Staples

[Rollin Thurlow]

The subject of staples came up the other day and I just brought a Old Town canoe into the shop with a nice selection of staples so I thought I would give a report. The serial number on the canoe is 584817-18 which makes it how old? My records don't go that high but I assume its in the 1990's?
The staples from the ribs into the rail appear to be stainless, no rust at all and 7/8" long. The staples for the planking edge into the ribs and the planking into the wood stem appear to be steel or maybe galvanized. All show surface rust and some a bit more. They are 5/8"long.
There is nothing wrong with either staples holding power. They are certainly not easy to remove. None of those connections are going to come lose until the staples rust through. I can't say they look very very good but they are certainly doing the job but I'm still not going to change my nailing habits.

 

[chris pearson]

Wow, interesting.

 

[MGC]

What a PITA to work on! The only thing I use staples for are targets when I go to the range.

 

[Benson Gray]

The serial number on the canoe is 584817-18 which makes it how old? My records don't go that high but I assume its in the 1990's?

It should have a hull identification number on the starboard stern which ends with a date. Serial number 505706 is an Otca from 1995 but they stopped keeping paper records after that. You sent me some pictures of this canoe last August and my guess was that it was probably made circa 2002 based on other similar canoes.

Benson

 

[dtdcanoes]

Those are the same staples for the lid to a case of good French wine and yes, a pain for sure. Those were the days .
Dave

 

[Dave Osborn]

I’ve worked on a handful of Old Towns with staples like this. Yes! A pain!
Seems like I recall a couple of those canoes also had planking that was adhered to the ribs so tight that to remove a plank was to destroy it. Almost as if varnish was poured in.

 

[Michael Grace]

I've had much the same experience every time working on one of these modern canoes - staples everywhere with great holding power but a pain to remove. I certainly don't replace them but put in new fasteners the traditional way. Like you, Dave, I've found the planking even more of a problem than the staples - often planks are essentially glued to the ribs by varnish. Unpleasant!