Sorry if this is to long. I have this canoe with wooden gunwhales. I
want to be sure to take care of this wood because of another boat I
had where the gunnels rotted out and I had to suffer a repair with
vinyl!! I have decided to do what is necessary to preserve this wood,
sparing no effort to avoid the discrace of vinyl gunnels on this sweet
solo canoe.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...7/P5270017.jpg

My overall strategy is to sand and stain the wood. The gunnel is a
sandwich made of fiberglass cloth and wood. They are assembled with
wood screws and there are bolts which pass throught for thwarts which
are braces.

My first idea was to sand and stain in place, down and dirty. Now
that I have washed it down I'm thinking take it apart and sand and
stain on sawhorses. I feel this will give the wood the best
opportunity to dry out before sanding. It also seems that I would be
better able to inspect /sand/stain/repair those places on the wood
where they meet the boat and where they meet each other. So long as I
label the parts when I take them apart does anyone see a problem with
this strategy?

The wood is ash I think but the deck plate has a different contrasting
wood, either mahogany or teak I guess. I'm fairly certain that it
will all come apart with the screws and bolts. One problem I'm
anticipating is rotten screw holes. If this occurs I plan to dig it
out an maybe use toothpicks and glue to fix, maybe bondo if
necessary. Another potential problem is that the surfaces where the
sun don't shine are too rotten to use or fix. This is a long shot
since I don't find any rot with my exterior inspection. The wood is
dark in those places though and needs a chance to dry out, my take.
Does anyone out there have an opinion on this or anticipate any other
problems arising?

The surface of the gunnel could be more smooth. The wood and fabric
don't match up exactly. I'm thinking I should be able to gently use a
belt sander after reassembly to bring wood and cloth flush. Does this
sound OK? Then re-apply stain to those areas? Or should I sand flush
before disassembly? I have been told that Watco is the brand of stain
to use. Any advice or opinions are welcome. Sorry if this is too
long.