I need help from all the canoe and kayak builders here!

[BoilermakerFan]

I have a 20+ year old Old Town Katadin FG canoe. It stays at my folks house at the back of the lot in the woods. The cane seats finally gave up the ghost and I need to find a replacement canning kit. Any good links?

Also, I want to restore the gelcoat or at least get it in better shape. Again, any links to great how-to advise? I can Google it, but that brings back too many hits and I want good advise, not just some guy with a web site...

Thanks!

[Arne]

Old town sells seats... caning is an art that takes time to learn.. a seat is not that expensive.

[Steve Frederick]

Mike Vermouth..http://www.newfound.com/canoeacc.htm sells complete seats, just trim to fit! He's a great guy, with a great company. I highly recommend him. The products and service...First rate!!

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks guys. I'll probably do both. I'll order new seats and I want to re-cane my existing frames. I have a caning guide tucked away in my basement, just thought I hit you guys up before I spend a half day digging through my totes.

This canoe has a lot of sentimental value, I grew up in this canoe when it was at my grandparents house in the Poconos. My cousin and I would spend hours in it fishing for Pike and Perch.

Any links for restoring the finish/gelcoat?

[An Ol Timer]

Arnereil said: "caning is an art that takes time to learn"

We had an elderly lady in our neighborhood who had done caning her entire life. Antique dealers and other people came from all over for her services. She had quite a number of books just dealing with different designs. She only took on the toughest jobs and it was a very lucrative hobby for her. She's in her 90s now and has quit doing any work now]

[Guest]

This is about the best source I know of for both natural cane and plastic cane.
http://www.hhperkins.com/

[angib]

caning is an art that takes time to learn..

Actually, I'd say it's one of the easiest skills to pick up. Sadly my work predates having a digital camera and I can't spare the one year to find where the prints of my work might be.....

My two tips are:
- Getting the tension in the cane right is the only hard thing - but before your old seat broke I bet it had four inches of slack and yet still worked OK.
- Get the cane pliable by soaking or steaming it. Caning in heat of summer somewhere dry would be murder to do!

You need to watch what you're doing for only about a quarter of the time (much less than that once you've done it much), so caning is something you can combine with other activities - talking, half-watching TV, etc.

Andrew

[NH Stripper]

I've re-caned many old canoe seats when restoring canoes. It's not that difficult and if you're patient and follow the guides, it's worthwhile to preserve the "hand-made" look.
Woodworkers Supply of New Mexico, and Restoration Hardware are 2 catalogs I know of that carry all the caning supplies. Woodcraft stores also stock the stuff.

[BoilermakerFan]

This is about the best source I know of for both natural cane and plastic cane.
http://www.hhperkins.com/

Thanks Dean, that's the link I was looking for! H.H. Perkins is the catalog I have stored down in th ebasement. I recognize their logo.

[BoilermakerFan]

Do any of you guys have articles or links to good info on building or modifying canoes specifically for fishing? Field & Stream has a two page article in the July issue that's a great start, but I want a more custom craft.

I'd really like to build a very lightweight fishing canoe. I have Canoecraft and a book on building Kevlar kayaks. I'd like to build a canoe that I can outfit with a trolling motor, batt, anchor, fish finder, rod holders, dry storage etc. Need to keep it as light as possible so I can load it on the car easily by myself. After it's unloaded and at the shore, then I would load in the battery, trolling motor, FF, etc.

I really like the Hobie Mirage Outback fishing kayak with the MirageDrive, but I want a two person boat with room for a child in the middle.

[ALAN GEDDES]

A little off the subject but are there special floatation devices for paddling. I've tried to find one that doesn't tear up my arm pits and gives me freedom of movement.

[BoilermakerFan]

Alan

Have you looked for whitewater kyaking PFDs? I know they are cut a little differently in order to make sure you have plenty of manuverability.

I also believe Mad River and some of the other higher end manufacturers sell PFDs that are better suited to canoeing than water skiing.

[TonyCooper]

A little off the subject but are there special floatation devices for paddling. I've tried to find one that doesn't tear up my arm pits and gives me freedom of movement.

Check out NRS for kayak vests and life jackets.
http://www.nrsweb.com/

You also may want to vist Paddling.net to read through their product reviews before buying.
http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/Accessories.html

[ALAN GEDDES]

Thanks for the help . I've bought three PFD.s so far that I didn't like.

[DestinDave]

Just saw the second part of BMF's post - about restoring the gelcoat... I'm a fiberglass refinish specialist at a marina so maybe I can help. What did you have in mind? Do you have any pics of the project kayak? Dave