Lincoln Hidden Pond Rebuild

 

 Jan 2018

My better half's daughter's husband found a free boat for me to fix up. Not my kind of hull but what the hell, it's free and I know someone who might be interested in it when I'm done. It's a Hidden Pond made by Lincoln Canoe:

https://paddlelincoln.com/hidden-pond-canoe/

This model is the 14' x 37" wide. A good fishing boat is what I thought. The seats are in perfect shape but the carry thwart needs some attention. When I took the gunwales off the fell apart but the decks were in OK condition but are the funkiest looking design I've ever seen. I'm going to get the nasty green paint off and then sand them and on the bottom coat with resin, when you see the pics you'll understand. New gunwales are going to be Poplar as that is an easy wood to work with and this being a lake and pond boat don't need beefy ash gunwales. A good winter project!  

 More To Come.

 March 2018

Been doing some more work on the Hidden Pond. Seems to be one of those slow projects. Finally got around to milling out the gunwales. I've used Poplar in the past and knowing where this boat is going to be used decided to go that route again. A little time spent with the planner got them down to three quarter and spent last Sunday drilling the holes and rounding them over. I think I've mentioned this before but I have been using a round over plane for this these days. Just to hard for me to solo a gunwale through a table router without a lot of mishaps. Besides, it's a little less sanding.

Next step to treating them and I'm divided between using spar varnish or epoxy. Still toying with that idea! Still have a bit of shaping at the ends. Hoping to have it all assembled by the end of April. Yeah, I'm on a roll...a very slow one with this rebuild!

  

Work continues on the Hidden Pond. Rails are finally varnished, I did go that route, ends of the rails are treated with G-Flex, all the holes have dribbles of varnish in them. Tonight it was time to get a least one rail on. Took a bit of time as I hand tightened every screw. I have some horror stories of using a drill to get the screws in from past builds that I just would not like to ever discuss. Here's one pic of it so far.

I have a good plan for the decks and the materials to pull it off! That's a plus. I know it's a tub but it's good to spend time to bring a hull back to life again. I do have a new measuring unit for time spent on a parts of the project and I think Mem would like this. Instead of an hour glass I am now gauging time by the amount of adult beverages consumed. In the case of the rail it was three beverages, I think I estimated wrong how long it would take for the amount of screws needed. I was glad when the last screw was done as a 4th might have caused a shut down at the Doug Production Plant. Coming along but more work to do.

 

 

More March Work:

 

 Took the day off to go to VT but the weather did not cooperate for what we were gonna do. Instead I worked on the Hidden Pond as I do have a buyer and spring is here...almost...if you close your eyes and dream! I love working on boats and today was a good one. Got the seats installed on the brand new gunwales I milled out, carry thwart in and I cut out and started the glue up for the decks. I have some plans for those. The boat is looking pretty darn good for a freebie and an old beat to crap hull. I also weighed it minus all the seats and other parts, 28 pds at bare hull. With the gunwales and seats but no decks it's coming in at 42 pds. A far cry from you composite builders but still respectable for what it is.

Nice thing was I was visited by some field folks not more than fifteen feet or so from my shop. I do like my shop time! A few pictures. Had to use a link this time:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...9zYXVJTzZYYkdR 

 

The Next Day Or So:

 

 Work continues. I made the decks thin, just over an 1/8" and since they were glued I added a 2" piece of glass tape and slavered a generous amount of resin on the underside. Done this before and it's held up well. As well there was a nice chip out of the gelcoat on the stern stem so mixed up some thickened epoxy mixed with hobby paint and gobbed it into that, covered it with Peel Ply and wax paper with a tape cover to mash it down and secure it. The color came out almost perfect. The decks when cured on the bottom will get several coats of spar varnish. It's coming along. 

April:

Well, it's a done deal. Finished it off last night and am pretty happy with the results. Goes to its new owner next weekend and since I've been sending pictures he's pretty excited to get his hands on it. Now it's time to drag that beat up old Mad River ME in for a rehab, that one is gonna take some time!

I forgot to mention that the finished weight was 43 pounds. Think I mentioned stripped down to bare hull it was 28#'s.

A few pictures of the finished job!

6 Photos