Eric-in-pa
New Member
Hello everyone. I picked this up today locally. Th owner had it hanging in his garage for 20yrs, his late father was a canoe collector, and owned but likely never used this boat for at least another 20yrs. All I know from the seller is that it was always stored indoors, and the condition likely confirms that. The interior is impressively clean. There are no soft spots in the planks, and all ribs appear solid. The rib tips also look very good, with only a couple showing a slight split from the screw coming through the gunwales. There are two slight cracks on the very bottom of the planking, but those don’t look concerning. The canvas has a bit of a wrinkle to it, but I think that is from dried out old paint. There is one small canvas patch, and one hole about the size of a penny that needs to be patched. I don’t know if it is original, but at some point oar locks were installed. The bolt from one of them has caused a crack along the inwale, but I think that can be glued. The decal is in almost perfect condition. Overall, I think I got a great canoe here. I’d like your thoughts on how to repair/ refinish the canvas. Also, should I re- varnish the interior? Would that require sanding to bare wood? The keel is probably in the worst shape- the wood looks dried out but it isn’t broken .
