Penn Yan stain and stem finishing

[jimjoe3]

I am about to begin restoring my 17' Penn Yan Rainbow (Ser #RC493) and I have two questions I am hoping someone can help me with.
The first question concerns the color of the finish of the wood. It appears to have been stained a red mahogany color. Does anyone know if Penn Yan used a red stain, or is this from a previous refinishing?
The second question concerns the canvas finishing of the stems. A thin strip of canvas or possibly muslin was used to cover the seam formed by the overlapping layers of canvas. This thin covering is smooth and formed a very nice finish. Does anyone have experience using this method or is familiar with the material that was used?

 

[Gil Cramer]

yes, Penn Yan used stain on the interior. Petit red mahogany is very close to the original color. The strip on the stems of the canoe is pinked aircraft tape. Penn Yan covered many boats and canoes with grade "A" cotton and airplane dope. The tape was used to cover anywhere the cotton had to be cut.

 

[jimjoe3]

Thanks for the good info. Can you tell me where to get airplane tape?

 

[Gil Cramer]

Aircraft spruce sells Dacron tape and airplane dope. About Any aircraft supply house should have it . It can be heat shrunk,or biased tape can be simply pulled to take the stem shape.

 

[Mark Adams]

Alex Comb at Stewart River Boatworks has everything needed to cover a boat in dacron. The fabric, bias tape, and a nifty waterbased filler. His link is here:

http://www.stewartriver.com/

He is a great guy to deal with.

Good luck!

 

[jimjoe3]

Very good. Thank you.

 

[Mark Adams]

The nice thing about dacron, besides the huge weight savings, is that from start to water can be done in about a week, versus a month and a half for canvas. I just did (last summer) a canoe in dacron, and the weight of the canoe was 27 pounds. Granted, the canoe was only 9 1/2 feet long, but it kind of gives you an idea of what a 16'er would weigh. The canoe was Rollin's Whisper.