Filling Technique

Paint the whole canoe.

First coat, you can only do about 1 ft square per brush full. Work your way around the whole canoe, brush it out as smooth as possible. Apply the second coat right away, and go around the whole canoe. Put it on as efficiently as possible, brush it out as smooth as possible.

Let it sit till it dries out a bit, the wetness should be passed. Then take your gloved hand and rub it it. Rubber or latex gloves work great. You don't really need canvas mitts. If you rub it out too soon, then the filler is too mushy and impossible to rub smooth.

Two coats should be enough.
 
I haven't decided if I will use primer yet Dave. Been reading the posts here about blisters and may forgo it. Although, Fitz's comments about water migrating into the untreated surface of the canvas through the wide seams in old planks from the inside and raising blisters in the filled surface makes more sense to me than the presence or absence of primer. It reminds me of sealing wood planks exposed to the weather.....not a good idea to seal one side and not the other. Too bad there isn't some way to seal both surfaces of the canvas.

A high-build primer would be nice though, because I'm sure that after I sand the roughness off, there will still be some spots that such a product would fill nicely. I've got a few weeks to dwell on this new conundrum while the filler dries! Any new revelations on filler vs no filler would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt
 
yes,

""Any new revelations on filler vs no filler would be appreciated.**
No so much a revelation as thought.
I think primer is not the culprit in the blistering problem.
I think primer is good to help finish filling any weave.
I think it sands better and is cheaper and your final result will be better
I think--therefore I AM not sure.
(Someone should've let Decarte complete his sentence.) ;-]
 
Blisters

I have been, and still am, more or less in the far reaches of northern Maine tooling around in the sailing canoe, so haven't been connected:cool: . But I am getting closer to civilization. Not sure that is a good thing though.:rolleyes:

FWIW, I am still not sure about the blisters issue. One of my canoe projects was thoroughly soaked for about a week in Maine rain and including a dumping in the rapids of the West Branch this spring. No blistering at all. I have no idea what I did right on that canoe, but it had two coats of high build primer thoroughly sanded and two coats of paint.

I guess I have to keep better records.

Fitz
 
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