It's Official - my '51 OTCA project

I have bit the bullet and decided to restore this boat myself - my first boat project. I was going to send it off for someone more experienced but I know I can do it and I know it will be worth it. This afternoon I removed the gunnels so it's official

I'll follow progress, however slow, in this thread.

 

And I did my first repair

 

AND met a new friend. Although, I'm not sure he's all that friendly Stowaway from South Carolina.

 

We are here for ya....

 

Thanks Dave and I'm counting on it

(and grateful!)

 

You'll enjoy it! Best of luck.
Ron

 

And so it begins...
Make sure that if you are gluing and using a "regular" glue that you are using Titebond 3, not TB 2. The TB 3 is more water resistant than 2.

 

The key to a job like this is not to get too far ahead of myself. Don't remove anything without a plan to quickly make it better. Baby steps will be the mantra.

First, buy these books;
http://www.wcha.org/store/wood-canv...tory-construction-restoration-and-maintenance
http://www.wcha.org/content/old-canoe-how-restore-your-wood-canvas-canoe
Between them, you will get a good idea of how to do just about anything. Where they fall short, then this board will fill in the rest of the gaps.

 

Thanks for the links - I'll get them ordered. Generally I plan to leave the planks on the ribs

One question already is how carefully do I need to store the long pieces like the gunnels and keel, are they likely to warp if I don't create some sort of perfect support for them through maybe sometime in the summer?

 

BTW nothing new but if you didn't see the "before" pics they're here: http://www.markmalmberg.com/canoe
I'll make another page at some point for in-process pics.

 

Well too late for that first one but I'll double-check what I have.
Speaking of glues, my dad used resorcinol for gluing wood splices etc. on his own sailboat. That stuff seemed great, is that in common use still?

 

I don't think so. Newer adhesives have come on the scene.

 

What would be a new adhesive outperforming resorcinol? Thanks

 

I like epoxy, or epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. Tightbond 3 too.

 

I've heard good reports about G-Flex epoxy, remains more flexible when set than standard epoxies. TM..

 

I use the G-flex on almost everything...I recently repaired the fiberglass fender/headlamp assembly of an older Freightliner (held it in place so that I could use glass and then bondo), my gore tex North Face boots were held together by it until there was more g-flex than boot, I repaired a cracked stock on an old Remington and of course I use it on canoes..stems, rails, rib tips, thwart and seat repairs...etc. It's great stuff. The one thing that users need to consider is that it does not penetrate tightly grained hard woods very well (at all). So, to get the best joint performance be sure to make really nice long splices. Little shorty one inch splices are likely to fail. Once the stuff hardens it is very impact resistant, one of it's major benefits. It hardens slowly. That gives you lot's of working time for clamping/fixturing. When you use G-Flex you are not in a race to get your work done before it sets. I do not use "standard" epoxies on anything anymore...

 

Pulling the seats out, the diamond-head bolts are pretty tightly held by the wood of the inwales as well as the wood of the seat itself. The front seat I was able to get started with a few taps of a rubber mallet, and then backing the screws out. The aft seat is not budging and I don't want to break anything. Any tips? I imagine the wood has shrunk over time so that what were once clearance holes are now tightly threaded.

I've thought about heating the bolts enough to expand a bit to maybe compress the wood a bit. A bit hotter and I could char the wood a bit but could easily soften or damage the metal. I'm not sure either is a good idea

 

Discussed at length here:http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/o-t-diamond-head-bolts.16556/#post-84367
I thread a couple nuts on the ends of the thread to protect the threads and then give em a whack with a brass hammer..the rubber mallet doesn't usually do the job. The diamond heads are embedded into the rail so you need to get them free to get the seats (and thwarts) free. The attached thread gives you many other ways to tackle this.

 

Oh yeah I tried that too. I could try harder though Thanks for the link, headed there now...

 

OK Thanks again for the link. I'm going to make a little press as described, that seems much more gentle and controlled than hitting harder