Little History
For years Maureen and I have been using the Gramps canoe at Ashfield for evening rides and fishing trips. Not sure how old this canoe is but my gut is Grampa bought it in the late sixties or early seventies because it is a very stable canoe, small enough to move around and also very easy to fish out of. I use it a lot in the spring and the fall to catch the rainbows they stock each year at Ashfield.
A solo morning excursion - most likely with cinder block up front as a counter balance for the lard in the back.
Although hard to see this is the infamous day when I yelled to Maureen to take this. I wanted her to grab one of the fish poles because I had a fish on both poles. She thought I wanted my picture taken so she spun around and took a picture. I did get the pole to her and we landed both fish.
The final Straw
During the summer of 2017 the canoe was really showing it age and years of neglect by me. Sometime that summer we decided refinishing the canoe would be our project for the 2017-2018 winter. So in October when we put most things away at Ashfield we left the canoe out by the lake because we were going to take it home on our next visit - when we closed camp. Well we never closed camp till early November and when we arrived there to close camp the canoe was gone. Apparently it blew off the shore in one of the October storms.
After some discussions with various people we were told the canoe had made it to the north end of the lake to Gordy Vanguilder's place. He was looking for the owner and had spread the word it is was up by his place. Boy was I happy to find it but it took a little work to get it back to camp to dry out.
Loaded it into the back of the truck and took it home in early November.
Getting Started
As you can see it was in pretty rough shape. The center thwart is half off and the gunwales are pretty much gone. It looked like someone had attempted various repairs over the years but they really weren't standing up to well.
Thank fully I was able to salvage one of the stems for a pattern - see later on for its use. A canoe stem is the piece of wood that is wrapped around the outside bow and stern of the canoe. See below
First Step Disassemble
Before you start any project - you do a little research and that's what I did. The internet is a wonderful thing and I actually had a typed written letter to my father that I found from someone at Mansfield canoes regarding maintenance for it. One of the most important things I learned in my research was to mark the locations of the thwart and seats before taking them out. Boy that was a good tip.
Once we marked up the canoe I started removing the gunwales. The old gunwales were attached by ring nails. For anybody who has worked with them before you understand you don't just pull them out. One by one I took a chisel to break the nails in between the inner and outer gunwale. This was a very time consuming process because you had to go really slow and be careful not to damage the wooden ribs in the process. Made it through this with very little damage - so far so good.
One nail that didn't need breaking.
Gunwale Replacement
I did some research on line and found a place in Vermont that made and sold replacement gunwales. They call them breakdown gunwales because they come in multiple pieces and step one is to reconnect them with epoxy glue and screws.
I reconnected them per instructions and then put multiple coats of stain and sealer on them. Yes I was also working on my toboggan on this weekend, prepping it for the infamous runs down the chute at the Camden Me Snowbowl.
Then Mo and I installed new gunwales on the canoe. Not easy but we managed to get through it and are still married.
Bending and fastening the gunwales into place and then securing them was no easy task. The first side took us over four hours, the second we did in a couple so we definitely got better. We did well enough that I think I can correct my construction mistakes with the finishing work. They shouldn't be too hard to cover up if you know what I mean.
Building the Stems
Okay in this section I was really going out on a limb with my woodworking experience and I even tried to connect with a local cabinet maker to enlist there help. Well that didn't work out so what do you resort to - the internet and specifically YouTube to get direction. As I mentioned early I was able to remove one of the old stems in one piece and was fortunately able to make a bending jig for this effort.
I ordered up some ash strips, ripped them down to size (3/4",5/8",1/2") , soaked them overnight in hot water in my bathtub (from YouTube) and mounted them on the bending jig. Yes I borrowed clamps from a variety of resources.
After letting them sit on the jig for a couple days they are pretty much bent into shape so you take them off and let them dry out completely. While drying the first set we soaked and mounted the second set on the jig. When the drying is complete, glued the strips together and remounted the strips on the jig largest to smallest widths as well as we could. Once dried the belt - disc sander helps clean up the glue leaks and finishes the angling process for the stems.
Actually came out better then expected.
Refinishing the Inside
While staining and finishing the stems we took to the inside of the canoe. This area wasn't in too bad of shape but over the years the finish had worn and the wood was exposed. Did a light sanding on the ribs and an overall cleaning and then refinished the inside with the following product.
Didn't know how much I needed here so I bought way too much. But I have a couple of other places where this type of sealer might come in handy.
Put a couple of coats on and I think it came out pretty good.
Remember what it looked like before.
Refinishing the Outside
After the brightening up the inside of the canoe we took on the outside. Before I did this however I reinstalled the thwart and seats based on the marks I made in step one. The gunwales were slightly thicker then the original and not as wide so this part took some effort. Being thicker also created some procurement challenges because I needed longer bolts for the attachment process. Thanks to Gabby and the company she interns at Fastenal, I was able to get some 4 1/2 inch stainless steel flat head bolts for the project. Try finding those at Home Depot, Lowes or your nearest True Value.
The outside again was in pretty good shape and we just needed a new coat of finish. After some research I selected the following to paint/finish for the outside of the canoe. This was another inexpensive marine supply purchase - nothing associated with Marine is inexpensive. It did a great job however.
Had a warm day finally in April and Maureen did a great job putting a couple coats on the outside of the canoe.
Looks pretty darn good.
Building the Top Decks
Then I traced out on cardboard a template for cutting the decks. After some cutting, sanding and shaping I had my decks my ready for installation.
Installed on the canoe and yes I went back, sanded them down and lightened my finish because on the first pass I overdid the staining.
Final Touches
The last construction step was to install the brass protective stems and rope loops. Not sure how much protection you get from brass stems but they do dress up the top deck and wooden stems. After buying the stems on line and bending them by hand to fit the curve you drill the holes very carefully and then install them. At first I tried to install them with #4 brass screws and failed miserably. Not sure why they recommended this small a screw for mounting in hard wood but after I broke two off while hand installing I went to a bigger screw.
Had to further counter sink the holes with the larger screws but it all seemed to work out pretty well.
Accessorizing
No explanation required here:
Ready to go on May 1st - time will tell how it does in the water.
On the Water
Well here she sits on the dock at Ashfield - six months after it was brought to Grafton for the rebuild. Looks pretty good if I say so myself.
Unfortunately I still have a slow leak in the rear of the canoe. Thought I had patched all suspect spots but I must have missed something. Didn't have time to investigate this trip but will on a future visit to the camp. The good part is that everything is somewhat new so hopefully getting to the leaking spot should not be that difficult. I have a plan.
We took the canoe out a couple of times and it worked wonderfully. The accessories are really nice, no more jamming the pole between your legs and spilling your beverage. Life is Good.
Good work.
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