BWCA strip canoe refinishing and repair of major scratches Boundary Waters Group Forum: Boat Builders and Repair
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      strip canoe refinishing and repair of major scratches     

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paddlingredrock
senior member (61)senior membersenior member
  
03/03/2013 03:15PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Hello, I am new here and have some questions about what some may call routine maintenance on a strip canoe. In 1981, I built a strip canoe out of redwood with my father. He passed away in 2004, so the boat has a lot of sentimental value to me. From about 81 through 2002 I used the boat extensively and it has it's share of scratches and scrapes. During the time I was using it a lot i performed routine maintenance with sanding adding coats of spar varnish. Some of the scratches were deep and into the rosin, but not the cloth, so whenever I would sand these scratches would never come out as I never sanded too far into the rosin coat. I have one very major scratch that is down into the fiberglass cloth I believe. It would never clear up after applying varnish. It is about 1/2" to 3/4" width and about 5' long. It happened when I hit something metal in the bottom of a river. At any rate I am ready to make a full assult on the canoe and sand completely down and I guess you would call it a restoration and after I am finished I want the bottom of the boat to look near new if possible and get rid of all the deep scratches and especially that major one.

I am pretty sure we used 6 oz. cloth with two layers on the bottom. Used regular fiberglass rosin and hardner as we couldn't afford the new epoxy's on the market.

I think we put 3-5 layer strips on the bow and stern tip. Those areas are becoming cloudy, but I cannot tell if they are separating from the wood (I don't think they are separating from the wood, just becoming cloudy)

I did punture the boat once in very cold weather. The puncture went through the outside of the boat, through the wood and pushed the inner fiberglass layer off the wood. When it happened I patched the cloth on the outside (puncture) and it looks great. Really can't even tell where it happened. But on the inside where the cloth separated from the wood, I drilled a small hole and injected some rosin/hardner in the small area that was separated (about 6" long by 4" width) using a syringe. The process went well but the rosin only sealed the separation in the center 1/2 of the blemish, so now the cloth is still separated from the wood around the exterior of where it separated. This episode happened about 15 years ago.

Question 1: How would repair this major scrape in the bottom that is into the cloth and looks white?

Question 2: What would you recommend for repairing the inside the boat issue where the cloth has separated from the wood in a small area? Cut that small section of fiberglass out and replace with a patch over the entire damaged area, or just keep drilling multiple holes and trying to inject more rosin in the dead air space?

Question 3: What can I do with the bow and stern stems where the coating is yellowing/opaque?

I will probably have many more questions but this is a long enough post for now. I really would appreciate any of your comments and recommendations! Thank you very much.
 
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HighPlainsDrifter
distinguished member(2365)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/04/2013 08:44PM  

I have not made repairs (yet). But when I have to, I will use the repair recommendations found in 2 books that I have. Gil Gilpatrick's 2nd edition book on building a cedar strip is nice. He has a short chapter on repairs with pictures. I also like Ted Moores book (the book I followed when building my canoes). Ted also has a section on repairs.

The yellow/opaque issue might mean trouble with delamination. I think you need to tap around that area and listen carefully for a dull sound (as compared to surrounding areas)

Good luck in your repairs
 
paddlingredrock
senior member (61)senior membersenior member
  
03/05/2013 05:48PM  
I'm afraid you are right about the potential delamination on the bow. I am getting the boat off it's rack later this week and will get a closer look. Thanks for the reference material!
 
paddlingredrock
senior member (61)senior membersenior member
  
03/05/2013 05:56PM  
I checked out your boats in your photo album! Wow! Those are spectacular. I bet they are both very sensitive in the water? I was thinking about building another one, trying to replicate the hull shape of a wenonah solitude. I like the heavy tumblehome. Looks like your merlin has a lot of tumblehome... was it difficult to sand the strips in that area or did you do something different in fitting each of those strips individually, e.g., angling the edge?
 
HighPlainsDrifter
distinguished member(2365)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
03/06/2013 09:18PM  

Thanks for the compliments about my strip canoes.

The Merlin build went pretty smooth....... yes you will have to take your time laying up the strips in the tumblehome area........ I used bead and cove strips but still had a bit of gap in the tight areas (all that was filled with thickened epoxy. Small tacks work better than staples on strips that are stressed out. If you look at some of my pictures (especially the Ranger) you will see a small block of cedar (with a tack in it) holding down a strip. Make sure you don't glue your tack block to the strip.

and yes sanding that area is a pain. I fashion foam blocks (for difficult contour areas) and use 3M GOLD self stick roll paper....... that stuff has saved my butt.

The Merlin that I built follows the original design by Bruce Kunz. There is no rocker. The canoe tracks like it has a rudder, but it turns like a cruise ship w/o a bow thruster. In retrospect, I would have been better off following the plans of the Northwest Merlin (NW Canoe) which has rocker. The NW Merlin design is available free

You can fix the damage to your canoe even if it means grinding the delaminated fabric off. Most likely that is you best bet for a quality repair.
 
paddlingredrock
senior member (61)senior membersenior member
  
03/09/2013 08:11AM  
I'll take a closer look at those tumblehome areas.
For grinding, shaving or sanding the delaminated portions and that thin strip down the bottom of the canoe, are there special tools that can be used to gouge the old cloth off in thin layers? I have seen some strange looking tools in pictures when people are doing this, but I don't know what the tools are called or if they are homemade inventions?
 
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