Weight added by canvas and filler

[Just1moredave]

My canoe is an Old Town HW 16. In late January I covered it in #10 canvas from Island Falls and filled it with a gallon of their filler. Then it did this after a day in the sun:

There were other issues besides this, which I think is probably not stretched well enough. So I'm starting over. But I did have the chance to remove the first attempt and weigh it: fourteen pounds.

 

[monkitoucher]

Just a guess... I'd say that you may have not stretched out the canvas enough. Usually I'll pull the canvas tight. Not drum tight by pretty close. This will stretch and straighten the canvas from being folded up. Then I'll relax the canvas and set the hull inside the canvas envelope. Once the hull is set inside and straight, I'll tighten the canvas around the hull again. Then I get a couple 5 gallon water containers and set those inside the hull to stretch the canvas around the width. I can move the water around inside the boat as I move towards the ends. I've only done this with two boats but it seems to work pretty well.

I did the upside down method on my first boat. I don't think I'll be doing that again. It was a pain in the butt and the back.

 

[Just1moredave]

Thanks, that was helpful advice.

I chose upside down because of how my garage is arranged. (Not really arranged, more like filled randomly over time.) I would have had to move too many heavy things.

I solved the backache problem by using a short rollaround stool, $22 at Harbor Freight. It has a little shelf so you can put the hammer, tacks and upholstery stretcher there and just roll down the sheer, tacking away. I could even roll under the canoe at the ends to switch sides.