Let the Stripping Begin!

Anna and me with dangerous chemicals. I am glad we are not lab rats who live in California!

We are not smiling because we are enjoying stripping a 54 year old boat....I think it had to do with the fumes!

The directions state to let the stripper work for about 45 minutes. We found that the varnish came off better when the chemical was at work for only about 10 minutes. After that the evaporation time was FAST!

That silly Charlie! He thought HE was supposed to strip! Isn't the English language funny?! We were "punny" all afternoon with stripping (the canoe). Anyway...we just KNOW that under all that old varnish there is beautiful wood. The chemicals had to be bought, thick rubber gloves were used, scraping tools and metal brushes were "the ticket" to removing the goo. Under the layer of varnish we found beautiful cedar boards and ribs.

Its like a person who needs to be restored! With a patient friend, counselor or relative the restorer helps to remove all the dark, thick, ugly outside layers sometimes easy and most of the time difficult. The "sludge" of their life is scrapped away revealing a person who underneath it all, shines! If we are not patient we can get into a hurry and gouge, remove more than is necessary and actually damage the person...just like we did when we remove canoe varnish without a careful touch.

I am glad Jesus Christ removed my ugly, damaged, dried out layers of sin. Now I can shine!

Planking is all FINISHED!

Hey, I just finished the last plank! This is the ceremonial last plank which is at the left bow. Just a small piece but a piece none the less. I am so glad to come this far. Next week I will remove the varnish from inside the hull. Anna, let's set a day to do that! By the way, the canvas is in the cardboard box sitting behind Anna's canoe. Its almost time!!!

Ye haw...RIBS INSTALLED

All six ribs went into place with no trouble whatsoever...yea right!. The honeymoon was over last night! Wow! What a struggle! I had to remove the old broken ribs which means I had to manually pull about 200 nails away from the ribs and planking then beat on the ribs to come loose. Afterwards I had to push, pull, bend, twist, tap and convince the ribs to go into place. All six took about five hours total. The reason it takes so long is if I pushed too hard the ribs would bulge the side. If I pushed too easy there would be a wave going into the side, so I had to spend a lot of time convincing the ribs where to go. (Actually the ribs were trying to convince me where not to put them ...ha ha)
As you can see the new ribs are very light in color while the old planking and ribs are dark. Would you believe that when this canoe was shipped to its owner, it was about the shade of the new planking you can see between the new ribs. Well, next will be STRIPPING THE VARNISH...oh joy!
Here is a bent rib just off the hull ready for installation.