Skinning!

Well the time has come to skin our canoe!  The skin is a heavy nylon.  We put two tables crossways at the stern and bow to give us room to work in the center.  When the center was complete, we pushed the tables into the center so we could work on the ends.  This worked great.  The process we used was:

1. lay the fabric overtop of the canoe.  Wet it very thoroughly with a spray bottle.  Then let it sit for a day or two until most of the wrinkles are gone.
   
2. When time comes to actually skin it, soak it again.  Keep it very wet through the whole process, even up to the part of sewing the stem.
3. Stretch the canvas out on the gunwale of one side.  Don't bother pulling it too tight over the canoe, but make sure it stretched out good fore and aft.  With one person pulling on it, start in the middle, and put some staples (5/16 stainless is what we used) in between the middle ribs.  Space them about an inch apart.  
4. When you have done a row of staples between two ribs, switch sides and do the opposite side.  This time, you can apply a little pressure to pull down, as well as pulling out. 
5. Now move back to the first side, and do another two ribs worth towards the bow.  Again, keep the fabric pulled tight for and aft, and keep it taught downward. 
6. Switch sides and do the opposite side, but applying more pressure downwards and towards the bow.
   
7. Once the entire fabric has been stapled to the gunwale, it's time to stitch the stems.  Basically, starting at where the keelson attaches to the stem, pull the fabric tight making sure it meets in the center.  Using the nylon thread, start stitching.  Move down the stem, gathering all loose material and pulling it tight in a line towards the stem.  Stitch so that the skin remains tight. Keep the stitch in the center of the stem the whole way.  You can stop once you get to the end of the gunwales.  Once the stitch is done, stitch over it again, with short stitches for strength. The process is the same for both sides.
   
   
   
   Next step is cutting the fabric and sewing on the protective strip.