Storing your canoe

How you store your canoe is very important. You should always store your canoe upside down and out of direct sunlight. Preferably you should put it indoors such as in a garage, hanging from the ceiling with pulleys or in a shed. If you have nowhere suitable to store it inside you should do your best to try and keep it in the shade. A popular way to store canoes outside is on a set of saw horses, conventional style or built with the post buried in the ground.

It is always a good idea to have your canoe tied down when stored on horses as canoes are easily blown around by just small gust of wind. For this reason the in-ground post horses are more secure when tied down.

Covering your canoe with a tarp works if certain precautions are taken. Do not lay a tarp directly on a canoe if you are storing it outdoors. Due to the possibility of moisture being trapped between the tarp and hull, it is best to drape the tarp like a tent using supports  otherwise discoloration, mold or other damage may occur to the canoe.

Maintaining the finish on Royalex and Royalite canoes

Whether your canoe is Royalex or Royalite, always maintain a coat of preservative on it. A good UV protectorant will help slow the fading process and keep your canoe’s color looking bold and fresh for years to come. It also helps to maintain a slick finish which helps to deter scratches. We recommend PROTECTANT 303.

Warning! - Using a protectorant containing petroleum can damage the finish so make sure you read the label of anything you apply to the outside of your canoe. Solvents such as acetone will also discolor and damage the outer skin of your boat.

Give your canoe a treatment as often as it may be needed. For canoes stored outside, once a month is not too much. Canoes stored indoors will only need treatment once every six months or so. Don’t neglect to give the decks and gunwales some love. We do not recommend any protectorant treatment on the inside if the hull, as the floor of the canoe may become slippery and create a hazard.

Care of the wood in your canoe

Mohawk Canoes seats, thwarts and yokes are made of fine Northern White Ash finished with a custom satin Polyurethane. How you store your canoe will determine the maintenance requirements of your wood parts. If stored in a garage, your wood finish may hold for years before ant touch up is needed. On the other hand if stored outside, chips or scratches in the finish are more likely to discolor so more frequent inspections are required.

When blemishes are found, they can be fixed by lightly sanding and applying a coat of exterior satin polyurethane to the area. Scuff marks can be quickly removed using some fine steel wool. If your canoe is to be stored outside during non-paddling month seasons, you may want to remove the wood parts of the canoe and store them indoors. Any cuts or breaks in the wood need to be treated immediately. The same is obviously true for any replacement wood parts you have cut down to size for installation into your canoe; make sure to treat all open wood.

Exterior care of a fiberglass canoe

Exterior care for a fiberglass canoe is much like that for a Royalite or Royalex. One of the differences being, you can use a car wax or boat wax to protect the exterior finish Protectorant 303 will also work just fine. In all other respects the care of a fiberglass canoe is the same as that of a Royalex one.

Seat adjustment

Over the years, Mohawk has offered two styles of seat adjustment. Until the year 2000, it was with 6" bolts and vinyl spacers. Now we are hanging our seats from the side on aluminum side plates. Both of these systems are adjustable with the modern bracket method requiring a seat adjustment kit to raise and lower the seats.

The bracket seating in your Mohawk canoe was designed to offer you a variety of adjustments. For most people the default seat position is fine as is, but by arranging the spacers you can raise, lower or angle your seat.

Using the plastic spacers from the Seat Adjustment Kit you first need to remove the screw holding the seat into place. Then use the longer screw that comes with the kit and place the spacer either above or below the bracket’s lip, depending on what you want to do with the seat. By placing spacers at the front of the bracket below and those at the rear above it is possible to angle the seat forward, which allows for more comfortable paddling in the kneeling position.