So Ol' Hal the Gullboy finds a treasure, an 83' Kevlar Explorer set up for sailing, with the sail, the mast step, the rudder and leeboards for short cash and some beer. If I stated the price you'd be jealous, like me, and mad as hell that Hal got it!
You New England boys are killing me with your used boat finds. If I don’t find a quality used canoe to rebuild soon I’m afraid I’ll have a mental breakdown and end up rebuilding a Coleman.
I like the seat webbing color and contrast. Certainly nicer than the seat I rewebbed for our friend Tom; he didn’t specify a choice in webbing color, so I made him a nice tartan pattern using hot pink and fuchsia webbing*. If his arse covered the seat it wouldn’t be as unsightly, but he’s usually standing and poling.
*Where does one find hot pink and fuchsia webbing? American Science and Surplus, the freakiest treasure trove of oddities ever. Have a look; I defy anyone to wander through that catalog and not find something tempting.
http://www.sciplus.com/
I’ll hazard a guess that the awful snot the original owner gooped on the worn stems is some kind of construction adhesive.
A sadly educated guess. The interior floor of one early rebuild was a frayed mess and I decided the KISS solution was to cover the area in front of the seat by installing a large cushioned floor. I glued in foam sleeping pad, using Hard as Nails construction adhesive. It was a big pad, so I used an entire caulk tube of construction adhesive. Ummm, maybe two.
Let me count the ways that was a mistake. The Hard as Nails didn’t hold the foam worth a dang, and on one early trip with that boat I heard a flappityflappityflappity on the roof racks, followed by silence as a foam sleeping pad appeared airborne in my rearview mirror.
That was bad, but what was worse was the residue left by the Hard as Nails; a thousand needle sharp stucco points. Picture a hull floor something like this, but with a wee spike covering every inch:
https://www.google.com/search?q=iro...ei=bSzwVrf6DIKFmQGsn4BA#imgrc=NVf3hZcJ8LekbM:
BTW, Hard as Nails is well named. I resorted to 80-grit belt sander to remove that stucco residue mistake.
I made more than my share of mistakes on the first canoe rebuild and outfitting projects. That one wasn’t even the most regrettable. I enjoy the learning process and the mistakes all taught great lessons. I remember them vividly enough not to repeat them. Usually.
Doug, next time maybe remember to hammer down the staples in the webbing ends
before installing the seat.
Could have been worse. I heard a story about a guy who rehabbed an asymmetrical canoe and managed to swap ends.
