I am starting restoration of a 1935 17' Old Town, serial number 113769 and found some modifications of the inside gunnels that don't fit with any purpose that I can imagine. Take a look at the two attached pictures where near each end of the canoe the inner gunnels are beveled to make the inside of the canoe wider in those spots for some reason. My first thought was that someone did this to allow for some sort of backrest for seats, but I have never heard of putting a backrest on the rear paddlers seat and if they put a backrest at the front where the bevels are anyone sitting on the floor with such a backrest would have no place to put his feet except on the traditional front seat. I then thought of some kind of frame for a sail might work with a mast base in front and some sort of rudder adaptation to the rear of the rear seat, but none of that seems logical... There appears to be a single screw hole in the center of each of the bevel recesses, like something was attached to the inside gunnel with a single screw on each side. The previous owner has no idea why those bevels are there...the canoe was used at the time his family purchased it two generations ago.
Would appreciate some guesses or other opinions from you folks...
I found something else interesting with this canoe... Its first restoration involved it being fiber glassed.. A second restoration required the fiber glass to be removed so as to replace two broken ribs... it was then restored with Cotton Canvas... Some time ago I removed fiber glass from a canoe during a restoration and decided to never do it again... It surprised me to find another canoe that someone had cared enough about to pay the costs of that glass removal.
Have attached another picture... I have twin 50 year old sons and found twin canoes to restore, one for each son.. One is a 16' 1915 CR Old Town and the other is a 16' 1924 OTCS Old Town.. Both have been restored with their original green color... a note worthy difference between the canoes is that the Charles River unit did not use the traditional diamond headed bolts for the thwarts and seats...The bolt heads were countersunk with wooden plugs set in to the counter sunk holes.
Love these old canoes.... have for most of my life.... Harold
Would appreciate some guesses or other opinions from you folks...
I found something else interesting with this canoe... Its first restoration involved it being fiber glassed.. A second restoration required the fiber glass to be removed so as to replace two broken ribs... it was then restored with Cotton Canvas... Some time ago I removed fiber glass from a canoe during a restoration and decided to never do it again... It surprised me to find another canoe that someone had cared enough about to pay the costs of that glass removal.
Have attached another picture... I have twin 50 year old sons and found twin canoes to restore, one for each son.. One is a 16' 1915 CR Old Town and the other is a 16' 1924 OTCS Old Town.. Both have been restored with their original green color... a note worthy difference between the canoes is that the Charles River unit did not use the traditional diamond headed bolts for the thwarts and seats...The bolt heads were countersunk with wooden plugs set in to the counter sunk holes.
Love these old canoes.... have for most of my life.... Harold