discovered cup washers under the deck screws. I've not seen that before. It makes me think back to the men building this thing in the factory all those years ago. I scrubbed the interior grime with tsp and the finish looks like deck stain. I have yet to try any stripper on it to see if I can get that stuff removed. I wonder how that is going to unfold. I have yet to discover a single cracked rib and that is a surprise to me.

 

[Todd F]

Dave, will be very interested in photos and insight from this restoration. I have almost the exact canoe next to me in the living room, waiting on the workshop to be complete! Mine has the mahogany tops on the sponsons so I will be keeping them on.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

piecing parts back..I did a bird beak for the stem on this end.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Taking advantage of the warm weather I started to try to strip the deck stain interior finish. Deck stain. This is the first time to deal with deck stain. And it's a pain.. I'm now on my second gallon. This is what was left after the first gallon.

 

[frankdavies]

Five years ago I stained my deck, starting with Behr Semi-Transparent stain on the flooring and stairs, but changed to Defy Extreme Semi-Transparent for the spindles and most of the railings. (The Behr was more like a heavy coating, which I didn't like, so I just finished the
horizontal surfaces with it, since I had already started. I should have backed out earlier, but that's water over the dam.) The Defy is a very nice penetrating stain. I've stripped about 1/3 of the Behr stained surfaces using Restore-A-Deck stripper also using the booster and gel additives. I'm preparing the stripper per instructions, waiting the prescribed amount of time to let it work, scrubbing with a deck brush, and then using my pressure washer rated at 1,600 PSI. It's taking 2-3 applications of stripper to get most of the stain off, VERY labor intensive with all the scrubbing, and still leaving some stubborn patches of stain remaining. I'll need to sand these before re-staining. About 2/3 of the Behr stained areas remains to be done.
QUESTION: For the rest of the flooring with the Behr stain, would you recommend sanding first (e.g. with a rented orbital deck sander) or continue with my current process, getting most of the stain off first with the chemical stripper and then sanding any remaining areas.
The Behr is a bear to get off! Thanks!

 

[frankdavies]

Will appreciate getting your take on it.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Sanding was fruitless for my initial tests. Chemical strippers are working,but it's not easy. About the same as multiple layers of paint. But the stain was put on over worn varnish. If there was a remnant of varnish the result was good but much of it was stain on bare wood where the varnish wore off.

 

[Todd F]

Dave, what stripper(s) are you using?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Home depot. I started with the most expensive 15 minute stuff , I think ready strip. Then I switched to citristrip I let the first go half hour. I let the citristrip go overnight. The deadly stuff is no longer available. (Methyl ethyl deathel.) generally I just get off the shelf.

 

[Todd F]

Thanks. Got both ready strip and citristrip to compare. Happier with citristrip at this point.