Saving canvas, possible?

[workingbadger]

I have a 1960, 16' Old Town. It is sound. One thing, 20% of the paint is gone, half of what's left is cracked, or curling up. The canvas appears to be in good shape. Can I remove the paint somehow, and save/reuse the canvas? How can I remove what is left of the paint. Help!

 

[Benson Gray]

One way to remove paint is to burn it off with a torch or heat gun. The Old Town Canoe Company used to do this as a standard repair technique many years ago. It frequently resulted in burning the canvas which had to be replaced anyway. They decided to stop using this approach after a few spectacular failures. See the messages at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?1438 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?5634 for more discussion about this.

Benson

 

[Dave Osborn]

Dave,
Replace that old canvas!
I can help you when you are ready. Contact me for more info.
Dave Osborn