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? I'm so psyched about this canoe, and
I want it to last a good long time...

Thanks!

Deb R.

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

BTW, what's wrong with the living room or bedroom, if you can't get it
though the doors, make the doors bigger.

Shawn
--
The Road Warrior Hobbit

"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? I'm so psyched about this canoe,
and
| I want it to last a good long time...
|
| Thanks!
|
| Deb R.

In article ,
Mungo Bulge wrote:
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

BTW, what's wrong with the living room or bedroom, if you can't get it
though the doors, make the doors bigger.

Shawn

Thanks, Shawn. I'll check out these sites...

The living room will never do--I've already taken up most of the floor
space with a great big treadmill, and the bedroom's too small. It has
to be the garage, the backyard, or the roof of my car, I'm afraid, and
the garage is the best of those places!

Deb R.

"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

In article ,
Fred Klingener wrote:
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

Thanks, Fred. I'll be sure to save this post--it's a good reference.

Deb R.

On 19-Jul-2005, "Fred Klingener" wrote:

I'll slop
the wales with a homebrew mix of turpentine + boiled linseed oil.

Use tung oil - better water resistance than BLO.

Mike

The problem with tung oil is that most of the tung oil products on the
retail market today are not pure tung oil. They have tung oil as a
major component but have other additives, primarily varnish. Don't
expect the product you buy across the retail counter to be pure. And
please don't be fooled by the phrase "contains pure tung oil". If this
line is on the can, you can bet money it contains something else in
addition to the 'pure' tung oil. If you use oil on your gunwales, the
last thing you want on them is varnish.
Tung oil is one of the most water-resistant oils. However, in its pure
form it takes five to six coats to build up the water resistance.
Also, it requires sanding between each coat.
Boiled Linseed oil is also water resitant, but further more it is a
preservitive. Some of the problems with straight linseed oil, boiled
or raw, a
- No UV (ultraviolet) light resistance
- Linseed oil is mildew food
- Linseed oil does not harden sufficiently (could be an accet)
- Difficult to remove from wood... Multiple coats of linseed oil are
gummy and difficult to remove fully
There is an othe drawback to Boiled Linseed oil, and that is printed
on the lable: "Use of this product will expose you to arsenic,
beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are known to cause
cancer; and lead which is known to cause birth defects and other
reproductive harm."
There is an other anomaly with linseed oil. When linseed oil dries, it
releases heat. The more linseed oil, the greater the heat. A pile of
rags or paper towels soaked with linseed oil can actually start
burning without warning, leading to the manufacturer's warning that
all oil-soaked rags should be stored under water in a covered, metal
container.
So, what do you do? It's up to you. I use "raw" linseed oil with
mineral spirits and Japan drier. Tutrpentine will also speed the
drying of linseed oil. Like the captin said,"What good is putting a
preservative on your deck in the spring if you wouldn't be able to use
it till the fall?"

BTY "Boiled" linseed oil is not boiled. The actual boiling of some
oils changes their drying characteristics, true. With linseed oil,
though, it is the addition of certain solvents that causes linseed oil
to dry more quickly, acting as if it were boiled. This makes it a
better product for preserving wood.

"Michael Daly" wrote in message
...
| On 19-Jul-2005, "Fred Klingener" wrote:
|
| I'll slop
| the wales with a homebrew mix of turpentine + boiled linseed oil.
|
| Use tung oil - better water resistance than BLO.
|
| Mike

On 19-Jul-2005, "Mungo Bulge" wrote:

There is an othe drawback to Boiled Linseed oil, and that is printed
on the lable: "Use of this product will expose you to arsenic,
beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are known to cause
cancer; and lead which is known to cause birth defects and other
reproductive harm."

This is true of any finishing oil with heavy metal driers, including tung.

There is an other anomaly with linseed oil. When linseed oil dries, it
releases heat. The more linseed oil, the greater the heat. A pile of
rags or paper towels soaked with linseed oil can actually start
burning without warning, leading to the manufacturer's warning that
all oil-soaked rags should be stored under water in a covered, metal
container.

Also true of any finishing oil. If it polymerizes, it's an exothermic reaction.

Mike

Hi Deb--I've got two Mad River canoes...both with wood gunwhales (an
Explorer in Royalex and a Malecite in Kevlar--both lovely boats!). I've
had the Explorer for more than 20 years, the Malecite for only about
six. I've used a variety of treatments for the gunwhales over the years,
but the one I've come to like best is a 1:1 mix of tung oil and spar
varnish--nearly all varnish nowadays is polyurethane...makes no
difference. They're also lots of tung oils on the market--some are pure
(cure very! slowly) others are mixtures; again, probably doesn't make a
lot of difference in the long run. The proportions of varnish to tung
oil are really quit forgiving--do a google search and you'll see lots of
recipes. Please don't use linseed oil (BLO) on your boat. It was a
commonly used finish in the 17th and 18th centuries...'cause that's all
they had then!

One huge thing to remember about royalex hulls (as is your Outrage?) is
that the gunwhales must be loosened from the hull (see the Mad River
website) if the canoe will be stored in cold temps-where I live, -20 F
is not uncommon in the winter in a garage, and definitely requires "cold
weather maintenance."

Hope this helps...

Bill

Deborah M Riel wrote:
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? I'm so psyched about this canoe, and
I want it to last a good long time...

Thanks!

Deb R.