I'm trying to ID a canoe I acquired a couple of years ago (ah, the "free" canoe). Actually it was a swap; my brother in law gave us a cheapo Coleman plastic canoe (the kind with the aluminum tube frame). I never did much with it as I had another [ancient] fiberglass canoe, but I found that a YMCA camp down the lake where my daughter works as a nurse had an old canoe needing woodwork but otherwise solid... and they also had a bunch of the Coleman canoes, and agreed to swap.
Anyway, it's a Royalex hull with wood gunwales, thwarts, and cane seats, just over 16' long. I suspect it's a Mad River, from the place where there was once a long rectangular sticker amidships, but it could be a We-no-nah as well? There are no other markings that I could find.
As you can see, all of the wood needs to be replaced. I originally intended to buy everything from Ed's, but when all the ash trees started dying we (at our camp) bought a sawmill to cut them up for lumber, and as ash is traditional for canoe parts, I'm going to make the gunwales and thwarts from the trees that once grew around the lake it'll mostly be paddling on, just seems appropriate. I'll still buy the seats from Ed's, probably the contour bucket, at least for the back.
The other question is about refinishing the hull. It's solid, a couple of minor gouges but no cracks, but large parts of the surface have crazed, almost like orange peel from a bad spray paint job, but it wasn't painted that I can tell. Presumably it's UV damage to the outer layer. What's the best way to refinish a Royalex hull? The outer layer is vinyl, is it not?
Anyway, it's a Royalex hull with wood gunwales, thwarts, and cane seats, just over 16' long. I suspect it's a Mad River, from the place where there was once a long rectangular sticker amidships, but it could be a We-no-nah as well? There are no other markings that I could find.
As you can see, all of the wood needs to be replaced. I originally intended to buy everything from Ed's, but when all the ash trees started dying we (at our camp) bought a sawmill to cut them up for lumber, and as ash is traditional for canoe parts, I'm going to make the gunwales and thwarts from the trees that once grew around the lake it'll mostly be paddling on, just seems appropriate. I'll still buy the seats from Ed's, probably the contour bucket, at least for the back.
The other question is about refinishing the hull. It's solid, a couple of minor gouges but no cracks, but large parts of the surface have crazed, almost like orange peel from a bad spray paint job, but it wasn't painted that I can tell. Presumably it's UV damage to the outer layer. What's the best way to refinish a Royalex hull? The outer layer is vinyl, is it not?
