CCI Innovation and Collaboration at Work in the Restoration of Banting's Kayak

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CCI Newsletter, No. 27, June 2001

CCI Innovation and Collaboration at Work in the Restoration of Banting's Kayak

by Tom Stone, Senior Conservator, and Flora Davidson, Intern, Treatment and Development Division - Objects

Sir Frederick Banting, best known for his co-discovery of a treatment for diabetes, acquired this sealskin-covered 7.6-m (25-ft.) Labrador Inuit kayak sometime after 1927. After his death in 1941 it languished in a barn on the Banting family farm until 1961, when Lady Banting donated it to the South Simcoe Pioneer Museum in Alliston, Ontario. By this time the kayak was in such poor condition that it could not be displayed. It arrived at CCI for treatment in the fall of 1998.

The years had not been kind to the kayak: the sealskin along the bottom had been cut off and the entire craft re-covered with cotton canvas; about 40% of this canvas was missing from the bottom and most of it was absent in the prow and stern areas; the sealskin that remained was deformed and brittle; the ribs of the stern were smashed and some had been lost; the bilge stringers and keelson were separated and out of alignment; and the prow¹ was completely detached.

The first priority was to stabilize the structure of the kayak. Earlier repairs to several cracked deck beams had resulted in misalignment, so the smashed and broken ribs behind the cockpit no longer reached from gunwale to gunwale. As these previous repairs were part of the history of the kayak and it was ethically necessary to leave them in place, the ribs would have to be supported and their length extended by a few centimetres.

This problem was solved by cutting ordinary ABS plastic pipe down its length to produce two trough-like sections. These were cut to length, bent with the aid of a hot air gun, and then pressure fit along the inside face of the ribs and under the bottom edge of the gunwale.

These splint-like arrangements were fitted to each rib in the rear half of the kayak and lashed into place with cord.

The detached prow had notches cut into its interior face that would have fit the ribs of the kayak, and a series of holes for the seal or walrus skin lashings that would have held it tightly in place between the keelson and the gunwales. New ribs were made to fit between the gunwales and the prow, but the pattern for lashing the prow in place could not be discerned from the holes. The mystery was solved when a photo of several Inuit from northern Labrador tying the prow of a kayak into place was located in the archives at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull. The detail in this photo indicated that a type of "Spanish winch" system should be used to pull the prow into proper alignment.

With the structural repairs and replacements complete, the major challenge was to integrate new canvas with the tattered remains of the old. After much thought and discussion with staff from both the Fine Arts and Textiles labs, a three-dimensional canvas lining approach was adapted from a method used to line paintings. Two new sections of acrylic canvas would be added; each would be 7.6 m (25 ft.) long, would extend down either side of the kayak, and would be adhered under the old canvas using BEVA 371 (a method often used by fine arts conservators for canvas-to-canvas bonds).

Templates for the canvas strips were made using kraft paper. This rough shape was then transferred to unbleached cotton and further refined on the frame of the kayak before being transferred to the acrylic canvas.

The first 7.6-m strip (strip A) was adhered under the old canvas on the right side of the kayak, pulled tightly across the bottom, and tied to the wooden framework using a series of tabs. The second 7.6-m piece (strip B) was adhered under the old canvas on the left side of the kayak, pulled tightly across the bottom (overlapping strip A), and heat-set to strip A with BEVA 371. Strip B extended only halfway across the bottom of the kayak; its edge was tightly hand-stitched down the full length of the craft using curved needles.

Large excesses of material were left at each end of the craft on both strip A and strip B, and these were to be wrapped up and around to the top deck. Following advice on traditional tailoring techniques from the staff of CCI's Textiles Lab, the canvas strips were cut, and darts and tucks were inserted so that the material would form tightly to the prow and stern; all stitching was again done by hand using curved needles.

Once in place the new acrylic canvas provided backing and support for the original canvas, and returned the kayak to its original taught, sleek shape. After painting the replacement canvas to approximate the colour of the old canvas, the work was finally complete. The kayak was once again an object of beauty, and is currently on display at the South Simcoe Pioneer Museum.

This long and challenging project exemplifies the multidisciplinary approach that CCI must often bring to complex conservation treatments.

1. The prow is a long slightly curved piece of wood that links the bottom of the kayak to the gunwales at the very tip of the craft, and when covered with skin or canvas forms the bow that cuts through the water.