Painting a canoe
- Thread starter sailer54
- Start date
The directory at http://www.wcha.org/builders-and-suppliers-directory lists several options if you want to have someone paint it for you. Many people like Kirby's paints at https://kirbypaint.com/ and their "#12 Bottle Green" is very close to the traditional Old Town dark green. Any good marine enamel would probably be fine. Feel free to reply here if this doesn't answer your questions. Good luck,
Benson
Benson
MGC
Scrapmaker
You can see a variety of different paint options here:
https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...=Topside Paint&category=34&refine=1&page=GRID
Although Kirby may give you the best color match I have personally found the Kirby paint to be very fussy to use and have had much better success with other brands.
I have been very happy with Epifanes but I have also had good results with Interlux and Pettit. Some folks have gone as far as using oil based porch or roofing paints....
There are a few tricks to painting a canoe but the most important detail is preparation. Your hull appears to be shedding paint down to the filler...that suggest a need for some very careful sanding before you paint. It's hard to tell if the filler is failing...if it is, it may take a bit more than a coat of paint to get things sorted.
If you search this site there have quite few threads about saving an old canvas...here is a cut and paste of a reply Greg Nolan made regarding a canoe that needed some paint....he includes some very helpful links and also references some helpful literature:
"When considering any repair/restoration work, whether you plan to do it yourself or to hire a professional, there are three good sources of information about canoe restoration that you would do well to get, or at least look at, before making any decision about how to repair or restore your canoe:
The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok
Building the Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok
This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe, by Mike Elliott
The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction. The third is the most recently published and has been well received.
Of course, you can always ask questions here on the forums.
If you want to use the canoe after just painting, here are some links to some discussions in these forums about painting over old cracked or chipped paint when you want the paint to last only a season or three or five before re-canvasing:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=5790 see pp. 2-3 of this thread
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?7769-Painting-over-existing-paint&p=41339#post41339
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?5933-quot-Minor-quot-Restoration-advice-please&p=32358#post32358
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?7775-Temp-repair-to-bare-spot-on-canvas&p=41357#post41357
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?7619-time-is-not-on-my-side!&p=40689#post40689
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8564-Smoothing-Canvas/page2 starting at post 12, on bondo spot putty
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?6607-sanding-or-not&p=35286#post35286
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8906-Repaint-Tips
My yellow Old Town 50 pounder (seen in some of the links above) saw 5 seasons of use with old canvas, chipped filler, crackly paint, and a few unrepaired cracked ribs and planks, for just a few hours of necessary work -- light sanding, spot priming, painting with water-based deck and porch paint (and a few more hours just messing around with unnecessary painting of triangle designs) -- I didn't have the time to restore the canoe without losing a season of paddling. Now retired (and having another canoe to paddle) it’s undergoing a full restoration.
Wood/canvas canoes are pretty durable, and they are meant to be used. Have fun with your new old canoe -- paddle it and take care of it."
Greg
I'm not sure where you are in "southern NH" but I suspect any of the restorers listed at http://www.wcha.org/builders-and-suppliers-directory would be willing to paint a canoe for you including Azland Traditions in Henniker, Kevin Martin in Epping, or several others.
Benson
