Hi,
Does anyone have some good ideas on repairing the seats and gunnels on a canoe? I don’t think I’m going to be able to get parts from the manufacturer. I would really like to get this nice little canoe back in working condition.
Where to go for parts would be a nice start…
Thanks for any help you provide.
Sincerely,
Janine
There have been some recent posts…
– Last Updated: Mar-19-05 12:44 AM EST –
... regarding gunwale replacement, and maybe you can find them with the "search" feature. I may try looking for them and update this post with the links. If mikemcrea doesn't chime-in soon, find one of his posts and use it to shoot him an e-mail. He has replaced gunwales on more boats than most people, and he seems to know what he's doing.
Seats are usually fairly generic, though there are a few ways in which they can be mounted. Any good paddle shop should have replacement seats (if you don't know a place, I know you can get them on-line from Rutabaga, but there must be lots of places to get them). Seats come pre-made extra-wide. You just trim the ends of the frame to make them the right width from side to side. If you have sheet-metal seat hangers, you'll need to make sure the front-to-back width of the seat fits the hanger (could also modify the hangers to accept a seat that is wider in the front-to-back direction). Dowel hangers which suspend seats from the gunwales can have their positions adjusted to accomodate any seat. If they are cane seats and only the cane is shot, you can replace it with pre-woven cane webbing, or have a furniture-repair shop replace it for you. If the seats are something other than rectangular wood frames with some kind of filler in the middle, finding an exact copy without going to the maker might be harder to do.
That's just general stuff. If you can post a few photos on Webshots or some such place, people could see what problems you are up against and be better able to help.
***********
There is some discussion of gunwale work here:
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=chat&tid=298129#298967
Have you tried contacting Gazelle?
I don’t have any experience with them, but here’s contact info:
Gazelle Canoe- Rt 1N, Biddeford, ME,
(tel) 207 985-8585
Best-
~Glenn
Thank you…
To: guideboatguy I will attempt to e-mail mikemcrea, who has replaced many a gunwale! I will also refresh my memory and take a gander at the seat attachment system, too. From what I recall, I am fairly certain it’s the dowel hanger system, and they are cane seats, which are shot. Thanks for the Rutabaga referral, I will check out their Site.
I will see about posting pictures of the canoe in the near future. That’s a great idea.
To : gnomon (Glenn)
Thanks for the address to Gazelle. I’ve sent them a snail mail. We shall see what happenes next!