Thanks for your insight. I will epoxy the gunwales and inwales with a foam brush and go over them with 2 coats of varnish.

: I varnished the oak gunwales on my canoe and after a year they looked OK.
: After two years they looked worse than the rest of the boat. After leaving
: the boat out in snow and rain all winter, the wood discolored in the 3rd
: year. After 5 years there were areas that were rotting, and now they need
: to be replaced.

: The piece of clear red oak I used for the gunwales set me back about $30. All
: the cedar for the rest of the canoe was only $45, so I lost a significant
: amount of my materials costs due to the advice given by the instructions
: -- namely, just use varnish. Maybe that is why they suggested attaching
: the gunwale with screws -- so it could be easily replaced.

: What I have learned from this: Finish the gunwale with at least one coat of
: epoxy resin (preferably 2 thin coats) followed by at least one coat of UV
: blocking varnish. Most people can't stop with just one coat of varnish,
: and that is OK. You can epoxy coat the inside of the gunwale strip before
: attaching it to the boat, and varnish everything later.

: Use screws to attach the gunwales. Removing a damaged part that is epoxied in
: place will be a bigger chore than unscrewing it.

: Gunwales take a lot of abuse. Consider them disposable after a few years, but
: while you have them, they may as well be durable and pretty.
: For that reason I'd suggest you put a layer or two of glass cloth over the
: top of the gunwales for a length of about 2 1/2 feet to either side of the
: oarlocks. This does not have to be very wide. It can be a tad thinner than
: the thickness of your gunwale. Or, if you want, you can wrap a wider strip
: of cloth so it sits on the top edge, and drapes over the outside edge to
: protect two of the most exposed surfaces on the gunwales. Two layers of 4
: ounce or 6 ounce cloth will give a significant amount of protection
: against dropped oars and roughly handled gear, as well as protect against
: some dock bumping.

: Since this is just a small area, drop your glass cloth on when you do the
: first seal coat of resin, and when you put on the second coat you can
: start to fill the weave of the cloth. A third coat (and 4th if needed) can
: be applied to just the area covered with the glass cloth, with any excess
: resin brushed out another foot or two past the ends of the fabric. It
: should be easy to fair this strip into the length of the gunwale before
: the varnish goes on, so you don't notice the starting edge of the cloth.
: Of course at the middle of the boat it will just look like an incredible,
: deep, varnish finish

: Once you DO get some oars, epending on what kind you have, consider wrapping
: the areas around where they fit in the oarlocks with three layers of glass
: cloth and resin to reinforce them there. It will add years to the life of
: your oars.

: Take a look at similar style of well used oars and see where the wear
: patterns are.

: PGJ