The contoured cane seat in my MRC is making those old familiar noises. I’ve replaced them in other boats with new ones but, I’m considering trying my hand at redoing this one with the pre-woven stuff. Has anyone found this approach economical? How do new ones from Ed’s Canoe compare? TIA, Tom
Maybe depends on if …
… that’s “your” seat ?? … as in your seat with your butt mile memories on it !! … or maybe it’s just another piece of disposable American junk to you ?? … suggestion , go rip out the cane basket , pull the spline and clear the groove , pretend you are going to prep for replacement cane and spline (you’ll need a cheap spline tool to replace) … if at that point you don’t know which way to go , buy a whole new seat …
Re-do a contoured seat.
I like the ugly black webbed seat’s, but I just installed contoured seat’s because they look great and are nice on the butt. (Wickerbutt!)
I’d never re-caned before and the 2 seat’s (contoured) I did, came out 9.9 on a scale of 10. The kit I bought was $25 from a place in Willamantic Ct., they have a website you can Google to find I’m sure. They give very clear, easy to follow instruction’s. I only suggest caution when tapping the wedge’s into the grove, take some of the sharpeness off the edges of the wedges. Otherwise you can/ might cut through the cane right at a critical location. The grove. Don’t be stingy with the glue, you can alway’s wipe away excess. (they supply it too)
Do soak the cane and spline for the two hours as directed.
waterproof glue?
Is the glue in the kit waterproof? About 20 years ago I took cane canoe seats to a furniture repair place for recaning (not realizing at the time that replacement seats were readily available). The furniture place used walnut colored glue on the ash seats, saying that it was the only waterproof glue they had on hand. They told me that working on the canoe seats was more difficult than the chairs they were used to because waterproof glue make removal of the old cane more difficult.
Using an electric Laminate …
… trimmer as router with a small ploughing bit and fence guide on it will clear the spline and grove quickly and effeciently … the bit should be just a little smaller than the width of the grove to allow for minor wiggle when ploughing the grove out … the main thing to NOT do is over cut the existing grove width wise (hence smaller bit)… if using a Laminate router , it will be best to make that your 1st step while cane is still in place …
Thanks to all.
I’ve decided to get a contoured replacement w/ WEBBED seat. I’m gonna re-cane and keep the original, though. You know, just in case they ever have beauty contests around here for canoes.