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Skywoods Caring for your wood-canvas canoe |
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Storage
Moving
Maintenance
Painting and Varnishing
Minor Cuts and Tears
Restoring or Building Your Canoe
Wood-Canvas canoes are very strong and durable and the following steps will ensure that your canoe will give pleasure to many generations. Please feel free to contact us with any questions which you may have regarding your canoe. We also can supply you with any materials which you might need for the upkeep of your canoe.
Do not leave your canoe in the water. When you are not using it, remove it from the water and store it upside down off the ground. If it is stored upside down on the ground, the tips will rot away with time.
Sunlight and long term weather exposure will degrade paint, canvas, and filler.
Cover the canoe with a tarp or canoe cover designed to let the interior surface breathe.
Resting the canoe upside down is best.
Do not leave snow or any heavy objects on the canoe's bottom since the ribs will get bent out of shape.
Store it under a roof to keep the sun off the canvas.
Regardless of how many people are moving the canoe, always take a moment to speak to anyone helping you and agree to a path and plan. Personal experience has taught me that a plan is essential- even if you have moved many canoes or the same canoe many times. I have dropped more than one!
Please keep any significant scratches and rubbed spots touched up with paint or varnish about once a year. You do not have to repaint or revarnish the whole canoe since this will only add weight and lead to premature cracking because of too much finish. Always sand the old finish before adding any new paint or varnish when touching up spots
Sand with 180 or finer grit sandpaper. Use wet sandpaper for paint and dry sandpaper for varnish. Scratch the whole surface well so that the new finish will bond. This is very important. if you do not scratch the surface well enough, the new finish may peel. Reapply 1 or 2 thin coats of paint or varnish. Follow the directions on the paint or varnish container. Epifanes is what we use almost exclusively on all of our work. Please contact us if you need additional material for your canoe.
Small cuts or tears in the canvas can be repaired easily by a simple procedure:
Dry out the damaged spot using sun or carefully applied heat.
Using new canvas or similarly heavy cloth, cut a small piece as a patch leaving about 1/2" margin around the tear.
Lift the edges of the cut with a knife blade and tuck the patch underneath.
Glue the canoe canvas down with Model builders amberoid cement or 5 minute epoxy and let dry. A sand bag or strap will help hold everything down flat.
Then neatly glue another thin patch onto the outside of the cut.
Finally, follow up with paint to seal out the moisture.
Model builders amberoid cement is the old standby but hardware store 5 minute epoxy should do ok so long as it is waterproof. Duck tape is fine for a short term solution!
Please contact us if you have further questions or need materials.