Chapter Project Canoe - Canoe I.D & removing fiberglass.

The fourteen foot project canoe for the Northern Lakes Chapter was heavily modified and customized by the sole, original owner. The bow deck where the original decal would've been located was replaced. However, dimensions and build look very much like a Peterborough Mermaid which first appeared in Peterborough catalogues in 1951 up until the company dissolved in  1962.  It's a just over 14' long, quite narrow (30" beam) with a 12" depth. Ribs are the narrow & lighter weight "pleasure" style (5/16ths by 1-1/2" wide). 

Actively used by the original owner for trapping beaver, the model wasn't originally marketed for such rough usage. Details from the seller made mention of the canoe being picked up directly from the Peterborough factory sometime in the mid-fifties. The timeline does make sense since the Peterborough Canoe Company dropped their heavy-duty 14 foot model specifically marketed as a Trapper's Canoe ( the "Muskrat") after 1956. The Muskrat would've been similar in dimension but the 1955 catalogue mentions it was made with wider 2" ribs spaced 1-1/2" apart. Anticipating rougher usage, all three of Peterborough's Trapper class canoes (12 ft, 14ft, 16ft) were covered in extra thick 6oz canvas rather than the much lighter 10oz used on the Pleasure class boats. 

Luckily, this canoe's experiment with fibreglass happened in the mid-1960's when polyester resins were used in the process. This meant that over time the coating would become more brittle and was relatively easy to remove by applying heat to soften the structure. Epoxy resins used since the '80s are much more adhesive and stick aggressively to the planking making removal much more labour intensive if not impossible. 

It took a while but slowly and surely the fibreglass layers were removed and the wood keels exposed. All three oak keels were heavily rotted under their glass layer and basically crumbled when pried off the hull. 

The discarded keels, fasteners and removed resin took off 8.5 lbs of weight.

Removal of the outer layer of impregnated cloth was done carefully over a few days to ensure minimal damage to the wooden hull. Unfortunately, plenty of resin was left adhering to the planking so the whole canoe had to be treated with more heat again while methodically scraping off the green plastic bits.

That process took a few more days but was the result reveals some beautiful white cedar planking that hadn't seen daylight in 50 years. 

The resin had also soaked into the natural gaps in the planking. These were a bit of a chore to remove without splitting the planking edging but were cleaned out with a cheap dental pick. Some of the planking had split lengthwise down the middle, likely because there was no room for natural expansion with all the gaps filled with thick resin.These planks will need to be replaced

Here is the canoe finally free of its 50 year old fibreglass cloak...

All those removed bits were weighed and clocked in an additional 10.8 pounds. Next up an evaluation of the hull now that the glass is off and the start of the messy process of stripping paint and varnish from the interior.