Storage Tips for Your Wooden Canoe

For a long life, your wooden canoe should be stored with the same respect for the work that went into shaping those fair curves.

1. Keep it dry
2. Keep it level
3. Keep any weight off of it

In the winter, store your wooden canoe indoors, if possible, slung from the boathouse rafters or supported on a cradle. More than one owner of a woodstrip/epoxy canoe admits that his pride and joy spends the frozen months in a place of honour in the house, to be admired over the winter. If outdoor storage is unavoidable, at least be sure that the wooden canoe is covered and protected against the weight of heavy snow and falling trees. It is best to build a permanent rack on the wall of a garage or boathouse, padding it to preserve the gunwale, but if you must leave it overturned on the ground, set spacers under each stem and under the gunwales to keep the wooden canoe away from ground moisture that could damage the trim.