coloring the outside of a stripper

Ron Shale · Post by **Ron Shale** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:39 am

In 1968 my wife and I bought a new old town fiberglass 16 footer canoe in bright red. Many miles later I'm replacing it with a stripper that I patterned off the original hull and now I'm at the point of glassing it. We want the outside red and the inside natural ceder. It will hopefully have the look of a wood and canvas canoe with black walnut gunwales and deck. The part I'm leary about is getting it red. I can use a two part gelcoat and enter the unknown (I always used Z-spar clear varnish before) or just use a red marine paint. My thinking is that the gel will be a deeper layer and not show the scraps as bad. The down side is weight ( the 1968 canoe came in at 85 lbs. and this one I'm hoping to get under 65 lbs.). Anybody out there that has experience in coloring the outside of a new stripper canoe? A side note that I've been wondering about is that the bottom of the old canoe (which would make Gilpatrick smile) is flat. Gilpatrick uses an extra football shaped piece of fiberglass on the bottom to strenghten the hull, when I drew up the forms the middle three stations had a slight concave in the middle. I thought it was old age and snow, but what if it was for strengh? Think about tumblehome on the sides and how the curve makes the canoe stronger. Thanks for the forum and any replies that I get.

Jack in Stoughton · Post by **Jack in Stoughton** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:58 pm

Look at the LP paints. Sterling make one that I've seen and it looks good with brush application. Avaialble via West Marine.

Todd Bradshaw · Post by **Todd Bradshaw** » Mon May 17, 2004 3:20 pm

Yes, LP paint would probably be the best choice. It's really tough for paint. I have never seen epoxy gelcoat, but regular polyester gelcoat doesn't stick well to the epoxy underneath and even if it did, gelcoating an entire boat from the outside is a lot of work, because the finish isn't smooth after application and requires a lot of sanding and polishing to get it that way.

Your Old Town was most likely a model "FG" - one-piece, off-white gunwale/seat/thwart/deck casting on a hull with a dead-flat, balsa cored bottom and a molded-in keel. They weren't intended to be concave on the bottom, but over the years the shape might have changed a bit. Strength-wise, if you build your new stripper with a flat bottom having double layers of glass inside and out over the flat part, you should be fine. Curving a surface will often make it stiffer, but that doesn't mean that it's stronger. Added strength is achieved by added material, not shape. In any case, your flat-bottomed stripper should do fine and hold it's shape as well as any other cored fiberglass construction, though I doubt I'd try to skimp on cloth weight to save hull weight. Going too light on cloth is liable to produce a hull bottom that's awfully bouncy.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:10 pm

Hi Ron
I just finished building my second canoe. I used mahogany analine dye to color the outside of my canoe and left the inside natural. The dyes are available from Lee Valley. They come in powder form and are water based. You can come up with almost any color you want and the woodgrain still shows through. I like the look. Erik said that he would post a couple of pics for me. Thats beyond my capabilities.
Dave

Erik, Belgium · Post by **Erik, Belgium** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:31 pm

Here a some pictures of the latest canoe of Dave De Jong, Mn
He used dye to change the color on the outside
Erik

Doc in MN · Post by **Doc in MN** » Sat May 22, 2004 11:08 am

I don't know how much the water-based dyes raise the wood grain, but they also dissolve almost completely in denatured alcohol, which shouldn't raise the grain at at all. I'm getting ready to try the alcohol.

Doc in MN · Post by **Doc in MN** » Sat May 22, 2004 11:23 am

I forgot--That's a beautiful canoe, Dave. It's a Merlin, isn't it? Looks like it has stems. Did you take 3/4 inch off all around the stem form, or just set the form back? The reason I ask is I just got the plans for one, and plan to put in stems.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun May 23, 2004 1:04 pm

Hi Doc
Yup-its a Merlin. I used inside and outsid stems. The plans as I received them would create a space between the stem form and the first station form. I lengthend the stem forms so they would meet the first station forms and could be fastened together. Then I removed 3/4" from the stem form to allow for the inside stem. Everything worked good.
Somewhere I read that water based analine dyes hold their color better over the years than alcohol based. Don't know if its true. Before applying the dye I wetted down the hull several times and scraped and sanded the raised grain. No raised grain in the dye.
I went on the CURE canoe thing last weekend and had both of my canoes there. I thought maybe you would be there.
Dave