Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving and Black Friday and a little TLC for my canoe

Thanksgiving Day project

While everyone else was watching the Macy’s Parade, I began to work on my canoe.  I’ve had this canoe since the mid-80s and it’s still in decent shape except that the gunnels had begun to rot.  I had changed the gunnels once before, in 1992.  In both occasions, I found a small sawmill who would rough cut the gunnels.  Right now, there is a lot of ash available (in 20 years, this won’t be the situation as the Emerald Ash Borer is wiping out the Ash in this part of the world).  A guy who often has breakfast at one of the local diners and does logging has a band-saw mill.  He had some 20 foot ash logs he was rough cutting into planks for someone else and was able to cut my strips out so some of the slabs.  After cutting them, I took them to another friend who has an incredible planner and we worked the strips down to 7/8” by 3/4”.   When I did the gunnels in 92, I oiled them first, which is what most people recommend.  This time, I decided to spar varnish the gunnels before I placed them on the boat.  I put three coats of varnish onto the gunnels before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day here—I was able to work outside without the need of a heavy coat.  I placed the canoe on a set of sawhorses and began to take the out the seats and thwarts.  Then I took off the first side of gunnels, saving the stainless steel screws, and to replace the old gunnels with a new set.  To do this, I start at one end and with four clamps, began to drill countersink holes for the screws.  When I did this in 92, I had only one drill and used a screw driver (and my forearm was sore for three days).  Now I have two drills and even splurged on a special countersink bit.  I’d drill a hole and then drive in the screw.  Slowly I made my way from one end of the boat to the other, putting the gunnels on both sides of the ABS plastic.   What I didn’t count on was having a number of screws to be stripped out and so on Thanksgiving Day, wasn’t able to finish the project.  Another issue came up in that there was a crack at the top of the bow that appeared when I took the gunnels off.  It wasn’t large (maybe 3 inches) starting at the top.  I decided that now is the time to take care of this, so I sanded off the area and placed a piece of fiberglass on both sides of the skin and sealed it in.  ABS is nice to work with since fiberglass adheres to it.  It was also great to have nice enough weather to do the fiberglass work outside.

Canoe sitting on ground with a dusting of snow
My one purchase on Black Friday was a dozen stainless steel screws at the local lumber yard.  I then finished up the project.  Of course, it was now sleeting (which turned into snow) so I had to work inside the garage.  I finished up the gunnels and then fitted the seats and thwarts, drilling holes for their bolts and bolting them in place.  Soon, my boat was back together and ready for some winter canoeing.

13 comments:

  1. What a beautiful canoe, Sage! Very well built and most worthy of a rebuild! Hope your Thanksgiving was memorable!!!

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    1. Thanks Michael. It's functional, too!. I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

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  2. Oh my goodness- sail away....! A very sharp canoe! Thanks for your Thanksgiving wishes, and I truly hope yours was wonderful too- I so an excellent movie today- I refuse to shop on Black Friday- unless absolutely necessary- and I had the best tasting ahi tuna ever...so it was a great stress-free-fun day as well!

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    1. Karen, sail away is right as I am also working on plans to rig a gaff sail up on the canoe for spring (I won't try that in winter)

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  3. Do you not have an issue with ultra-V light weakening that type of plastic.

    Looks good though. You seem to have a keel-line. I haven't seen that on any that I looked at. I suppose that even that slight a point would keep the wind from scudding you sideways as happens with the battleship bottom you usually see. I wondered why with the newer ones they don't run a fin along the curve as it would do as on a ship and keep the line when propelling from either side.


    Oh, did you see Larry Hagman died. + RIP +

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    1. This type of plastic (ABS Rolax) is very strong and layered (the layered gives you the strength and also insulation but makes it heavier than say Kevlar. The canoe is an old Mad River Explorer and designed to be a cross from paddling down river to open lakes. It tracks well in wind, but doesn't have such an harsh keel (like on Coleman canoes and many aluminum ones) that makes turning similar to steering a battleship. Seven or so years ago, I did put the Kevlar skid plates on the bow and stern where the ABS had worn thin.

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  4. you got snow....dang...i want snow....temp dropped about 20 degrees here over night...i did go out for about 30 minutes to get a pair of shoes which were sorely needed...ha...not a bad day fixing up the canoe...happy thanksgiving belatedly to you and your family

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  5. A good way to spend a day, and an accomplishment at the end. I did not spend mine nearly so productively.

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  6. I have a similar canoe except my gunnels are molded plastic and they have yet to rot despite being close to 40 years old. Dinged up... yes!

    I also have lots of fiberglass patching on the bow and underside of it. In fact, it probably has more fiberglass than ABS on the bottom! But it is hard to replace it when it still floats fine and nobody else would buy it anyway with all the patching.

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  7. A wonderful Black Friday project. :)

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  8. I'm always afraid to paddle in the winter because I might have to wet exit. Maybe when I get a little more experience...

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  9. i think there is another story here. either this or i am in a mood to see and feel deeply about how you chose to fix something on the biggest shopping day of the year instead of going out and buying a new one for ten bucks. but no, i have to believe this is purposeful and we should all listen. this is how the world should work. this is how we should live - mindfully, taking care of those few things that serve us. not with a superflous pocket book, which doesn't really exist - note the current state of the north american economy.

    i'll remember this, sage.

    xo
    erin

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  10. It's wonderful that you put that kind of love into your canoe. Not everyone would bother taking such care. Thanks for sharing the process.

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