How to Restore Old Canoes

Quickly improve your canoe's appearance and functionality by restoring it yourself.

A canoe that's taken a beating over the years but has too much sentimental value to be replaced can often be restored. While a skilled professional can more or less piece your old canoe together with new parts, a restoration this extensive can cost as much as $3,000. If your goal is to just improve your old wood canoe's appearance and functionality so you can get it back in the water, you can restore it yourself. All you'll need is some serious elbow grease and the right supplies.

Things You'll Need

• Metal pail
• Pack of foam brushes
• Natural bristle brush for applying varnish
• Epoxy
• 2 gallons of paint remover
• 2 gallons of varnish
• Paint scraper
• 2 old paint cans to hold the used remover
• Safety goggles
• Heavy-duty latex gloves
• Respirator mask
• 200-grit sandpaper
• Stirring stick
• Empty plastic container

Instructions

1. Brush paint remover generously over half of the wood interior of your canoe. Remove the loosened paint with a scaper, catching it in an empty paint can. Repeat the same process on the other half. Be sure you have a water source within reach so that you can wash away the paint remover if it comes into contact with your skin. Next, flip the canoe over, and using the same process, remove the paint from the bottom of the canoe. Without turning it right side up again, finally remove the paint from both sides.

2. Using sandpaper, smooth down any surfaces of the canoe that still have stubborn bits of paint remaining. Rather than sweeping the sand dust away, try and catch as much as possible in a small container. The more sand there is in the epoxy, the better it will fill in the cracks and blend with the larger wood surface of your canoe. Let the canoe dry for at least 24 hours.

3. Fill any cracks in the bottom of your canoe with a paintbrush dipped in the container of wood dust mixed with epoxy. The consistency of the mixture should be similar to that of peanut butter. Turn your canoe right side up again and repeat the same process on any small cracks on the interior and around the hull. Let the epoxy dry for at least 12 hours. Sandpaper all the epoxy patches down as smooth as possible and wipe away the dust.

4. Pour one part linseed oil to two parts mineral spirits into a large metal pail. Stir with a wood stick. Apply this mixture to the interior, bottom and finally, the sides of the canoe. Let your canoe dry for at least two weeks.

5. Brush the inside of your canoe with varnish, spreading it generously over each surface. Using firm brush strokes, go against the grain then brush towards the grain, repeating this technique to get an even spread.

6. Turn the canoe over and repeat this process along the canoe bottom. When finished, repeat the application of the varnish on both sides. Let the varnish dry for at least 24 hours before applying the next coat. Apply at least four coats to the exterior and three to the interior for the best results.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to work outside or in a well ventilated area at all times during the restoration process.

• Don't work in dim lighting or you may discover spots and cracks you missed once your canoe's out in the open sun

References

• Expedition Canoe:a Guide to Canoeing Wild Rivers in North America, Cliff Jacobson, 2005
• Building the main Guide Canoe, Jerry Stelmok, 2002
• Wooden Boat Renovation:New Life For Old Boats Using Modern Methods, Jim Trefethen, 1993