35+ year old rebuilt canoe's Maiden voyage

[shizzy]

I finally finished up and took out my old canoe today. I got the canoe from a friend of mine for free. He owed me $40, is unemployed and had a beat up canoe in his yard. I love to fish and have no canoe so we called it even. $40 debt for a busted canoe.

Just some history on this canoe. My friend got it from his GF who inherited it from her dead Ex Husband. it was old, bent, cracked and missing the stern plate. It had three coats of paint on it (all poorly brushed on house paint) and multiple (and poorly attempted) patches.

But alas, I am one with more time and ambition then money. as nice as those new ones they sell, $300+ just isnt in my budget.

so I got to it. bent gunwale? no problem, bent it back in to place. missing stern plate? 16ga steel plate bent in to shape and attached with some stainless screws. I then popped off all the old patches. they were basically applied to shiny paint so they were never really stuck good in the first place. I then sanded off all layers of housepaint down to the factory gelcoat. ground out and patched all the bad spots. I sure had a crash course in fiberglass work. I spent many hours online researching the proper way to patch. after all that I sprayed on a few coats of flat greenpaint. no gel coat for me. a few cans or paint is cheaper.

I then wandered down to the DMV for a registration sticker. It was at this point I realized I should have gone to the DMV before any work was done.No bill of sale, no old registration Numbers visable on the canoe. after finding out any boat made before Nov of 72 has a short serial # and not a "hull Number" and some sweet talking to the young girl at the DMV they handed me a sticker. Yup, good till 2009!!!!

two oars and two life jackets and I was ready.

here is a pic of the canoe when I brought it home (thats my doggie sam in the pic BTW

like I said, bent broken, and cracked.

here it is with some of the paint of and the holes partially patched.

I had to replace the supports in the middle as they were rotted and cracked.

here it is with a good coat of primer on it.

I went with olive drab since the cans were $1 cheaper then the rest

got it all strapped to the car

I woke up this morning and looked out my kitchen window to this odd site

the canoe has been on those saw horses since mid april, so to see them empty was strange.

BUT, the long awaited maiden voyage was today. My coworker Jay and I talked our boss in to letting us out an hour early (fisherman himself, he understood) and headed over to lake Gervais.

here it is loaded and ready to cast off.

I only had one tiny spot that seaped a little. nothing A little resin wont seal up. Canoe paddled and performed flawlessly. I was happy the old girl was again doing what she was built to do, but was sad at the thought of all those years laying in the dirt with a hole in her. how many years since she last took two guys out for a fishing trip?

the weather was great, just a slight wind. and maybe 85 degrees.

My Friend Jay caught a nice northern and I nabbed a medium sized bass and a northern.

35 more years of fishing in store for this old girl??

[MNice]

Very cool, and very nice job!!

[Dan Thiem]

Excellent post Shizzy! Way cool.

I did the same thing with an old glass unit myself. Resurected an old 17 foot square stern from a dump up north. (I always come home with more than I leave with. )

Basicly the same thing. Gunwhale rivets ripped through, transom absolutley rotted away, seats broke, holes, etc...

Now she weighs a ton and a half with all the new glass and I nicknamed her The Warhorse. Camo paint job on mine though. I put a battery in a milk crate up near the front and run jumper cables to the back for the electric motor.

Same experience for me with getting her licensed.

[shizzy]

More then once I doubted my decision to continue with the rebuild, but I am very happy with the end result. even with materials, registration, paddles and life jackets im still easily under $200.00

best part is my Fiancee' never once questioned or doubted me. she even tells me to have a good time when I tell her im headed out fishing.

[harvey lee]

Looks like a job well done and for a very fair price. Now, get fishing and enjoy.

[shizzy]

I feel like Im 16 again and have a car. I seem to be much more popular now that I have something that floats and can be fished out of....

[Surface Tension]

shizzy, The boat Gods are smiling upon you for giving the old canoe a new life. Thanks for posting the pictures, I enjoyed seeing the progress and happy ending.