I must agree with the comments hereon, having done this job myself more
than once. It is simplier than it seems, just takes time and care.
Replace both gunnels, becasue of possible rot elsewhere and asthetics.
Ash was traditional because it is strong and flexible. White oak is
fine, and can be soaked or steamed to noodle limpness. You can get a
local woodshop to rip and even plane or shape the wood for a nominal
fee. Use epoxy for strength and waterproofness. Be careful not to glue
gunnels to hull. If it's canvas be prepared to find rotten fabric under
the rotten gunnel section. Go slow, think, and do your best. Canoes
are beautiful, and should be treated lovingly. If you're not up to it,
get someone else to do it right. It will be money well spent. You'll
regret anything else. Luk.
VR,
Tom

toller wrote:

I have a 10' canoe. The gunnels are a pair of 3/4"x5/8" pieces of what
looks like spruce. (one pair on either side)

One piece has about 2' rotted away. We are still using the canoe, but it
can't be a good idea.

Replacing the entire gunnel would be difficult, both because of the way the
canoe is build and my inability to cut a 10' strip of wood. So, I would
like to replace the rotten part, plus some good wood on either size, for a
total of 4'.

I cut 2 5/16"x3/4" pieces of cherry 4' long. (somewhere I read that cherry
is rot resistance, plus I happened to have a suitable scrap of cherry). I
can easily bend the strip to the required size. So, what I plan is to
install one 5/16" piece to the canoe by screwing it to the other half of the
gunnel. Then I will glue the second 5/16" piece to the first, holding it
in place with screws and some clamps.

1) Does this make any sense? Will the cherry strips ever relax, or will
they always be under tension?
2) Is Titebond2 adequate, or should I use epoxy?

Oddly, one 5/16" strip is much more flexible that the other, eventhough they
came from the same 3/4" piece of wood and look identical.