Fairing canvass on cedar canoes

[blackriver]

I have a newly built cedar canvass canoe with the canvass already filled with a latex based canvass filler. Their are some minor flat spots that I would like to address before painting. Has anyone had experience with fairing in this regard.

[Conard]

I recently restored a 1921 Old Town canoe, and filled the canvas with lead-based filler. There were a couple of places where foreign substances in the canvas kept the filler from adhering properly. On advice of Bill Clements, I smoothed them with auto body filler, and it came out really well.

[Paul Scheuer]

What's a "minor flat spot" ? .. as I prepare to recanvass my 80-year-old Morris. How 'bout some pics ?

[Todd Bradshaw]

Before I put anything on top of the latex filler, I'd run the question by the folks at the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association's forum:
http://forums.wcha.org/
It's the best source of info on rebuilding wood/canvas canoes on the planet.

[JimD]

my first boat was a cedar/canvas canoe dad got my bro and I for our 14th b-day. There were probably minor flat spots but we didn't notice them or try to fill them. Sure was a fine boat.
jimd

[Conard]

Bill Clements is a terrific resource on these issues (and a good sourc of materials). His website is www.boatbldr.com. (http://www.boatbldr.com.)