oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Need help for info re 17' Old Town fiberglass over wood, ser.# 126544. Model, vintage, any useful info.
Old Town fiberglass over wood
- Thread starter oldforester
- Start date
The Old Town canoe with serial number 126544 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, low end HW (Heavy Water) model with open spruce inside gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts in place of seats, ash outside rails, and a keel. It was built between January and March, 1939. The original exterior paint color was aluminum. It shipped on May 22nd, 1939 to Warren, Penna. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. You may want to verify the extreme overall length of this canoe in a straight line. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. You may want to verify the extreme overall length of this canoe in a straight line. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
Attachments
oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Many thanks!
That agrees exactly with the info I was given at time of purchase. Build sheet shows it was originally canvas over wood, which I was guessing was the case. Shows it was delivered to Boy Scouts in Warren PA and that is who I purchase it from in 69 or 70. Will be donating to the cause!
That agrees exactly with the info I was given at time of purchase. Build sheet shows it was originally canvas over wood, which I was guessing was the case. Shows it was delivered to Boy Scouts in Warren PA and that is who I purchase it from in 69 or 70. Will be donating to the cause!
oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Thanks
I suspected that was the case. Nothing made sense for it to be originally finished in fiberglass.
I suspected that was the case. Nothing made sense for it to be originally finished in fiberglass.
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
Your canoe is typical of a canoe built for the Scouts-- an HW without its usual up-swept ends (low end has nothing to do with quality but everything to do with the profile of the canoe), built without seats and painted aluminum in color. Interesting history.
oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Thanks!
Thank you. That answered my final question. It is a testament to Old Town that these canoes survived through about 30 years of service at a scout camp. They were in need of much work when taken out of service. However, if my memory serves me well, none were beyond repair. By chance in 1970 I was one of the first to have a chance to purchase these and got the least damaged.
Thank you. That answered my final question. It is a testament to Old Town that these canoes survived through about 30 years of service at a scout camp. They were in need of much work when taken out of service. However, if my memory serves me well, none were beyond repair. By chance in 1970 I was one of the first to have a chance to purchase these and got the least damaged.
oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Yes. It has the makings of a very nice canoe, except for the fiberglass. I understand why they did that with the abuse they must have taken at a scout camp, but still wish that hadn't happened. Any hints on getting rid of the fiberglass? Some is peeling away and some is still super tight. Any ideas greatly appreciated!
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
Ha! You just requested my video (this was really tenacious fiberglass-- yours might be easier). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXILZU6Jm-s
Essentially, fiberglass comes off via a heat gun or via sinking the canoe in a pond for a while (someone else (Dave W.?) may jump in and explain that)... and some 'glass will come off easily and some in little itty-bitty bits.
Keep us informed re how it goes!
Kathy
Essentially, fiberglass comes off via a heat gun or via sinking the canoe in a pond for a while (someone else (Dave W.?) may jump in and explain that)... and some 'glass will come off easily and some in little itty-bitty bits.
Keep us informed re how it goes!
Kathy
oldforester
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Lol. I just looked at your video before I saw that I had another reply. Looks like the way to go. Mine was glassed sometime prior to 1968. From what I have found, this should be the older polyester resin instead of the epoxy. It is supposed to be much easier to remove. There are some parts loose and peeling so I hope this is really the case. Thanks for the help!
MGC
Scrapmaker
The video does not show the entire process. I think that it's a bit misleading in that it shows only the easiest part of the job, removing the bonded glass cloth from the hull.
If the resin penetrated between the planking or if it found it's way behind spaces between the ribs and planking or if the hull was not well faired before being covered you could (if you want to truly clean up the hull) spend days picking the resin out. The nail blooms will also hold resin and will need to be cleaned out one at a time. I spent over 80 hours cleaning up one older boat. When it was covered the gaps between the planking were fairly large and there were also splits in some of the planking. The resin worked it's way into every little crack and even into the inside of the boat. It took me about two hours to remove the glass cloth from the hull.
When I buy a boat that has been glassed (if I do) I now pay particular attention to inside of the hull to assess how much effort the glass removal will be. Frankly, I will no longer buy Old Towns or other fairly available boats with glass on them. There are enough good boats available without glass that it's just not worth the extra effort.
That said, if this is your first time doing this then have at it and draw your own conclusions. Old Towns typically don't have "gappy" planking like the hull that I spent so much time on so you may not have such a bad job on your hands.
