Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

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alick burt
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Folks
Another 5 hours sanding today revealed some interesting features.
First is this red paint which I am guessing is either primer or at some point she was painted red before the green resin or paint went on.?
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Second the narrow strips are almost certainly repairs that have been added later as can be seen by the nails that are too close to the edge of the wide boards.They are now close because the board has been cut.
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There are also extra wide battens that have only been added where the wide boards meet the later narrow strips.ie where the repairs are.
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I have put a thread on the WHCA site to see if I can find out more about her history.
Many Thanks
Alick :wink
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Folks
Today I started on cutting away the rot and found more red paint.
Here's a bit under the planking I removed near the keel.
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Cheers
Alick
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Jim Dodd
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Location: Iowa

Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by Jim Dodd »

Patiently following this thread !

Jim
Keep your paddle wet and your seat dry!
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Jim
You are welcome.
Today I got stuck into the repairs.
I began with this broken rib (this surgery is tricky stuff!)
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Whilst the rib repair was sticking I moved to the other end and began marking and cutting away damaged planking around the broken keel area.
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I am cutting these repairs much like i do when doing furniture restoration. I am not sure if it is technically
correct but the idea is to remove as little of the original as possible and try to leave long splices for strength at the joins.
These lines have been carefully chiselled out working down the grain to avoid splitting along the length of each line and to avoid break out on the inside of the hull.
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Next I carefully pared back the damage on the keel until I got to firm wood.
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I worked around the mast foot fitting to begin with but it came out later which made life easier.
Two more ribs will need attention!
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Here I have cut them back enough to make a new keel piece.I may cut them back further later when I repair them.
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Next I prepared a piece of Oak for the keel.
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and cut a lap joint with a splice on the end.I think it may have been slimmer originally not covering the screws with a splice but I don't think the extra strength will do my repair any harm.
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On the shoulder of the lap joint I had to cut away for the ribs.
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and after cutting a splice on the other end I put it back together in the vice to drill a hole in it for the mast foot fitting.(it hadn't fallen out yet).
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I adjusted the splice with a spokeshave as it was hollow in the middle.
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and after a bit more adjustment I was able to glue the new keel piece in place.The amount of material I removed to get it to fit was minimal but it took a lot of careful checking shaving by shaving until it was right.
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Then while leaving that end to glue I returned to the other trimmed the repaired rib and made this piece of planking to fit half of the other hole.I decided patching this in one go would be just too difficult so have made the join where there are three bits of rib.Note the ingenious cramping off the beams in the ceiling!
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Finally for a bit of light relief I cut out this small piece of rotten timber where there was a smaller hole.
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and that's another 8 hours!
Cheers
Alick :wink
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Folks
I continued with planking repairs today so here are a few pictures.
pice on the right of the keel has been glued and I am shaping the bit next to it up to the centre line.
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I steamed them to get them to twist then left them to set clamped in place before removing steaming again and refitting and clamping with 5 minute P.U. :wink
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While steaming the second piece I started cutting the third bit.
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Webbing straps were used to hold the next bit in place for glueing again with 5 minute P.U.
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The third piece was planed hollow on its inside and made from a thicker plank to make life easier as any attempt to steam it and put it under pressure would probably crack such a short wide piece.
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The second piece being glued
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As the glue is under a lot of pressure I gave it an hour to set before removing the clamps and then begun fitting the two pieces to each other along the centre line.
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The final bit was glued
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and then I took off and cleaned up the thwart plates which I thought were original but there are marks under them where smaller oval ones used to be (possibly a clue to the make of the canoe)
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I put them back on till i do the glassing.
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oval plate mark.
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Finally I inspected under the rear thwart and deck but found no labels just a pair of screw holes in the under side of the deck.Perhaps the held a label long gone that would have told us the makers name?
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Cheers
Alick :wink
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alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Folks
She is ready for glassing and I have a question. :thinking
Normally when I make my boats from scratch the Gunwales go on over the glass so the cloth can drape down the sides naturally and so easily be layed down.
On this boat I will have the old gunwales sticking out.My plan is to push the cloth into the corner and cut it under the gunwale at the corner(where the gunwale meets the hull.Is this going to be easily achieved? Is there a particular way to make the cutting of the cloth easier.Should I put in some vertical cuts up to the gunwale if so how many?
Here are the latest pictures.I had two sessions of filling gaps and scraping and sanding to get to this
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Cheers
Alick :wink
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
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Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi folks
Today I did the glassing and am pleased to report I think it went ok.
I removed the brass thwart plates and draped the cloth over the hull the night before and went home to check on the weather forecast for the following day as my workshop though insulated is affected by the conditions outside.
I arrived at 7.30am and with temperatures expected to peak at 15 degrees C (at around noon) I decided to warm everything up.I filled up my woodburner and lit it.Put the kettle on in order to pour the water into a pan and then keep it on a very low heat on my electric ring to warm my resin in use.
Then I switched the bulb on in my light box to warm the rest of the resin for later in the day.
Next I brushed out and trimmed the cloth to within 2-3" around the gunwales and started up two fan heaters for good measure bringing the inside temperature up to 17 degrees C.
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I mixed up four squirts and began spreading as fast as I could go and without stopping for anyone or anything even the phone (answer phone on) I worked through till half the hull was covered before trimming the cloth at one stem and beginning to squeegy between each application on the second half of the hull.
Here she is after the initial wet out.
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At this stage I had just enough time for a quick coffee before continueing to squeegy off the excess.I turned my fan heaters off one by one to avoid it getting any warmer and continued with the first fill coat applied with a brush.
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This took me up to 2.30pm after I had trimmed the excess from the stems and around the gunwales and I had a late lunch of a quick sandwich with a mug of tea and a couple of pieces of fruit.
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Then after just one small interruption in the form of a cedar delivery for my next canoe I began the second fill coat.
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This went without incident which surprised me as I was expecting this old hull to give me all sorts of problems with the amount of holes and cracks I thought might be in it.I had filled what I found but was pleasantly surprised to find no more.
The cutting of the cloth around the gunwales went ok too as I carefully cut along it in the corner and peeled away the excess before the first fill coat just taking care to cut any stubborn strands before they pulled the cloth off the hull as I worked my way along.
I am sure it isn't perfect and the hull shape is certainly not but for a boat of 100 years or so I think she is looking better than when I started.
Cheers
Alick :wink
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Jim Dodd
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Location: Iowa

Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by Jim Dodd »

She's coming along fine Alick !
Jim
Keep your paddle wet and your seat dry!
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
Contact:

Re: Is a 47 year old resin covering removable by heat?

Post by alick burt »

Hi Folks
Today I met up with my client for the relaunch of his sailing canoe on Rutland Water and was able to take a few pictures of the finished vessel.He will eventually strip and refinish the inside with a micro-porous paint but for now he has varnished the repairs inside the boat and given the deck and gunwales a touch up with blue paint.He also re-jigged some of the rigging and tiller so it would work better.
Here she is set up and ready for launch.
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and on the water.
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not bad for a 130 year old canoe!
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and away she goes!
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Cheers
Alick :wink
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