Here's a little project....

[Canotrouge]

So here is a little project that a client brought me.... I need to redo the gunnels and decks only... After many pieces of craps as test piece going through my little router table, I manage to get a decent 1/2 round using a 1/4 round bit... Now I need to see if I can achieve the same result running the17+ feet of gunnel stock I have!!

 

[Robin]

I'm always looking for canoes like that, great way to wile away the winter and make some gas money to get me across Ontario's Highway 11 next year. I love an old canoe that had banged up alum gunnels or rotted ash refitted with wood,

Wood is not for everyone as it requires more maintenance and better storage of the canoe, but how hard is it to take care of some gunnels? Oil or varnish once in a while, easy peasy. Wood gets beautiful with age, vinyl covered gunnels don't look very nice after they get faded, scuffed, scratches showing aluminum, not my cup of tea.

Same goes for leather on a pack imo, geeze, so easy to apply some Snow Seal a couple of times a year and they look better with age....like some folks I know.

Too much coffee this morning, I just said more in this post than I said the whole 6 days at Marshall...haha

 

[Boatman53]

That is a little worse than the white one I'm working on now. Is the gunnel really only 1/2" ? I'm using the same profile but mine are 3/4" x 7/8" as were the originals. I used a hand held router, I put all four gunnel pieces side by side and routed the edges of the middle two, then shifted them. The router bearing was guided by the sides and with all the pieces lined up there was plenty of support for the router base.
If you are going to use the router table since you have it dialed in make some feather boards to hold the stock to the fence. Good luck.
Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

Thank you guys, I'm with you Robin, wood gunnels, leather and canvas, wooden paddles, I just need a w/c canoe... One day one day!

Boatman, feather board for sure!! The stock are 13/16 x just a hair under 3/4....

I'll keep you guys posted on the progress... Just need to find a good time(weather wise) and a helper(the wife) to mill them.

 

[memaquay]

I like to run a 1/2 inch and then a 1/4 inch on my outwales. I put the 1/2 inch facing the bottom of the canoe. I feel like it sheds water better, both in the water and out, and I like the feel when I portage. That's the nice thing about building your own gunwales, you can make them the way you want.

 

[Canotrouge]

Good point Mem, and if it was my boat I would do something a bit different, but he wants it like it was, minus the rot....

 

[clemency]

Until its recent replacement by the Ugliest Canoe Ever, the canoe at my family's camp was one with wooden gunnels. I slowly watched them rot away over the years since I'm pretty certain I am the only person over the course of entire summers who even took it out of the water. It is currently stored under the main house, sans gunnels, and will hopefully still be there when I'm close enough to haul it home and fix it. Then I'll have to decide whether to keep it or donate it back to the family. It's green, which I like, but the Ugliest Canoe Ever is pretty darned ugly.

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

A bit more done today.... Gunnels are shaped, decks are roughed out. Need a bit of fine tuning, and then drilling and oiling.... The weather has been crap, it was 3 degrees C this morning, snow in the mountains a round the house, the stove is going... In the house that is!

 

[memaquay]

Nice job, you got some mad skills there! We have entered a fall heat wave, 27 degrees today, supposed to be hot the rest of the week. Bring on 3 degrees, can't wait for things to cool down! (plus I want to try out my new Atuk winter tent)

 

[Canotrouge]

Thank's Mem. I don't think I have more skills than you, these are just gunnels, not a full canoe!!! I would like to make a canoe or two one day!! Next summer I will build my shop, small but big enough for a canoe to fit in, maybe it will be the start of my career of canoe building.
Cheers

 

[latremorej]

Looks good!

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

Done... Took me a bit longer than I thought, I'm not 100% satisfied with the fish product, For exemple, there is a few "gaps" where the in wales and out wales meet in the bow and stern, where the layup is thicker, but I think I did good none the less....

 

[Odyssey]

Nice work Canot.

 

[Canotrouge]

Thank you!!

 

[madmike]

What a great, and diverse collection.

 

[memaquay]

Looks great!

 

[southcove]

I have been using Snow Seal for years and missed that tip!

Do you rub in by hand or a cloth or what, how much do you use on really old people?!

Fact of the matter when I got up this morning I knew positively I would learn something that would come in useful today.

Yeah, I know, all the world loves a wise guy...

 

[Muskrat]

Looking good Canotrouge, and that's quite a collection of canoes, but do you turn away all canoe projects that aren't red?

 

[Canotrouge]

Ho in the back ground? Yes, a bit of every thing....Just need a W/C canoe to top it up... and maybe a striper if you ask some lol

 

[Canotrouge]

No, I work on any colours, as long as people are ready to pay...