A Sad Summer Of Rain

Well anyone living in British Columbia, Canada will let you know that this has been the worst summer for a long time... Makes my second guess global warming to tell you the truth. We flooded up here in the Peace Region twice in two weeks, completely wiping out the Pine Pass and trapping all of Northern B.C. up here in the tullies. Anyhow both trips that I had planned one being the East Pine River (Chetwynd B.C.) and McGregor River(Prince George B.C.) were cancelled. I figure you don't go sledding in avalanche season so why canoodle in a flood. Here is just a little map to McGregor River since I have no photos of my own to post. Work on 'Big Red' has come to a halt since funds are low but one day it will come to pass.

Kinuseo Falls to Tumbler Ridge

Here are some of the rated 'G' photos from our trip. Kinuseo Falls to Tumbler Ridge via the Murray River, British Columbia.

Project Canoe #2

This is the next project 'Big Red'. This canoe was given to me by Karen (my mother's friend who named 'The Bismark'). It is a wood and canvas canoe, so far as I understand the canoe needs to be re-canvased and the inside needs a strip and stain. All of the inside pieces (yes I know they have a technical name and no I don't know what that name is) seem to be in very good condition. But unfortunately I will not have time to accomplish this task before Canoodling 2010. So I think I'm going to use some marine goo and hit the nasty spots and give Liane and Kirsten a bucket to bail. 8 days and counting.

Painting Done

So here it is! painting finished! It was an interesting endeavor paining smooth, slow, even... damn bug! Seriously what is it about fresh paint that just makes bugs want to land on it. Oh well that's my contribution to science I suppose (kinda like Jurassic Park...). All that's left to do is install the cup holders, the new seat pads (and back rest for Andi), than find some really cool decals at Canadian Tire. I think I may put a pirate flag on to, just for good measure. Any ideas just leave a comment below... what kind of decals should I buy?

Getting Into Gear

Ok with Canoodling 2010 a mere two weeks away I really need to kick it into gear if I'm going to finish 'The Bismark' never mind getting started on 'Big Red'. I have some really cool marine goo that I'm sealing all the seams with than all I have to do is paint, install cup holders, install seat pads, spray paint the inside... I think I should be outside right now.

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.