I picked up a Stewart River cedar canvas at the Midwest Mountaineering auction last week, and I want to clean it up a bit. It's in really nice shape overall, but has been a little bit neglected for a bit it appears.

Any suggestions on a sanding/varnishing regimen for the gunwales and ribs and planking?

I'll also be repainting the canvas, and would welcome any thought you may have on hat as well.

Thanks, and I'll get some pictures up once its light out again.

-Nick

You lucky dog.

I was a boat builder in my last life and have built wood canoes of all types, including wood/canvas. I've rebuilt junk canoes and brought them back to life too.

As far as the inside goes, I can't tell what those streaks are on the planking. When it comes to varnish, you can either sand off the loose and chipping varnish and re-varnish, or you can remove all the varnish down to the wood and re-varnish. If you do the latter, the inside will look nearly new. However, the character of old wood inside the canoe is what makes it a great boat. Old canoes do not need to look new, and shouldn't.

If you choose to remove all the old varnish, you will need to buy a varnish/paint remover followed by a cleaning with TSP cleaner. Then three or four coats of quality spar varnish, not Home Depot spar varnish, but the good stuff. I cannot stress enough the difference between crappy spar vanish and the good stuff. The link I gave you is the best spar varnish on the market. Don't let the price scare you. It's worth every dollar. THIN coats of varnish must be applied. THIN coats. Good spar varnish dries slowly and will run if you are messy. Spar varnish is for outdoor use. It's more flexible (not brittle), water-proof, and has UV inhibitors to keep it from breaking down in the sun. Please don't use interior polyurethane. That's for your wood floor, not your canoe. -Spar Varnish-.

varnish

As far as gunwales go, that should be pretty easy. Some sanding and re-varnishing is all you need to do.

The outside can be lightly sanded to scuff the surface for repainting. Good marine paint will suffice. Jamestown Distributors is a great place to buy what you need. Many boat builders use their products.

Jamestown Distributors_
Here's the inside of the last one I built.

That looks great!

Thanks for your response. My plan is to not strip the varnish, but just to renew it. I have some Captains spar.

The rails are sanding down really nicely. I just roughed them up with 100 grit, will probably hit hem again with 150, and then 220 between varnish coats. I'll probably do the same thing with the ribs and planking unless I'm steered in another direction.

Any thoughts on cutting down the varnish? I know people typically do it, but I keep seeing different ratios.

I plan on using Epifanes paint, as that's what Alex at Stewart River uses. There are a couple of paint splits on the hull. I was planning to sand them smooth and paint right over it with a light sanding between coats. Do you suggest sanding the old paint smooth with 150 grit and painting directly on it, or should I go up to a finer grit?

Thanks again!

Sand with 220 grit between coats of varnish. The Z-Spar Captains varnish probably does not need to be cut. It's a bit thinner than the Z-Spar Flagship varnish. If I had the captains varnish, I would use it right out of the can. That being said, if, for any reason you decide to cut the varnish, you need to use the thinner they specify on the can. I can't remember the part number off hand. I've tried to thin their varnish with something else before and it doesn't work very well. The thinner the varnish, the less gloss retention too FYI. When you thin varnish, you don't need much thinner. Something like 5 or 10 percent is enough. You are thinning it just enough to get it to flow smoothly. Don't varnish on a cool wet day. The varnish is thick and it can't dry.

As far as fixing splits in the paint, I can't answer that one. The canoes I repaired needed new canvas so I never had the chance to run into your problem. But when you paint, use 220 grit between coats for that too. Sand just enough to scuff the paint. You're not trying to remove paint at this stage. The light sanding scuffs the surface enough to allow the next layer to stick.





Here's a few more boats. The green one is a 1911 Old Town Otca I restored. I spent over 200 hours on it.