Information please, and some advice!

[Pim van der Toorn]

Hello,
I am the new owner of an old canoe, and am hoping to get information and advice from Association members on two fronts:

1. Identification of the make/model/year to the extent possible. I can find no identifying marks at all - serial number, decal remains - but maybe I don't know where to look. Based on my research it might be a mid-1930s Peterborough, or a Canada Canoe Company, or something else entirely, and I'd be most grateful an expert opinion. I have attached one picture of the canoe overall, and one of the detail of construction. Please let me know if you'd like additional pictures of specific parts of the canoe that may aid in its identification. It is definitely a sailing canoe, it is exactly 16ft stem-to-stem, and is cedar, copper clench nailed on (white?) oak. All screws are Robertson.

2. "First do no harm". I've started removing varnish by gently scraping the peeling/flaking varnish from inside the hull. So far so good but there is also old varnish still firmly adhered to the planks - what is the removal method most recommended? Then, the bow stem in particular needs work, it has been damaged and there is some rot and I am not sure how to tackle that. This Old Canoe covers much of this but I will need to replace a plank or two, but since there will be no canvas covering, how is this best done to be as visually pleasing (and seaworthy) as possible? I am interested in fixing and restoring this canoe to working condition, I want it back in the water, it does not need to be museum quality.

Thank you in advance for any support and information provided
Pim

 

[Pim van der Toorn]

 

[samb]

Are there brass thwart tags on the outside of the hull where the centre thwart is fixed? My CCC canoe has tags there and Peterboroughs do to my knowledge too.
Sam

 

[Pim van der Toorn]

Negative, no thwart tags on either side, but thank you for the tip. I did some work on the canoe yesterday and after cleaning a bunch of gunge off of the inside of the keel near the bow, I can see numbers stamped there: 8186 (the "1" is very faint, could be another number, and i guess the number sequence itself could be 98?8 if read from the left side of the canoe).

 

[Benson Gray]

It certainly looks like a Peterborough to me although there are many here who know much more about Canadian canoes than I do. Can you attach some pictures of the numbers from both ends and the overall dimensions of the canoe? Some of the suggestions at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/791/ may be useful. The table of Peterborough model numbers shown at https://web.archive.org/web/20110210011058/http://dragonflycanoe.com/id/index.html may help narrow it down. Good luck,

Benson

 

[Pim van der Toorn]

 

[Pim van der Toorn]

Thank you Benson. That's about the best image I can get of the serial number, does not appear to match the format for a Peterborough I found in other resources on this website. Canoe dimensions are 16ft LOA, 32.5" abeam, 13" deep at the centre thwart (which is not at the exact centre of the canoe).

 

[MGC]

There is a strong resemblance between many of these Canadian cedar strip canoes...to the untrained eye they are really hard to tell apart and given that many of them were build off of the same forms but under different names and sometimes with the same hands it is not surprising.
With that sort of number it is very possible that it is a Richardson?Rilco. A picture of the seat frames would be helpful. Inspect your king planks for two holes where the tag may have been attached.

 

[Pim van der Toorn]

Thank you Paddlephile, that is very interesting, I thought that the canoe I have was older than richardson/rilco (I think he started in the 60s?) but stand to be corrected! Below are the seat frames and the seat frame support. The frames have small remnants of cane, and are held together with 2x dowels at each corner. I can find no holes or marks on either king board where a manufacturer's tag might have been. Really appreciate the insight!