Hi,
I have removed the old canvas in preparation for Dacron and stripped varnish & paint where necessary. The cedar planking is in good condition but I need some advise on how to condition the wood outside & inside. If I oil the wood, will that affect adherence of HeatnBond glus strip?
Any advise on the process would be appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Joe,

I am not familiar with the heat and bond glue strip that you mentioned or how you plan to use it. I can give a brief description of how I apply dacron. Firstly the inside of the canoe would be stripped down to bare wood and then sanded and cleaned. I then apply 5 coats of a high quality marine spar varnish starting with a couple of coats that are diluted some and working up to full strength varnish.
If you are putting dacron on the outside of a restoration job it is important to get the hull as fair and smooth as possible. Large cracks between the ends of pieces of planking, knot holes and large tack holes or depressions should be filled in and faired with auto body filler. The idea is to get the outside as smooth as possible. I then treat the outside of the hull with a coat of wood preservative, a coat of boiled linseed oil and then a coat of varnish. The dacron goes over the varnish when it is thoroughly dry. I don't glue the dacron down in any way. I attach the dacron to the stems first using double sided tape to hold it temporarily to the stem while I fasten it every 11/2" with 1/2" #18 brass escutcheon pins. I then fasten along the sheer with 2 stainless steel staples at the top of each rib. Once the dacron is on I heat shrink it with an ordinary clothes iron.
This system works very well but I don't know if varnishing the hull will affect the heat and glue strip product that you wanted to use. Hope this is of some help.

Regards, Dave Alguire, Old Delta Canoeworks