Canvasing and fasteners

[slk]

Ok guys I would like to do a canvas covering. This is not my first canoe. I have been building the wood and canvas canoe for years now with one exception. I have been clear coating them with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. I am not sure how many lbs of canoe tacks you guys use per canoe, but I have been averaging 2 lbs per canoe. Others have said it takes 4 lbs. Am I to assume it takes 2 lbs for the canvas? Canoe tacks have gone through the roof. So my question is when canvasing can you use stainless or monel staples to fasten the canvas. No one will ever see them and they would save lots of tacks for the planking job.

Steve

 

[Michael Grace]

Hi Steve,

Lots of people use stainless and/or Monel staples. I use them myself and have never been disappointed. That said, on new stems and on stems of canoes being restored, especially if they required epoxy treatment, I still use copper stem tacks because the staples can be difficult to drive in.

Michael

 

[MGC]

Steve, it does not take two pounds of tacks to attach a canvas. Figure four tacks per rib (two per side, go for a nice pucker) and a few for waste. There are about 500 tacks in a half pound. If you have a 1/4 pound it will more than finish the job.
You will also require the smaller stem tacks, 5/16th or 1/4 for the lap...these tend to run 200 to 400 pieces per oz. You won't need anywhere close to that many even if you are overly generous with them. These are pretty soft so giving the canvas a small poke with an awl can help them get started without turning the tips.
Presumably the difference in how many tacks are used has something to do with the size of the canoe being built and also the tacking pattern. A 16 foot canoe will use more tacks than a 14. Some folks use three tacks per plank, I have seen some use two...(use three except on narrow boards!).

 

[slk]

The ones I build are from plans from the old EM White. They are 18 footers +or-........... It has only been taking me 2 lbs for a canoe. Three tacks per rib. Two on one side 0ne on the other and alternate the pattern for the next plank. I do not have many but joints.

How many lbs of tacks does it take others here for a build???

Steve