Monday, September 19, 2016

The Week We All Became Strippers

Luckily for you (and us!), stripping at Northwoods Canoe means we put on more clothes than usual! Here is part of the crew, suited up to deal with toxic chemicals.
Rollin gets in the "tank," ready to scrub methylene chloride - fun!

Rollin scrubs while one canoe drips dry from its rinse

Elisa power washes in The Suit

Each canoe is rinsed thoroughly, revealing the bare wood.

Every canoe slated for restoration we disassemble and and strip of varnish. Once the old, peeling varnish is gone, we start to see the real color of the wood inside. The inside of one boat had to be stripped of three separate layers of paint!

This is the one time of year when all of the canoes on our roster pass through the shop within one week. We have a lot of work to do! Now every one is all stripped down to a bare wood hull, ready for repair and a new skin.

For the canoe shop, the new year begins now!

No comments: