Next step

[Canotrouge]

If I ever do a restoration on a w/c canoe, I will follow what Douglas Ingram or Mike Eliot does.
And I will definitely follow the experiment Mem is willing to do!!

 

[Abenakiregion]

I am in agreement with Mihun09's method. Another method was to use a combination of boiled linseed oil, mineral spirits, and wood preservative applied heated to the outside before canvasing. Linseed oil is excellent food for mold but since the old canvas filler was made with white lead, its toxcicity, along with the old formula Cupernol, kept the mold under control. I too will be interested in Memequay's experiment. My concern is not with the flexibility of epoxy, but rather with, as Canotrouge stated, the bonding of the ribs to the planking. Even a mild contact with a rock may result in broken ribs and/or planking.
Dave

 

[Mihun09]

Mem may actually "glass" the boat, he did one Tremblay that way already. Hopefully if he does, he doesn't use epoxy as he would never get the shell off the boat to repair ribs or planking. I've done a few w/c canoes that were glassed and it is a real chore to get it off even with polyester resin, the worst being what is left in the gaps between the planking. Filling the gaps doesn't allow the planking to expand as it wets so it buckles.

After putting on new canvas, we use clear end cut preservative as a mould preventive. I use a garden type pump sprayer and soak the canvas, let it dry then apply the filler. Just don't do it indoors, ha ha, found that out the hard way too.

 

[memaquay]

Bonding could happen, but I'm not convinced it will unless I slap the epoxy on like a six year old at a finger painting contest. I think there would be a greater chance if I epoxied the inside hull. However, one coat as a sealer on the outside, applied judiciously might make a very long lasting protectorant. When we ran w/c with the school clubs, there were often so many coats of varnish on the inside hull that things were stuck together rather permanently, and those canoes saw hard action. Anyway, maybe I'll pull the canoe in this week and start the process.

 

[Iskweo]

Mem, we often use epoxy to repair rib tips and it soaks into the wood and bonds it all together really nicely. That would be my worry ...absorption of the epoxy. We use West system too and it is not exactly what I would call flexible. However, if you thinned it out first and applied it to the outside of the hull it might act a bit like varnish and soak in while giving some protection to the wood without changing the nature of the wood per se or bonding any planks to ribs. I probably would not use it full strength. To be honest, the cheap varnish is easier to use and a lot less expensive. We use the Epifanes where you can see it and Helmsman for hidden areas like under the canvas.

Soaking it all down with epoxy might stop it from taking on moisture but I wonder if the added weight of the epoxy would be about the same as what a wet WC boat is?

 

[Robin]

Just another point of view.

Schuyler Thomson has restored/built over 1500 wood canvas canoes here in NW Connecticut. I asked him about applying anything to the outside of the hull before canvasing.
He said he has never seen a difference between old varnished/oiled hulls and non old varnished/oiled hulls.
I never apply anything to the outside of a hull.

 

[memaquay]

I'm sure the book has been written on w/c canoe procedure, but the last tremblay I took apart had a variety of wood types in it, pretty sure some of the planks were white pine. Sure smelled like it when I was sanding them fair. The verolite they used instead of canvas covered most imperfections, so they seem to have skipped the sanding of the outside of the planks. Anyway, I'm starting to get interested in this project, think I have just enough canvas left for one more canoe.

 

[Canotrouge]

Just another point of view.

Schuyler Thomson has restored/built over 1500 wood canvas canoes here in NW Connecticut. I asked him about applying anything to the outside of the hull before canvasing.
He said he has never seen a difference between old varnished/oiled hulls and non old varnished/oiled hulls.
I never apply anything to the outside of a hull.

I think they must be as many ways to restore a w/c as there is restorer!! Like every body is an expert... Of there own expertise... I'd trust a guy that did 1500+ restoration, but at the same time it doesn't mean that it is the right way of doing things... I know people that have been carpenter for 30+ years and they do crapty work. Just saying

As for Tremblay, they were a Quebec company and there is/was a lot of white pine in Quebec, I wouldn't be surprise that they did use some!