Paint

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How do you feel about Painting a Wooden Boat

Never, I like the wood too much to cover it up
4
20%
It can be a nice option to make a boat unique
14
70%
Only to add protection and cover up mistakes
2
10%
 
Total votes: 20

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Arctic
Posts: 217
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Location: Harrietsville, Ontario
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Paint

Post by Arctic »

Painting over our Wooden Boats. What do you think?

Any discussion to go along with your choice. I have found this to be a somewhat charged topic among some builders.

Mark
"The journey is the reward"- Tao saying
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Glen Smith
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Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Post by Glen Smith »

Painting either the interior or the exterior, but not both, can give a wooden boat a special look. Painting the exterior of a strip canoe is reminiscent of the wood canvas canoes without the weight of the canvas.
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Doug
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Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 7:59 am
Location: London, Ontario, Canada

Post by Doug »

I use to think painting (the exterior hull) was blasphemy.
But after several years of use, it might be a way to hide the never ending and dreadfull scratch situation.

Doug



.
"Some people hear the song in the quiet mist of a cold morning..... But for other people the song is loudest in the evening when they are sitting in front of a tent, basking in the camp fire's warmth. This is when I hear it loudest ...." BM
cecbell
Posts: 40
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:17 pm
Location: Nottingham, NH

Post by cecbell »

I have to agree with Glenn that painting the outside while leaving the inside bright looks very much like the wood canvas canoes, which I think is quite special.

At the risk of blasphemy, I find the look of unrelieved wood quickly tires the eye. Brightwork shows up best when used as a highlight.

On the downside, as others have pointed out and I've experienced, paint can hide damage in the fiberglass and wood. If for any reason there's a path that allows moisture into the wood, perhaps a deep scratch, if not caught, may result in the wood swelling and cracking the glass. A high quality paint can be flexible enough to hide these cracks, which may be almost microscopic, while they're visible through varnish as thin white lines. For this reason, it seems prudent to have at least one side clear.

On the other hand, knowing in advance that it will be painted allows some lattitude in selecting the wood and possibly even omitting the bead and cove operation by filling the gaps with a low density filler. I plan to experiment with this approach on my next canoe (a Hugh Horton Bufflehead).
Charles Campbell
AlanWS
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Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Shorewood, WI

Post by AlanWS »

I think it looks OK, but can't see myself ever doing it because I like the look of wood so much better.
Alan
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Moonman
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Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 11:24 am
Location: Vandorf, Ontario

Post by Moonman »

I agree with Glenn - one side only, usually outside. If you are building multiple boats, as many of us are doing/have done, then you can experiment. I love the look of that white winisk on the green valley site. I don't think its on the home page anymore but many of you have seen it.

Also I think "Nymph" Nick Schades small canoe publicized in Wooden Boat a couple months ago had the paint on the inside, and it looked pretty sweet.

Moonman.
sluggo
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Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:17 pm
Location: Vancouver BC

Post by sluggo »

Yeah, the white Winisk looks great. Especiallly with lighter colored trim.
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Moonman
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Location: Vandorf, Ontario

Post by Moonman »

Piture of the white winisk


Image

nymph

Image
Last edited by Moonman on Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Moonman
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Location: Vandorf, Ontario

Post by Moonman »

nymph inside

Image
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Glen Smith
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Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Post by Glen Smith »

When we click on the thumbnails we see images the same size as the thumbnails. Do you have larger pics you can post?
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