Boat Repair, Restoration, Building
A breasthook is a sturdy piece of wood that marries the sides of the boat together at the stem. It’s a structurally important piece, and can be tricky to fit. So I did what I usually do when I have a tricky piece to fit, I made a pattern. Continue reading “Breasthooks Part 1–Fabrication”
Gunwale is an old nautical term. A wale is a plank on the side of a ship or boat. The top wale on a sailing warship was called the gun wale and was reinforced to carry the stresses imposed by heavy cannon. Typical of nautical terms, it is not pronounced like it is spelled. “Gunnel” is the correct pronunciation. In canoes, it has come to mean the reinforcing strips along the top edge of the boat. Specifically, there are usually two strips, an inwale and an outwale. Continue reading “New Gunwales”
The first step in any restoration project is assessing and agreeing on the work to be done. In this case, we agreed that Ashley River Boatworks would perform repairs needed to the boat, but that re-finishing would be the owner’s responsibility. Often and owner has special talents and can save money by performing some of the work themselves. Continue reading “Restoring a Canoe–Step 1–Assess the Work”
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about a recent project–restoring a strip planked canoe. These canoes are built by nailing thin wooden strips to a set of forms, and glueing the edges of the strips together. Once all the strips are in place, a layer of fiberglass is glued to the outside of the built up canoe. Then the forms are removed and fiberglass is glued to the inside of the boat. This creates a rigid, light structure that one person can easily carry by themselves. And they’re beautiful too! Continue reading “Restoring a Strip Planked Canoe”