Time to get a move on with the repair of the NRC with the smashed ribs.  The summer racing season is gearing up and the racers are getting anxious.

Step one was to open up the canoe and take the old canvas off.  After 5 years of living outdoors its actually looking really good!

Step two is to make and bend on two new ribs.

Step three is to remove the broken ribs, but not all at one time or I risk distorting the canoe by spreading the planking apart.

Step four is to get the new irbs in place.  I use battens clamped in place to keep the ribs all in alignment.

Step five is to replace damaged planking.

The remaining steps are to sand and apply finish to the new woodwork. canvas, fill, paint, and get all of the trim back on. 

Nothing to it! And people wonder why I have to charge what I have to charge for this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tremblay canoe that needs a fair bit of work.  37 rib ends that had to be repaired, gunnel ends that were just gone, and deck that were mostly not there.

 

 

 

 

The Brigden is out of the shop now, and the next canoe is in.  This time it is an old Chestnut "Bob's Special".  A particularly unique aspect of this canoe is that it is the first canoe that I every worked on professionally back in 1987.  Well, its back.

Starting off is to strip out the old and tired varnish from the interior, then open it up for rib repair.  There are about a dozen broken ribs.  Which isn't surprising, really, as the "special" part of the name "Bob's Special" refers to an ultralight weight approach to building.  Most notably are the very thin ribs, about 1/4" thick, and the every thin inner gunnels.  They still used maple for decks, seats, and thwart!

Once the rib repairs are closed up its time to sand the interior for varnish.

Second stage of rib repair, which includes the shattered sections of the ribs near the stern stem. One might say "Why not just replace the rib?" I did replace some, but I could have replaced half of the ribs on this canoe.

Actually, by the time that I removed the planking and put it back on, and repaired all of those broken ribs, I could have built a whole new canoe. The big challenge is to determine just where that line is for you and the project.

I have a lot of clamps...now. It wasn't always the case. It is often said that a woodworker can never have too many clamps. I have almost enough!

All those clamps are removed and we can start to see the shape of the canoe returning.

Repairs are shaped back to the original rib shape. Now I can start to get the last of the planking back one. In case you are wondering, yes, it is a challenge to get the planks back in the proper order!

Planking all done, hull faired, and a coat of linseed oil is applied. Once the oil dries the canoe is ready for canvas.

The old racing canoe is now ready for tackling the broken ribs. There were so many broken ribs, all over the place that a lot of planking had to be removed. So much planking would have to be removed in order to do all of the rib repairs that there wouldn't be much left and the canoe shape could deform, so I am doing the repairs in two sessions.




Some of the old planking is still good enough to go back on, but some if it is falling apart. As it takes the same amount of time to put on new planking as it takes to replace the old planking, I put on new planking as needed.

Before I can replank the MPC canoe there are still several broken ribs to repair. For these I will use the back of the rib repair technique.

All planked up. In some spots there is still some of the original wood left!

Four new ribs are bent over the canoe hull prior to installation.

They are then secured in their curve while getting the canoe ready for them.

Which includes removing the old broken ribs. They had to remain in place while bending because once removed there is not a whole lot of the canoe left!

And here they are all installed.

The old canoe is starting to regain some structural integrity. Now the work of reinstalling the removed planking can get started.

The new rib stock is prepared, then cut to size.

Each end is cut to the proper bevel using a jig for the bandsaw.

And then they are all glued onto the prepared ribs of the canoe.

Here is a close up of why the gunnels needed to be replaced. This is one of the good spots! There is a lot of rot setting in, so with all of the broken spots, replacing is the best option.

Notice, too, how bad the rib end is. There are about 25 like this.

So, before I install the new gunnels, I have to repair the rib ends. Step one is to cut the damaged wood out.

Then the are all shaped to the same pre-determined bevel.

The new ribs are all in and the planking is done. Now I need to sand the interior, stain the new wood so that it doesn't look TOO different from the old, and then varnish two coats. It could actually use more varnish, but two coats is what has been ordered.

The ends of the gunnels needed some repair work. They weren't rotten and falling apart...yet, but there was some splitting happening along the line of screws.

New ribs in and the two fractured ribs repaired. Now I continue planking. The fiberglass on this canoe dried it out quite a bit and some of the broken planking was more broken than it would otherwise have been.

Such is life.

Now that all that old resin is off of the Bob's Special, it is time to get the new ribs bent. I'm nearing the end of my current White Cedar stock, I have stock left for narrow ribs and have some planking milled, but not much left that is suitable for 2 1/4" wide 65" long ribs. So I have to be careful with these ones!

Into the steambox they go.

After about 20 minutes of generous steaming they are ready to bend around the canoe to take the correct shape. They get bent at a section of the canoe that is just slightly smaller than where they will be installed to ensure a proper fit.

After they cool, the old broken ribs are removed and the new ones put in their place. At this point they are just clamped in place.

There is a lot of open space here where the planking is busted out, so a batten is clamped to cover a number of ribs to keep them all lined up.

Now I have two broken ribs to repair, the ribs to fasten with canoe tacks, and all that busted out planking to replace.

This is an amazing tool. I use it for all kinds of wood shaping. One of the things that I use it for is to fair out the splints that are used for the rib repair.

After I had the canoe all closed up, I found one more broken rib. I couldn't let it go. Oh, well

After it's all cleaned up, time to add some tacks to the loose spots. There are a lot on this canoe.

Time to sand the hull. Not only were there a lot of loose spots, there were lots of lumps and bumps, too! A vacuum attachment for the sander helps control the dust. Dust, there's always dust around

A coat of linseed oil and wood preservative mix to keep the wood from being too dry, and to help keep water from being absorbed into the wood.


Sand the interior, clean out the dust (Did I mention that there's always dust?) and give it a fresh coat of varnish. Now the old girls is all ready for canvassing tomorrow.