I thought I’d share this beautiful video showcasing Headwaters Canoes. They’re locate just north of Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills where I spent much of my youth and learned the art of canoeing. Headwaters Canoes builds custom made wood canvas canoes.
Removing Screws
In my last post Greenwood Canoe Screws I talked about the frustrating task of removing rusted gunnel screws from a Greenwood Canoe. After removing the screws from one side my shoulder was sore, my arm ached and I had numerous minor cuts and abrasions from fighting with Bill’s (&*(^Y*(&y!! screws. I decided to try something…
Greenwood Canoe Screws
Anyone who’s followed my blog or FaceBook page me know the high regard in which I hold Bill Greenwood and Greenwood Watercraft (aka Greenwood Canoe). However, with almost every Greenwood canoe I’ve encountered there comes a day when I use language not appropriate for a public posting. That’s the day when I must remove the…
My Date with a Stripper
I love restoring wood and canvas canoes. However, if there’s one job I don’t enjoy, it’s stripping old paint and varnish. Toxic fumes and chemical burns just aren’t my thing. Unfortunately, in my experience, the nastier the stripper, the better it works. My old standby is methylene chloride based “Circa® 1850 Heavy Body Paint &…
Greenwood Day
One day, early in September, I received, not one but two emails regarding Greenwood Canoes. Being an Ontario refugee (Ottawa and Peterborough), I’d only recently learned about Greenwood Canoes and had yet to work on one, although I had tried to buy one a couple of times. The first of these emails concerned Mike’s Greenwood,…
Finishing the Faber
With the wood work complete the next step was to fabric cover the hull, seal and fill it. I’ve described this process in my post It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, NO it’s a CANOE. As this canoe was originally intended for my own use I didn’t want a keel, but rather added a Kevlar®…
Kevlar® Keel Plate
Historically canoes never had keels. It was only when European boat builders started copying native American boats did keels come into common use. Contrary to popular opinion, the keel adds little or nothing to either the stability or tracking ability of a canoe. Stability is more a function of the bottom shape. A very round…
Fixing the Faber
After dragging the Faber home and getting it up on a set of canoe stands my first step was to remove the outwales and the remaining fabric. Faber used regular (not stainless) staples to attach the fabric under the gunwales and along the stems. Forty plus years later they were a mess. It took me…
Prospecting for Prospectors
If I could only have one canoe, I’d Choose the 15′ Ranger model of the famous Chestnut Prospector. Looking through the ads on Craig’s List one day I found the following: 14′ Cedar Strip Canoe Floats, but needs a bit of minor work, only $200. Comes with 2 paddles. Mike (There were no pictures so…
Hearing About the Huron
One day early in August I received the following email: “Hi, I have a Chestnut, I think. No canvas. How much would it cost to have it recanvassed? Conversely, what might you pay to buy it? Is it sacrilegious to fiberglass the hull? Carole” It was a few weeks and a few emails before I…
Finding the FABER
I found an ad on Used Nanaimo: “Vintage Wood Canoe: 16ft Made in Canda – Faber Canoe. Please CALL for more information or to arrange a viewing. Thanks. (No emails please)” I called and spoke with a retired gentleman living in Chemainus and arranged to see the canoe. It turns out he’d only recently bough…
How to Destroy a Wood and Canvas Canoe
The simple answer is, leave it on the ground. Especially here on Vancouver Island, where our winters are warm and wet, leaving your canoe lying on the ground can seriously damage your canoe in a matter of months, if not weeks. Every canoe I’ve looked at that has sever rot issues has been left sitting,…
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