Rich Jones
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hello, this is my first time on this forum. Should have joined years ago. The WoodenBoat Forum is my usual home. I've got a garage full of Rushton glued-lapstrake canoes I've built over the years, but now have a question about something that's out of my experience.
I met a guy today with an old canoe in his barn. He bought it back in the 1960's for $50 at a garage sale. He thinks it's an Old Town and it's been hanging in his garage for years. It was high in the rafters, surrounded by other junk and not very visible. From what I could see, it's strip-planked over closely spaced ribs. Looks to be in good shape. The problem is that someone covered it with fiberglass/polyester back before this guy bought it and now he wants to remove it. How can this be done without destroying the boat? Sometimes, that stuff peels right off, sometimes not. With such a fragile, lightly built boat, what's the best method of removal?
Anyone have any idea how old this canoe could be? I haven't seen too many strip-plank/ribbed canoes, so I'm thinking it's pretty old.
Thanks for any advice.
I met a guy today with an old canoe in his barn. He bought it back in the 1960's for $50 at a garage sale. He thinks it's an Old Town and it's been hanging in his garage for years. It was high in the rafters, surrounded by other junk and not very visible. From what I could see, it's strip-planked over closely spaced ribs. Looks to be in good shape. The problem is that someone covered it with fiberglass/polyester back before this guy bought it and now he wants to remove it. How can this be done without destroying the boat? Sometimes, that stuff peels right off, sometimes not. With such a fragile, lightly built boat, what's the best method of removal?
Anyone have any idea how old this canoe could be? I haven't seen too many strip-plank/ribbed canoes, so I'm thinking it's pretty old.
Thanks for any advice.