Recently, my neighbors hosted a garage sale for their son’s soccer team and, among the items for sale, was a new, but freight-damaged 15' B.N. Morris replica built by Rollin Thurlow at Northwoods Canoes. To my untrained eye, the damage looked minimal and, after discovering that the list price of a new one was $3,900, I decided that I needed a summer project. I ended up trading a 1970s vintage Schwinn tandem bicycle that had been hanging in my garage for over twenty years for the canoe, which came complete with two, brand-new, Shaw and Tenney paddles that retail for about $85 each. The soccer team ended up getting $350 for the bike so, if you want to be picky; my net cost for the canoe was about $180. This assumes, of course, that I would have actually sold the bicycle. I prefer to think that I got the whole package for free.
After I had the canoe on sawhorses on my back patio and subjected it to a more careful inspection, what had appeared to be a few, easily repairable ribs was actually twenty-one cracked and broken ribs extending from just aft of the forward seat all the way aft past the rear seat, almost to the aft hand thwart. The worst hull deformation was amidships on the starboard side. The starboard inwale was also cracked but repairable.
Thankfully, before I started any amateurish repairs, I found this site, which ultimately lead me to Mark Adams in Reno. Mark suggested that I contact Rollin Thurlow and see if I could purchase some pre-bent ribs which would greatly simplify my task.
Rollin was very helpful and was happy that someone had acquired the canoe and was going to repair it. The original owner had won the canoe from a jerky company and wasn't really interested in owning a canoe, especially a damaged one, which is why she'd donated it to the soccer team's garage sale. I immediately placed an order for the ribs, tacks, nails, etc.
At this point I've replaced ten of the twenty-one ribs and have my time down to a little over an hour per rib. I've also transitioned from the "can I do this" stage to the "I can do this" stage. The nice thing is that all the wood is new so I don’t need to deal with color-matching or rot and having ribs that were professionally bent on the original form is a lifesaver. Removing the broken ribs has been a bit problematical since the varnish that seeped underneath them has glued them to the planking so they aren't simply "falling out" as I'd expected. I picked up an inexpensive oscillating, multi-function tool at Harbor Freight Tools which has been a lifesaver in cutting the ribs into sections along the plank seams. Once they're cut into short sections, I'm able to remove the pieces by carefully driving a flexible 3" drywall knife under them. The tool is easy to control by hand to within 1/32 – 1/16” tolerance and the fine-tooth, straight blade is thin enough to fit between the planks without doing any damage.
I’m posting a “before” photo that Rollin sent me of the canoe before it left his shop along with some photos of my progress to date. Hopefully I'll be able to ultimately post a beautiful "after" photo sometime in the not-to-distant future.
I'd like to thank Mark Adams and Rollin Thurlow for their support and encouragement.
After I had the canoe on sawhorses on my back patio and subjected it to a more careful inspection, what had appeared to be a few, easily repairable ribs was actually twenty-one cracked and broken ribs extending from just aft of the forward seat all the way aft past the rear seat, almost to the aft hand thwart. The worst hull deformation was amidships on the starboard side. The starboard inwale was also cracked but repairable.
Thankfully, before I started any amateurish repairs, I found this site, which ultimately lead me to Mark Adams in Reno. Mark suggested that I contact Rollin Thurlow and see if I could purchase some pre-bent ribs which would greatly simplify my task.
Rollin was very helpful and was happy that someone had acquired the canoe and was going to repair it. The original owner had won the canoe from a jerky company and wasn't really interested in owning a canoe, especially a damaged one, which is why she'd donated it to the soccer team's garage sale. I immediately placed an order for the ribs, tacks, nails, etc.
At this point I've replaced ten of the twenty-one ribs and have my time down to a little over an hour per rib. I've also transitioned from the "can I do this" stage to the "I can do this" stage. The nice thing is that all the wood is new so I don’t need to deal with color-matching or rot and having ribs that were professionally bent on the original form is a lifesaver. Removing the broken ribs has been a bit problematical since the varnish that seeped underneath them has glued them to the planking so they aren't simply "falling out" as I'd expected. I picked up an inexpensive oscillating, multi-function tool at Harbor Freight Tools which has been a lifesaver in cutting the ribs into sections along the plank seams. Once they're cut into short sections, I'm able to remove the pieces by carefully driving a flexible 3" drywall knife under them. The tool is easy to control by hand to within 1/32 – 1/16” tolerance and the fine-tooth, straight blade is thin enough to fit between the planks without doing any damage.
I’m posting a “before” photo that Rollin sent me of the canoe before it left his shop along with some photos of my progress to date. Hopefully I'll be able to ultimately post a beautiful "after" photo sometime in the not-to-distant future.
I'd like to thank Mark Adams and Rollin Thurlow for their support and encouragement.
