Weight before & after canvas...

[Howie]

Have any of you fellas who restore a lot of canoes ever kept notes on how much weight canvas adds to a canoe? That is, have you ever weighed the canoe before & after canvassing, mudding, & painting? Just curious...

 

[Benson Gray]

I have not actually weighed a canoe during a restoration but the Old Town Canoe Company catalogs between 1966 and 1974 listed a 15 foot canoe covered with dacron that was known as the featherweight. The weight was 46 pounds while the identical lightweight model with a light canvas covering was 58 pounds. Their 18 foot Guide's model with heavy canvas was 85 pounds for comparison. My guess is that the weight of canvas, filler, and paint would typically be about 15 pounds. Your mileage may vary...

Benson

 

[mccloud]

A year ago I restored a 12' Huron. Following repair to the hull, new decks & thwart, oil & varnish to the inside, paraffin to the outside, with no outwales, this hull weighed 30 lbs. on a scale I had at home. Canvas was stretched, traditional silica-based filler applied, sanded, primed, then multiple coats of paint, and the outwales & brass stem bands put on. This canoe went to Assembly and was weighed on Mark Zalonis' scale and came in at 48.8 lbs. So this comes in close to Benson's 15 lb. guesstimate.
Tom McCloud

 

[Greg Nolan]

Take a look at post # 25 -- http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.p...d-I-will-buy-it-quot/page3&highlight=verolite

Bill Smith states:

"For another data point in your calculations, I just took off the canvas of my newly acquired old town 18' guide model in order to begin restoring it. The canoe was built in 1946 and refurbished at the factory in 1964.
The rolled up painted canvas weighed 17 pounds. Less than I thought it would."

 

[Howie]

Thanks guys. You'd think that I would remember to do the weighing myself but in my excitement I always forget.

 

[rbudge]

I have just finished re-covering a 16' Chestnut "Fort" model (for about the fifth time since new). The canvas I removed, with paint and silica filler, weighs 15 pounds. I filled the cloth this time with the stuff recommended by Rod at Orca Boats. The canoe is now 75 pounds, five pounds lighter than it used to be.

 

[Rob Stevens]

Thanks guys. You'd think that I would remember to do the weighing myself but in my excitement I always forget.

Ya, me too. But I do always drum on the hull with and without canvas to see what tone the canoe possesses.