Penn Yan Canoe Restoration

R

Randy Hunt

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I am in the process of restoring a Penn Yan canoe that has been in the family for 40+ years. I found a serial number "RCS 264". Can anyone help me with identifing what year it was built? I live in Michigan and I am looking for a place within a couple hundred miles that can do the canvas work. Any sugesstions? Thanks.
 
Pen Yan

Contact Gil Cramer at the Wooden Canoe Shop, Inc. He is in Bryan, Ohio. You can find his email address in the members section of this site.
 
It seems you have a Penn Yan Rainbow, trimmed in spruce. Check Dan's dragonfly site, at www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/ and scroll down on the left to "Penn Yan". It appears your canoe would date from 1926-1960. Does it seem to you that it could have been built in 1926?

What part of Michigan? Dave Wermuth lives in LaPeer, and he might be closer to you than Gil. Might be others too. I'm not sure who works solely on their own canoes and who will work for others.

Anybody here who has worked on canoes can talk you through it, if you want to do it yourself.

Kathy
 
Penn Yann Canoe

Thanks for the info. I live in Royal Oak (suburb of Detroit). Not sure what year it was built. It has been fiber glassed for the past 35 years and it took about 20 hours (so far) to get the glass off. The tips of the gunnels are partially dry rot. Do I need to replace the entire gunnel or can I just splice in new sections? Also do you know if the gunnels made of spuce? Thanks for all your help.

Randy
 
Congratulations on fiberglass removal... quite a chore!

My guess is the gunwales are spruce, as they are sometimes spruce even on some canoes that are otherwise trimmed in mahogany, and your Rainbow is trimmed in spruce.

Sounds like you live pretty close to Dave Wermuth. He patrols these waters frequently and should jump in and answer your gunwale restoration question with greater authority than I.

Kathy
 
Kathy, thank you very much for all your help. Yes, Lapeer is about a hours drive for me. Hopefully Dave will contact me with his contact info. Thanks again.
 
Dave's email is: Davidwermuth80@charter.net

You can find any member's contact info by clicking on "community" above, and going to their "handle", which in Dave's case is his name. Some folks don't put their email address in there, but his was there so I know he wouldn't mind my posting it.
 
The serial number can be interpreted as follows: "R" = Rainbow, C = length 17', S = spruce gunwales. The number, as far as is known, is just a sequential serial number that does not code the year. Further, it also appears PY started over each year possibly duplicating numbers. The records were destroyed when the company switched to fiberglass production.

Three letter codes in the SN were used 1926-1947, so your canoe was built in that time period, most likely. It may be possible to narrow it down further depending on the types of wood used for seats, thwarts and decks. Some years in that range they used maple, elm or mahogany.
 
Penn Yan Canoe

Dan, thank you for your response. The thwarts and seats are made of mahogany. Not sure what the decks are made of. Thanks for your help.
 
War Years Penn Yan

If your canoe has plywood inserts where the cane normally would go, it possibly dates from 1944-1946. The supply of cane for weaving seats dried up during WWII.

The war was over in 1945, but seat modifications were still present for a year or so after the war. Old Town provided slatted seats during this time, but Penn Yan popped plywood into that spot. Some folks had cane seats installed when cane became available again.

Video I made of our PY Rainbow (which has since gone to live with Howard) shows Wartime seats at 5:04 and thereafter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKo7fpaPecI

You might also look at Howard's posts about this canoe by using the "search" function... put in "rainbow" and they should come up.
 
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Penn Yan Canoe

Kathy, thank you for all your help. I have made contact with Dave in Lapeer, MI and we are going to get together after the first of the year. The seats in my canoe were caned. I re-caned them about 30 years ago but they are in need of re-caning again. This will allow me to re-finish the hardware before re-caning. Thanks for all your help and for getting me in touch with Dave.
 
Kathy, thank you for all your help. I have made contact with Dave in Lapeer, MI and we are going to get together after the first of the year. The seats in my canoe were caned. I re-caned them about 30 years ago but they are in need of re-caning again. This will allow me to re-finish the hardware before re-caning. Thanks for all your help and for getting me in touch with Dave
 
Randy,

I'm a displaced MN member currently living in Detroit, Shelby Township, and would love to stop by and look at your canoe and give you my thoughts on it if you want.

BTW, a PY Rainbow is a very nice looking canoe, I'd like to get one someday.

Dan
 
Tomorrow's the day

WE are planning a session tomorrow. I got to get some stuff together and get off this computer. Should be fun.
 
here's an update

On Randy's Family's Penn Yan Rainbow. It's a nice looking canoe. Dan Lindberg and I braved the snow and were rewarded with some really good coffee. The boat is in pretty good shape. Attention is needed on the usual suspects.

Randy, you can jump in any time.

Some minor tip splicing is needed.
A few ribs.
A small piece of plank.
A busted thwart.
A summer deadline is easily within reach. Enjoyed the story of the three mile chase down the Clinton River.

We need to harass Randy into posting all his restoration photos.

Plus I think we found a local furniture stripper who can do the stripping.
 
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