advice sought re refurbishing old wooden canoe - to oil or to varnish?

fredster

Curious about Wooden Canoes
My girlfriend and I are about to try and give a new lease of life to a old canoe. Its not in the best of shape, having had a few coats of rather inexpertly applied varnish over the years. There are some pics of it here:

http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/fredster_photo/janes canoe/

Our plan is to sand it back to bare wood but then what? It has a couple of holes than need filling - they're enough to half fill the boat in 30 mins or so of going on the water. Would it be better to oil or varnish this boat? If anyone has any tips I'd much appreciate them. I'm assuming these boats left the factory with a varnished outer, is this correct? My girlfriend is of the opinion that boats of this age and type are supposed to leak slightly until they have been left in the water to 'take up'. Is this true?

Its sat in a garage for a decade or two so wood is a bit on the dry side, but to my inexperienced eye there's no rot. As pics show it has at some point in its life been coated on the inner surface with a coat of something like tar. This isn't sticky and whilst not as appealing as wood its my guess is its not causing any obvious problems. My main concern is to get this boat in a useable condition. Due to its leaky state its languished in a garage for a good twenty years, but I'm of the opinion that things of beauty such as this should be used, not just looked at once in a while.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

fred
 
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If I were you, instead of sanding I would start by stripping the old finish off both the exterior and interior with a paint stripper. This will be the most effective way to remove the old finish. Stripping is quick, less damaging to the canoe, and will remove all the finish in an even manner.

Once the old finish is gone any repairs that may need tending to will be evident and I’m sure the forum can help you from there especially when pictures are posted of the repairs in question.

When the repairs are completed the hull can then be revarnished.
 
Fred,

You posted twice? You should delete one post.

To use this boat it will need to soak to seal, especially if it has not been in the water for a long time.
That's assuming that there are no structural issues that need repair.
You can put some water in it with your garden hose in the driveway to speed the process. Don't do this when it's up on horses. Position it on the ground.

The finish for such a boat should be a high quality marine spar varnish.
The boat needs to be totally dry before you apply it.

I cringe when I hear mention of sanding varnish off.....maybe you meant to say that you plan to sand just enough tho allow a fresh coat to adhere?
Sanding down to the wood can damage the tacks/nails that hold your boat together and also can damage the wood.
You don't want to do that.
If you need to remove the finish (still TBD without photo's) you should consider stripping it.
Strip. TSP, TeakNu, light sand, finish......
Do not use a polyurethane varnish.
There are lot's of old threads on this site that will provide you all of the information you need.
 
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Thanks for replies guys.

Dylan, when you say use a paint stripper, do you mean a paint-on solution or a hot air gun?

MGC, you say boat will need to soak to seal - do you mean after its stripped and re-varnished? I would have thought that wood has to be bone dry for varnish to adhere. Or do you mean to use canoe in the meantime, in its current state, it needs to soak first?
 
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Fred,
Your girlfriend has it right. To use the boat as is, expect it to take a while to seal up.
Even after you refinish it it's likely to leak for a bit if it's dried out.

Typically you would not use heat to remove varnish...paint stripper is the ticket.
Paint it on generously and use brushes to pull it up.
Cedar is a very easily damaged wood so take care not to be too aggressive.
Often folks try to use environmentally safer strippers and in so doing end up needing to work harder with tools to lift the paint/varnish.
Find the nastiest stuff you can buy and lay it on thickly. It's lot's of fun.
 
Fred, as MGC said use a brush on paint stripper, not a heat gun.

The success of any paint stripper is the method you use for application and removal. Let the stripper do the work for you. This usually means putting it on thick enough and leaving it on long enough to do its’ work. You’ll probably want to put on two coats. Put on one, remove it when it has kicked, then put on another removing it when it has kicked. You will then have to rinse/wash the canoe out.

I’m sure there is a more detailed discussion of the processes others have used for stripping somewhere on the forum.
 
Thanks for that Benson, not sure what happened to my original link but I've updated my initial post now so link to pics work.
 
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