- 16' (15' 8")
- 36" beam
- leather (babiche) seats
This is a wood canvas canoe built in the 70's by the Bastien Brothers of Village Huron, Quebec. You can see by the photos that it is in pretty bad shape, mostly due to improper storage outdoors. Both decks are rotted out, as are both outwales. Some planking at the tips was rotted as well. Luckily there were no broken ribs, and the inwales were in good shape, except for a piece about a foot long at the bow. The canvas was history.
I then started to dig out the staples holding the remnants of the canvas to the planking, and removed the old canvas. I did take notes all along the way so I'd know how to put it all back together again! That's my 10yr old daughter, Lisa, helping me with the tough parts.
The inwales looked ok, so I was careful to remove the ash cap so as to not damaged the inwales any further. The caps were rotted, so they went to the garbage too.
The two decks were next. They were both rotted out at the tips, so I decided to replace them. Out they came. After finding out that the floatation must have been a previous owner's bright idea, I ripped out both of the boxed-in ends.
I searched the web for canoe repair sites, and found several. Peter Shultz of Classic Boat Kits was very helpful in milling the wood that I needed for replacing the decks, gunwales, and keel. He was also full of information about resources and supplies for building and repairing all kinds of canoes. Peter custom-mills his own custom cedar strips for building your own cedar-strip boat - a unique design that you have to see to appreciate!
There were several planks at the bow and stern that had to be replaced, as well as one puncture near the stern,
as seen below. Peter had supplied me with some rib stock, which I was able to plane down to the required
thickness. I shaped them to fit, then tacked and epoxied them to the ribs and stems. When they were cured I
completed carving them to the stem shape. In the photo, at the right, you can also see the white styrofoam
that I later ripped out.
I measured and shaped a new piece of cedar to complete the inwale at the bow. I used a scarf joint and epoxy. The joint will be hidden by the new ash inwale cap.
I made a pattern and cut two new decks out of 7/8" mahogany. These replaced the original 1 1/4" maple decks. I also changed the shape of the decks to allow for a 3/16" walnut edge strip/coaming that I'll steam bend to fit.
The seats and thwarts were attached with steel bolts, which would not budge. I cut the nuts off with my Dremel and replaced all the bolts with Stainless steel. I also lowered both the seats, using a 2" mahogany dowel as a spacer between the seat and the inwale. 4" bolts, 10x24, worked fine.
Another search of the web, this time for "Huron canoes" found Dave Robinson at
Tripper Dave's Home page,
and Dave's page about HIS repairs to a Huron Canoe!.
Several emails later I had lots more info and advice! Thanks Dave!
I made and installed two ash carry handles fore and aft as per Hugh's suggestion (deciding to forego replacing the original eye bolts through the decks). You can see one of them in the deck photo above.
The boat was flipped back over and I sanded the entire outer hull with an orbital sander using 60 grade paper. All protruding tacks were either replaced or driven home, and all loose or extra tacks at the stems were removed. I then vacuumed the entire hull to get rid of all the accumulated dust and debris.
The hull was then gived a coat of double-boiled linseed oil mixed with Varsol (50/50 mix) and allowed to dry overnight.
Next came the canvas. I rolled it out on the hull as stretched it out lengthways as much as I could. Using a hand webbing stretcher I tacked the canvas at each rib using two big upholstery tacks (#12s?) starting at the center, and alternating sides of the boat to keep the canvas even. I worked my way to one end, then came back to the center and worked the other direction. I cut the canvas off leaving 3" extra length past the gunwales. The stem ends were folded over and tacked one at a time and the excess canvas cut off.
Using a propane torch, I then burnt off the small hairs and fibres covering the canvas until the whole canvas looked like a giant toasted bun. A stiff brushing removed all the charred debris.
Next came the filler, which was painted on using a 4" brush. It is important to keep stirring the mixture constantly in order to keep the silica in suspension. I used 5 litres of filler for the 16' boat. In the photo below, Lisa is smoothing out the filler with a piece of scrap canvas. The filler is now drying for 3 weeks.
The filler has dried for over 3 weeks. I sanded it (right! It's hard as a rock...) and smoothed out some rough spots (next time I'll take real care to get it as smooth as possible while it's wet...).
I rough-shaped the keel while the filler was drying, and it was now installed using 1 1/4" brass screws from the inside of the ribs into the keel. I also sealed the keel to the filler using Sikaflex. I also varnished the complete inside of the boat, including the seats (which I removed first), then re-attached the seats to help hold the canoe in shape for the gunwale installation.
On went the two new outwales, screwed through the ribs into the inwale at every fourth rib with 1 1/2" brass screws. I also sealed it on with the Sikaflex. I cut and sanded them to fit at the bow and stern, and profiled the lower edge. I then glued an ash cap on top of these outwales, and another cap on top of the inwales, using epoxy glue. The two caps do not touch together, leaving the classic opening between the ribs showing.
The decks were finished out with a walnut accent-strip, and a steam-bent walnut cowling on the inboard edge of the decks. All was scraped, planed, and sanded with three grades of sandpaper, down to 220. The two stem bands were then re-installed using new 3/4" #5 brass screws, and sealed on with the Sikaflex. They are notched into the keel, which they overlap by about 3 inches.
First coat of paint. Royal Blue. I masked off the outer edge of the outwales, so the paint is continuous from under the outwale - over the hull to the opposite gunwale's outer edge. The stem bands were also painted over to further seal them tight. Later, the paint will wear off these giving the boat that 'classic' look...
She is done! PFD's are at the ready, paddles are varnished and waiting by the door. Two more days of good warm indoor drying time and I'll be able to get it out of the living room (yes, I am insane...and I have a tolerant and forgiving wife...and kids).
And it was! There's my wife Sylvie, and chief assistant Lisa, suited up for a 3 hour trip on the Rideau River. We put in where the Jock River joins the Rideau (on Hwy #16 just south of Woodroffe Avenue in Nepean).
(right) Lisa and I head out for a spin around the mouth of the Jock River. The bow rides high with Lisa up front, but with two adults the boat is perfectly level. I'll put the weight 'way up front when we go canoe camping this summer.
Took a trip to the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough to search for another Huron Village that Kirk Wipper told me was there. Found one that was identical to mine that had an original deckplate still attached to the deck!
I'm still searching for a decal to photograph and reproduce.
Update: April 2008! I received
an email from an Alex Jeffrey,
who sent along this photo of a decal on a canoe he recently bought!!!
On the bottom it reads: Indians M.P. Canoes Village Huron.
I sanded all the paint on the canvas, then primed and repainted all; repaired some minor canvas rips near the gunwales; sanded all the gunwales and replaced and repaired all the screws, then revarnished all including the decks; stripped and revarnished the seats after recaning them; and stripped and revarnished the thwarts. Photos soon!
I'd like to thank all those who helped with this restoration (most of them unknowingly, via their web pages...). They really gave me a good feel for the procedures and methods, and, since I had never restored a canoe before, the confidence to tackle the task. The beauty and variety of many of the sites has inspired me to no end.
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