Canoe Refurbishment

Growing up my Dad took me and my brothers on some wonderful canoe trips. What a great opportunity to have quality time with family and friends while also enjoying the peace and tranquility of nature. So I decided to get a canoe without spending much money. A great canoe will run upwards of $1,000 or more. A decent canoe will run from about $250 to $750. The canoe I bought from a seller on Craig's List cost $60. It is a 12-foot aluminum canoe manufactured by Sears, probably in the 70's. These first three are the photos that appeared on Craig's list.The seller told me that the canoe had no leaks the last time he had it in the water, which was about two years ago. He said it has just been sitting in his yard under a tree since then. He also said that his oars, electric motor, and other gear were stolen. He said another buyer drove all the way up from Sarasota to look at this canoe, and then walked away. Clearly, this boat needs work.The first and biggest problem is the inside. You can see from the photos that there are aluminum ribs that give it strength. It turns out that these are (actually were) secured rather well by a half-inch foam padding liner inside the canoe. Unfortunately, most of that liner has disintegrated, which makes the ribs rather loose. In fact, two of the ribs were missing altogether. Unlike the Grumman aluminum canoes, which have bolted in ribs, these are completely removable and secured only by friction fit.

It was clear to me that the old black padding would need to be removed. So I pulled out all the ribs and removed the padding. It was a good thing I did! The ants had moved in, and were very comfortable living under what was left of the padding. We're talking thousands of ants. What a mess. I killed them with insecticide, and then hosed out the canoe.To replace the padding, I first toyed with the idea of furniture padding and exercise mats. Then I got the idea to use pool noodles, cut in half long-wise, which should offer the right amount of friction. After consulting with my neighbor, Tom, he came up with a brilliant solution: Foam pipe insulation! It is cheap. It is black. And it comes in small sizes. So that is the current plan.The outside of the canoe also needs attention. There appear to be no holes in the hull, but there are a few large dents. My neighbor Tom lent me his plastic hammer and showed me how to bang out the dents. It will never be perfectly smooth, but the smaller dents are not easily visible.Next I decided paint the inside of the canoe a medium grey, before reinstalling the ribs. I used a Krylon primer, which turns out to be a light gray, so I decided just the primer was enough.

The planned color scheme for the outside of the canoe is: natural aluminum with some bright red trim around the top edges. I convinced myself that this will look sharp. However, getting all the exterior paint off the hull will be serious work! Off to the store for a gallon of paint remover.Getting the paint off the outside of the canoe was more difficult than I expected. It took several passes with the paint removal paste to get it off. A flat razor is helpful to pull the paint off once the paste softens it. Since this is a well-used canoe, there are lots of dents, scratches and grooves. A stiff wire brush was effective in getting those areas cleaned of paint after the paste did its trick.The seats are made of poplar half-inch by 6-inch boards, supported by one by six treated lumber supports. The supports will also provide structural stiffening. The wood is primed with the same Krylon primer. The seats are anchored simply by screws through the edge wall of the canoe. Experience in use will determine if this method of attachment is sufficiently robust. Jumping up and down on the seats will surely break them. However, I was searching for a simple solution that would not add significant weight to the canoe, since I want to be easily able to lift it onto and off of the car roof.

I still have some hardware to install, such as eye-hooks on the inside to anchor gear. This can be done as I find time, and also as I find the need to anchor things. Stay tuned for photos of the canoe in the water! Well, in this last photo, here I am ready for launch! After about an hour on the water, there were no leaks!

Costs for the project:

$60 -- canoe

$20 -- tie downs

$30 -- paint remover, paint

$20 -- pipe insulation

$10 -- wood for seats

$25 -- paddle (needed one new one to go with an old one I already had)

$20 -- seat cushions / flotation devices

$0 -- registration not required unless motorized (it came with a motor mount, so someday...)

Grand total: $185.

4/5/2009: The cross bracing just did not work out. The braces moved around too much, and worked themselves loose. So they were removed and discarded. The bracing under the front seat seems to be enough. Here is a more recent photo of the canoe: