Hi all, Thanks for being here. I've got a question or two about a repair job I have begun.
About 15 years ago I built the Chestnut Prospector from Canoecraft and it has been in storage for the past several years while I directed my attention to restoring an 1850 cottage. The canoe is stripped with Western Red Cedar and has Ash gunwales and decks.
At one point it was left sitting, upturned, on the ground for several months. The ash at the ends began to decay and both gunwales showed signs of spalting. (incipient rot) The other major problem with it is when I built it it was my first attempt at fiberglassing and I was at the bottom of a steep learning curve. IT was really too hot and humid a day to be glassing, for starters. Liberal amounts of sweat dripped into the epoxy, along with air, and with the heat it began kicking too quickly, so the result was a very milky complexion in spots.
Yesterday I stripped the glass from the exterior of the canoe and now I am debating whether to re-do the gunwales. In order to disguise the spalting I stained them dark brown, which I hate only slightly less than the spalting. The gunwales are epoxied and screwed on with brass screws that are plugged. Gettign the screws out is no problem, but I wonder about how tough it will be to remove the gunwales from the hull. They are on top of the glass so I'm guessing that either the glass/cedar bond will fail first before the glass/ash bond will. Is there any trick to taking them off? Deadblow mallet?
I plan on removing the outwales, sanding the outer hull, filling the few tear-outs from glass removal, re-glassing the outside, then flipping over the canoe and removing the inwales, decks, and glass, before sanding and re-glassing the inside.
Any thoughts or advice are appreciated.
About 15 years ago I built the Chestnut Prospector from Canoecraft and it has been in storage for the past several years while I directed my attention to restoring an 1850 cottage. The canoe is stripped with Western Red Cedar and has Ash gunwales and decks.
At one point it was left sitting, upturned, on the ground for several months. The ash at the ends began to decay and both gunwales showed signs of spalting. (incipient rot) The other major problem with it is when I built it it was my first attempt at fiberglassing and I was at the bottom of a steep learning curve. IT was really too hot and humid a day to be glassing, for starters. Liberal amounts of sweat dripped into the epoxy, along with air, and with the heat it began kicking too quickly, so the result was a very milky complexion in spots.
Yesterday I stripped the glass from the exterior of the canoe and now I am debating whether to re-do the gunwales. In order to disguise the spalting I stained them dark brown, which I hate only slightly less than the spalting. The gunwales are epoxied and screwed on with brass screws that are plugged. Gettign the screws out is no problem, but I wonder about how tough it will be to remove the gunwales from the hull. They are on top of the glass so I'm guessing that either the glass/cedar bond will fail first before the glass/ash bond will. Is there any trick to taking them off? Deadblow mallet?
I plan on removing the outwales, sanding the outer hull, filling the few tear-outs from glass removal, re-glassing the outside, then flipping over the canoe and removing the inwales, decks, and glass, before sanding and re-glassing the inside.
Any thoughts or advice are appreciated.