The following information is intended to provide an overview of the materials we use and why we choose them.

Timber

Wood is beautiful, flexible, resilient, restorable, natural, renewable and warm.  All materials deteriorate over time but wood can be maintained through the use of oils and preservatives to retain its durability.  Timbers used in our boats include Western Red Cedar for ribs and planking.  Gunnels, decks and seats are usually American White Ash or Mahogany.  Decks and carry handles can be a range of other hardwoods depending on availability and customer choice.  In general we use Deks Olje saturator as a deep preservative and numerous coats of teak oil to maintain the timber’s natural properties.

Hull canvas and filler

Cedar and Canvas canoes have their outer hulls covered in a #10 cotton canvas and filled with a traditional oil-based filler, a durable material that has proven performance on countless canoes in Canada and the USA.  The combination of timber planking and filled canvas provides a tough but flexible hull.  This allows the hull to retain its integrity in normal usage but to flex on impact, thereby avoiding damage where a more rigid material will fracture.  After many years of use the canvas may require replacing, a relatively simple procedure involving only the removal of the outer gunnel and stem bands.

Fibreglass and resins

Fibreglass is used to seal and strengthen the hulls of our Lapstrake boats.  To preserve the fibreglass from UV damage the exterior of the Cedar Strip boat is painted with UV resistant varnish.  The fibreglass exterior of the Lapstrake canoes is painted, thereby protecting it from UV damage.  The interior of the boats is not varnished since this produces an excessively slippery surface.

For our Skin-on-Frame boats we use high quality flexible resins.  These retain a flexible finish allowing the Ballistic nylon skin to flex under pressure.impact and with changes in temperature.

Fastening and fittings

Deterioration of fittings and fastenings is a common problem with many boats.  To avoid this, all of the screws we use are stainless steel, and our other fastenings are either copper, brass or bronze.

Paintwork

All paintwork on Valkyrie canoes is high quality marine gloss because of its general durability and water resistance.  The brands we use are TEMAC and International, both of which have strong international reputations