Moving On

Alright so I have been stripping the canoe over the last couple days and thank goodness for the wire brushes that connect to the drill, otherwise I would never have finished! So as far as I know I need to go out and buy some epoxy to reseal the joints and I can move on to more important things (like picking a colour and decals). One of the things that make 'The Bismark' such an awesome canoe is the fact that you can't tip it over (no matter how much beer you consume). This I believe has something to do with the flotation devices attached to the sides. I have removed them so I could strip the paint and (with no surprise) they are on their last leg. But I believe that one of those noodles you can buy at Wal-Mart cut in half would work perfectly. The more I gaze lovingly at 'The Bismark' the more I want to attach a pirate flag... but that could be saved for a later post.

Paint Stripping

So I have started preping 'The Bismark' for painting. I have a feeling in my gut that this will take a long time. But since Canoodling 2010 (Murray River out of Tumbler Ridge, B.C.)is only a month away I suppose the house work can wait til the canoe is done (I wonder how my husband feels about that?). Before I started stripping the paint I spent a couple hours removing (with no exaggeration) tubes of poorly applied caulking. To remove the caulking I used a scraper and my fingernails (insert grouchy face). I'm just using a hardware store stripper called Circa 1850 to remove the original paint. There were a number of reasons why I shouldn't do this posted around the internet, but... I'm not worried about the residue because I will be polishing and cleaning the surface of 'The Bismark', and I'm working outside, so a good ol' Northern B.C. sandblast will help. I bought a couple wire disks for the angle grinder so I can work around the rivets (and into the deeper dents). Well the sun is shining today so I will get back to work and post some photos tonight.

The Project

Hi my name is Sam and I have a 40+ year old aluminum canoe that I have decided to restore. Well since my restoration experience is... well none, this should be quite the little learning experience.

This canoe I'm planning on restoring has quite the history in my family. My friends and I have added to that history for the past 3 years, but as of late she seems to be taking in a lot more water than usual... never mind the open mouth stares we get as we unload it into the water. Well with a little research I'm sure this will turn out just fine...