The project begins

[Wetweasel]

This may get a bit long, but I'm sure I'll be posting many times during the rebuild so I thought I'd start with a bit of the back story. A couple of years ago when an outdoors outfitter was going out of business, the owner called friends who have a store in Front Royal and offered them first shot at the remaining contents. I went along as extra hands and truck. There were several old canoes in varying states of disrepair, but one really caught my eye and I made sure it was part of the deal. Thanks to the S/N search here I now know it is an OT 17' HW in CS grade. This brings me to my first question..... it was started in Sep 1941 and finished in Jan 1942.... so is it considered a 41 or 42? It was delivered to what I have seen references to as "the site of the historic Dempsey's boat house " which sadly no longer exists. It's hard not to think of history considering it was started in peacetime and finished in war, especially since it spent the war years in Washington. When I'm sipping a brew or two and contemplating the canoe I have to wonder who may have rented it for a few hours escape on the Potomac during the war.
My friends have cleared a spot in the back of their store for me to work. That will give me the chance to extoll the virtues of wood canoes and the WCHA, but it will also expose me to lots of kibbitsers. I'm counting on you all to at least make me sound like I know what I'm doing The boat looks to be in reasonable condition for its age, but I'm doing the teardown and full survey this weekend and taking pics I can add to later posts.

What concerns me most right now is how dry it is. There is no varnish left on the gunwhales. At first I thought the planking was rough sawn but now I think the surface is raised from being so dry. The hammer dimples are almost all showing and deep. After reading through here I'm thinking of one or more coats of thinned linseed oil with added mildewcide. Does that sound reasonable ? At some point should I also sand the planking smooth? Will that make a difference when it comes time to recanvas ?
I've always been free with my opinions (even when not asked) so please feel free to offer yours and any suggestions.

 

[Benson Gray]

The HW remained essentially unchanged for over fifty years like most of the other Old Town models. This makes the designation of a model year somewhat arbitrary. Most people would consider your canoe to be just a few days over sixty four years old since it shipped on May 6th, 1942.

Planking is relatively thin and most canvas is fairly thick so I would not worry too much about most of the exterior roughness. It may be worth a light hand sanding over the worst areas but you could easily create some much larger problems by taking a big belt sander to the whole thing. Hammer dimples can often be removed with water that swells the wood back into shape. Search the forums for linseed oil and you will find many opinions like the ones expressed at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=1228 and elsewhere. This is not a cure-all either.

I'm sure that there will be other opinions to follow so have fun!

Benson