New Project, Marsh Boat, Advice Needed

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steve b.

New member
Today I picked up this boat locally. It came from an old timer who used to rent it on a local marsh for 1.50 a day back in the 40s along with a doz decoys for 75 cents. He bought the boat a few years ago when the old renters sold off the boats that were left. Hull is cedar from what I can tell with canvased decks and tin bows. Im going to try to restore it to its former glory but it will be my first restoration so Im looking for tips. My main question is should I recanvas the deck or should I fiberglass it? Im going to hunt it when Im done.

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Hey Steve,
My best answer is that it will depend on the way the boat is designed. I was in the same quandry last year when I acquired a Shell Lake Mallard King. It had already been fiberglassed when I bought it. I bought Rollin Thurlow's book on Canvas boats and decided I was going to re-canvas it myself. When I peeled off the fiberglass cloth, however, I found a lot of wood rot and damage to just about every stick of wood in the boat except the ribs.

My take-away from that experience was that the boat would have been in better condition had the previous owner re-canvased it rather than fiberglassed it. The boat was not originally designed for fiberglass cloth, and when redone it just did not get as good as a seal as was needed on the inside --the boat broke down from the inside out. I concluded the problem was that the cedar planking was not coated with expoxy on the inside.

I have owned a Devlin Broadbill, which was built with Oukoume and designed for fiberglass cloth, and it was as tough as nails. Therefore, I think you are going to have to examine the design closely to see if you can convert it to fiberglass cloth. If you are not working with strips but with single-piece planed wood or plywood, you'd probably could make fiberglass cloth work just fine. I'd be more inclined, however, to restore it as it was originally designed.
 
Very cool boat! How does it feel to own a piece of history?! Can't help you too much with the restoration questions but you've come to the right place! The people on here are amazing and you'll find all the help you could ever want!
 
Thanks for the response Craig. So far from what Ive been able to see there is no rot. Its been garaged ever since the second owner had it. He started stripping the hull so I have a good idea of whats there. Tomorrow Ill take off the canvas and see what kind of shape the deck is in. The cockpit is in excellent condition. So far I cant beleive this boat is 70+ years old. With my luck though there is something lying in wait to really mess me over.
 
Hey thanks Derek. When the guy told me what he had I figured I could cut it in half and use it as a shelves in my duck room. When I saw it though my plans changed totally (to my wifes dismay). Im looking so forward to floating it when Im done.
 
Steve, Nice looking boat.

I think that back in the day if the builders had epoxy and cloth at their disposal the canvas covers would have disappeared overnight. The early attempts at cloth and polyester resin lasted about the same as a poorly done canvas job so canvas remained. I would bet a dollar to a doughnut (What does a doughnut cost these days?) that what Craig is referring to is a polyester resin and cloth scenario.

I redid both the canvased forward and stern decks of an old 40' motor lifeboat with cloth and epoxy. I replaced the cold molded planking and deck beams where needed and then sheathed it. It turned out like it should have, still has the canvas look to it. That boat is 40 -50 yrs old. So far it is holding back the elements like it was done yesterday. Not boathouse kept. Around here canvas covered wheel houses are a thing of the past. Some are still glassed with polyester resin but we use two layers of chopped strand matt with no cloth. That thing with cloth and polyester resin does not stand up. Epoxy and cloth does work though. Most of them are plywood with wood caps. Cloth and epoxy or CSM and polyester resin covers the whole works. They are all work boats so they get their fair share of abuse from the elements and or wear from storing stuff on them. Both of these methods allow us to seal the fasteners that hold down the deck hardware, antennas, radar masts etc with the 5200's, Sikaflexes etc. and stop the problems that arise from water intrusion.

Now after having said that I would be inclined to keep that boat original in construction, ( thinking like that is a curse for sure) but I just can't go up to the CO-OP store and buy canvas any more though so I would have to research my options there. It has been 15 yrs or so since they carried it, but this board should have an answer for that.

Watch when you take it apart for signs of where the problem areas started (if there are any. Why are you taking it apart?), nail sick where the canvas was tacked, deck hardware,damage from impacts, and scratches etc. Let the boat do the talking.

Take a bit of time and enjoy it.

Neat old boat for sure.

Eric
 
Steve
that is a piece of duck history there. You got quite a find.
I disagree with the notion that canvass is short lived.
I have a close friend who build his sail boat over 20 years ago and it still has the deck he put on it then.
All traditional.
It depends on what you want to do since you own it,,,,,but there aint many of those things around and you have one in un molested condition.
If you want some help with the canvass options I could get you in touch with him, as I have not done much of it.
It is not hard and when good paint and cloth are used it works well.
 
Steve,

Neat boat and nice looking lines. What are the dimensions? I'd be interested in the Length, width and shear height when you get a chance to take them. I guess the question you have to ask about a restoration is, do you want to make it original or get it back to a useable condition in order to hunt it. I'd think that epoxy/glass cloth would be the way to go for a long term fix.

Where in Wisconsin are you located? Is this a Horicon Marsh boat?
 
Thanks for all the replys so far.

Pete, the boat came off of Big Muskego, Im in Waterford so its only minutes away. The place that rented it was called Heinrichs (sp.) From the story I was told it was a popular place since it was so close to Milwaukee. The dimensions are 183"L x 28w x 10h. The cockpit is 62 x 20.5.
 
Just looking at it from the pictures. It looks to be in in pretty good shape. I think I would do what David said. You really have a bit of history there.
 
Well got it mostly stripped down tonight. No wood rot but the canvas is rotted along one whole side so Im going to redo that.

Today at lunch I stopped by the farm where the boats were originally rented out and talked to the gentleman whose grandfather built the boat. The gentleman I talked to is 81 and has been duckhunting most of his life. This boat I have was built between 1925-1930. There were 16 of them in the fleet, everyone different. Some had bigger cockpits, some had the keels wrapped in tin to cut the ice, some had eyelets to attach ropes. Guys would come out from Milwaukee of Chicago and stay in the farms 6 room house with of course opener being the most popular time. We talked about many things but the most interesting was when I asked him about the Armistice Day storm, he was at school that day but apparently two guys who rented a boat from them perished. When the CG came out to put a rescue boat in the engine froze on their runabout before they had a chance to start it, thats how cold it got after the day started in the 60* range. His Grandfather and Dad offered to go out and search for guys but were forbidden by the CG for saftey reasons. Ill post more pics as I go.

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
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If you go with canvas I might be able to help out. Canvas might be the way to go. I am not against epox but canvas on a historical boat might be more fitting. Hey you might even be shooting with a smoke pole.....( : )
 
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