1927 Old Town 50#

[patrick corry]

I included some pictures of this future restoration project here:

Thread 'Old Town building mold consistency'

Jun 22, 2025

I wonder if those among you who have more familiarity with Old Town canoe molds may have an opinion on this? I have two Old Town 50# canoes I would like to restore. The oldest, from 1927 needs a ton of work due to having been painted inside variously green, red, orange, white, and blue over the years, but I don't think it has any broken ribs and minimal planking repairs needed! The second canoe, from 1938, has many broken ribs (and lots of damaged planking)... probably at least 12 amidships. The shape of the canoe on one side has been lost and replacing so many in one place may cause...

• patrick corry
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Wood and Canvas

This should be a fun, somewhat historic, project. Sold to Mrs. F. B. Trudeau of Saranac Lake, NY who was the wife of Dr. Trudeau famed for his early research into tuberculosis and the curative powers of the Adirondack air. Dr. Trudeau's study of rabbits on tiny Rabbit Island within Spitfire Lake near the Paul Smith's campus formed the early basis for his research which evolved into the modern Trudeau Institute. Early on the Trudeau family resided at Paul Smiths Hotel, then permanently moved to Saranac Lake. I'm hoping to have this project complete for the 2027 Assembly, presumably at Paul Smiths College again, for its centennial splash in Adirondack waters!

The canoe made it's way over the years to Ten Mile River Boy Scout camp in Sullivan County, NY and eventually to the gentleman from whom I got it, who was a former CEO of the American Red Cross in metropolitan New York City.

 

[MGC]

This should be a fun, somewhat historic, project. Sold to Mrs. F. B. Trudeau of Saranac Lake, NY who was the wife of Dr. Trudeau famed for his early research into tuberculosis and the curative powers of the Adirondack air.

That is very cool. You have to wonder who might have paddled it back in the day. Was it's first paddled on Lake Flower?
But it was delivered to Lake Clear Junction, which is also very cool and certainly a motivation for you to bring it to assembly. Maybe it was paddled from Lake Clear to Upper Saranac via the outlet and then on to Saranac.
The stories sometimes really are fun to invent.

 

[patrick corry]

You have to wonder who might have paddled it back in the day.

The stories sometimes really are fun to invent.

Yes, as I have found my way to this ... hobby (obsession)... along the way I discovered that the history and stories behind the canoes, and the people I meet along the way are just as much fun as the canoes themselves.

 

[patrick corry]

Here's a little progress on the 1927 50#:

Before any work:
Two 50#ers came home from Yorktown Heights, NY

The 1927 Trudeau Old Town 50#er

Rib tip repairs; As I did the worst tips, then reviewed the remaining rib tips, I kept on finding more to repair. The inwales were nailed with steel nails and every tip was either nail-sick, split, or rotted from poor treatment during the canoes life. Therefore I ultimately repaired every tip! In retrospect I suppose I could have just cut off about 5/8" from every tip and lowered the sheer.... but I didn't think of that until I was halfway through the tip repairs. Stem tips have been repaired with Ash and a hardwood spline glued behind the stem to reinforce the joint.

Inwales are in horrible shape, but i'm going to attempt to scarf in new pieces- inspired by Chris Pearson's work- thereby retaining as much original material as possible. There were lots of modifications & amateurish repairs, and it was sort of hard to discern the original seat and thwart locations until I scraped multiple coats of paint; the inwales have been white, green, red, and orange over time. Interestingly, my diligent paint removal allowed me to see the impressions of the seat hanging dowels where they were impressed into the underside of the inwales. I finally was able to understand the orientation of all penetrations. Here we're looking at the underside of the inwales.