Trail Cafe: Trip report - Re-Varnish strip canoe

Summary:

Title: Re-Varnish strip canoe
Trip type: other
(canoe maintanence)
Summary: Just an entry of a typical maintenance of a strip canoe. This canoe has been used for 6yrs, vanished after every year.
Author: M. Tanton
Author's Email: myrlinmungeatshawdotca (remove 'munge', convert 'at' and 'dot' accordingly

The Trip Report:

It March, and it's warm. The river still has ice shelves and the odd ice 'bridge', so I'm not getting the canoe out for a paddle just yet. However it does allow for an maintenance session with the canoe.

The 'before' picture.
closer look at the damage closer look at the damage
I begin thinking I do not have any real repairs needed. I've some deep bruising of the fiberglass, but I can ignore those. So the first thing is a coat of varnish. This report is just to show what this maintenance is... It took me about 3 hours, including sanding and varnishing. This time includes moving the canoe out the the garage, dealing with my 3yr old helper during sanding.

The first pictures are the 'before' pictures. Showing the scratches that are from last season.


The first step, is to sand. I'm just going with 150 grit paper. I'd go higer grit, but I'm trying to take out a few runs as well from previous work. I have my 3yr old 'helping' me. So I sand wet to keep the dust to zero. This makes for a few missed spots, which I get later. The pic below is of the fist pass sanding. The glossy spots all get sanded again. After sanding the scratches are a lot less visible, as some are removed. The hull is all milky from sanding scratches though.


Wet sanding is a wet business... I rinse the canoe a few times to get the paste from the sanding dust off. Rising requires the use of a cloth, and water to wipe it off. My daughter is soaked.

After that a quick wipe with a dry cloth, and I let the canoe dry out for 10 mins prior to varnish.

partially varnished partially varnished
The varnish is some cheap stuff I got from Canadian tire. It is outdoor (UV protected) spar varnish. Cost me $12. I've added a picture showing the 'cut line'.

all done - varnish still wet all done - varnish still wet
. The final results, although the varnish is still wet. I've oiled the gunnels in the past, and have decided to varnish over them. Hopefully that will help with getting dirt (or maybe fungus) in the grain of the ash. We'll see how well the varnish hold the the oil.

Also you can see the 'black strip', a pseudo rub strip. It's just epoxy mixed with carbon powder. works well for scratches, but not for head on impacts. I need to fix a bit you can see in the last pic, where the glass has cracked.

Also I noticed a crack in the glass on the keel (well if there was a keel that is). This will need to be addressed. Sooner rather than later. I'll probably inject epoxy into it.

With that my hull will be good to go. I'd be willing to take it out as is, and if I do not find the time to fix it I will.

the Idea was to give a feel for the typical maintenance required on the cedar strip canoe. I find it to be a fairly enjoyable experince.


Gallery

The 'before' picture

closer look at the damage

partially sanded

partially varnished

all done - varnish still wet


Content Copyright M. Tanton 2007


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