️️️NOMAD - Canvas Canoe Repair Part 2

[@johnle5554]

Thank you so much for posting such a detailed series of videos. You’ve inspired my son and I to try to repair an old old town canoe.

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

Good to hear. Old Towns are nice canoes so you have a worthy subject. Also check out my friend Rod at Orca Boats. He has a bunch of canoe repair videos too. I'll eventually put out some more myself when I get a chance.

[@GarySmythe]

I'm working on a wood and canvas canoe with similar problems. Thanks for the video it'll help a lot!

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

You're welcome. there are more to come but my hands are full with some other video projects right now. We'll get them out eventually.

[@captainahab5650]

Excellent video! I look forward to seeing more! ~Rich

[@gravelcreekfarms3850]

Great work. Thanks

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

My pleasure. Always open to requests.

[@gravelcreekfarms3850]

I’m sure anything you produce will be a help. I’m making my way thru your old vids now

[@canada5691]

Will there be a continuation of this series beyond part 2?

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

I always intended to keep it going but I haven't been happy with the quality of the footage I have stockpiled on this subject. I have been thinking of getting in a cedar canvas canoe and starting over again, doing a more cohesive job of it.

[@YACKon]

Hey there. Are there more videos in this series? I have the same canoe (My mother bought it in the 60s) and I would love to get it back out on the water.

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

I intended there to be but I'm not happy with the quality of the footage collected up. It would be too hard to create worthwhile videos out of it. When I get the time I intend to do a thorough start to finish series on one specific canoe.

[@YACKon]

@@Nomadboatbuilding Okay, well here's my offer to you. I will take two weeks off work in the next year or so, put my canoe up on top of my Forester and get it on the ferry (I live on Nantucket) and then I will drive to you and help you shoot the restoration and offer a hand in the woodworking and canvas pulling and tack-pick-upping. And I'll also help with video editing and music (I have 30 years of experience in this kind of thing). I really want to see my mother's canoe restored. It has massive sentimental value to me. And I'd love to see you help more people like me. Say the word. I'll make the boat reservations. Grant Sanders.

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

@@YACKon that's an interesting offer Grant. I'll make note of it and give it some thought.

[@YACKon]

@@Nomadboatbuilding It's a long way, but it might be a fun adventure. I've got a few friends on that side of the continent.

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

@@YACKon Possibly the least practical way to get your canoe fixed up but we'll think on that.

[@n5407c]

Hey There! Greetings from coastal Maine. What's going on with your block plane, with the heel tapered like that? Is that something you bought, or a stock tool that you modified?

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

That's the Veritas Apron plane, available from Lee Valley Tools. Great little block plane.

[@DarthCrumbie]

Hi, I'm possibly buying a 1912 Cedar Canvas canoe from a colleague, and I wanted to do some research on the repairs one might need to make. I really enjoyed part 1 and 2 but I don't see a part 3. Has there been more progress in this series?

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

I’m afraid not. Other video projects bumped that series to the side and I haven’t picked it back up. Progress to pick it back up is somewhat hampered by available footage to covering the various aspects of repair. It’s pretty spotty and spread over different canoes or the quality isn’t up to the level I want to use at this point. I can tell you that an average canoe requires a good 100 hours of labour to get it back on the water.

[@DarthCrumbie]

@@Nomadboatbuilding that's too bad. Hopefully you get back to it soon.

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

@@DarthCrumbie I have it high on my to-do list. There's a Chestnut trapper model available to me that needs everything so I may start from scratch with that.

[@DarthCrumbie]

@@Nomadboatbuilding that would be awesome.

[@paulkerby4829]

Nice work I’ll keep this video

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

Thanks. There's more to come.

[@providence13751]

hey did you ever finish this series? I'm really curious about the rest of your repair work... especially your process for finishing canoes and canvasing

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

Not yet. I'm picking away at it as projects come through the shop. It's kind of my fall back content. I'm producing them in little pieces, generaly following the order of operations I follow as I move through a restoration project. The next one will be on thwarts I think. I have a bunch of footage in the bank. Canvasing will probably come further down the road but I do have a canvassing job to do in the next few weeks so maybe I'll bump it up the schedule. I was thinking of getting other repair related stuff put together as well. The shooting is the enemy of productivity though and those repairs pay the bills.

[@providence13751]

@@Nomadboatbuilding I hear you. makes sense. I've used your videos and a restoration book by Mike Elliott to help me restore a chestnut prospector. but now im done all the wood repair and am now looking at finishing the inside and canvasing the outside. but thanks for your help so far!

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

@@providence13751 More than happy to help. Feel free to float any questions you have by me.

[@providence13751]

​@@Nomadboatbuilding thx so much! I'm wondering about your process for varnishing/finishing the canoe before doing canvas and filler.. do you oil the hull first and then varnish? if so, should i use tung oil or BLO? and what kind of varnish do you recommend?

[@Nomadboatbuilding]

@@providence13751 I always oil the exterior of the planking and if the canoe has been stripped, the interior too. I use boatsauce for this which is a slurry of linseed oil or any other finishing oil, tung is fine, mixed with some old varnish, a bit of pine tar and solvent to thin it all out. I have a jug of this on the goo at all times into which goes all the bits of varnish or oil from other jobs. If starting from scratch, Linseed oil and solvent is just fine. About 50:50. You can't go wrong with high quality varnish. My top picks are Epifanes for quality of finish and Le Tonkinois for friendly to work with. I would go with Le Tonkinois for the base coats and finish off with Epifanes for shine and durability. Either one is good on its own. Epifanes is harder to work with because of its viscosity. It needs careful thinning for most applications. I also use Petitt and Interlux varnishes because they are most available to me locally, and while they are good, they are not as good as the others. Petitt Captain's varnish is easy to use right out of the can. I like to varnish before canvassing because it is easier to handle the boat and the trim (rubrails) should be varnished before final installation anyway. That way screw holes and backside all get varnished. I always pre-hang the trim before canvassing and then re-install after finishing.