"Mungo Bulge" wrote in message
...

"Deborah M Riel" wrote in message
...
|I was just lucky enough the other day to find a used Mad River
Outrage
| in excellent condition. It's a "real" Outrage with the wood
gunwales
| and nice Tom Foster outfitting. My question is, what's the best way
| to care for the gunwales, especially in the winter when the canoe
will
| be living in an unheated garage?

Gunwale Guard, Natural - 68-31290 (16oz./473 ml)
http://www.madrivercanoe.com/Accesso...and_repair.php
http://www.madrivercanoe.com/care_re...re_gunwale.php
http://www.madrivercanoe.com/care_re..._canoecare.php

These pages are a pretty good summary of current wisdom. On a used boat
that I didn't know the history of, the first oiling would include separating
the wales from the hull making sure the oil got on the backsides. I've had
a set of wales turn completely hollow from fungal attack from the hull side.

Read the sections about storage at low temperatures and decide whether you
have to loosen the wale screws for storage.

I'll use MR's Gunwale Guard in the spring, but through the season, I'll slop
the wales with a homebrew mix of turpentine + boiled linseed oil.

The upsides a
- it's cheaper
- it's easier for me to get than Gunwale Guard
- it's easier to apply - spills and overbrushing can be easily wiped up.
- it smells better - YMMV

The downsides include:
- it probably doesn't last as long
- it probably won't give UV protection.

Hth,
Fred Klingener