159686

The Old Town canoe with serial number 159686 is an 18 foot long, AA (top) grade HW (heavy water) model with low ends. The woods are not specified, but an AA grade canoe typically had cedar ribs and planking with mahogany gunwales, seats, decks and thwarts. This canoe was equipped with half ribs, a keel, outside stems and a floor rack. It was built in 1953, getting its second coat of varnish on April 24, 1953. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped to Los Angeles, California on April 28, 1953. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.

159686 - 62643.jpg

This scan and several hundred thousand others 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. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Greg Nolan
 
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Some of the sdescription fits, but not all. I think the canoe is 20' long. I will have to check again. The canoe has short ribs between the full height ribs. Are these half ribs? It also has an outside rub rail full length of the canoe several inches below the gunwales. What are outside stems? What does a floor rack lookk like? It may have mahogany inwhales. The outer gunwhales are in bad shape. The original thwarts and seats are gone. The boat has been used as a ceremonial canoe at a Boy Scout Camp since the 1980's. Prior history is not known, but camp history goes back to teh 1950's. The exterior looks like fiberglass with UV damage that is showing the glass fiber weave. Could this be canvas? The exterior color is white.

The interior varnish is badly UV damaged and has chrystalized. Is there a good method to prep the interior to restore the varnish such as air blast with soft abrasive -- walnut shells or other?
 
The short ribs between the full-sized ribs are known as half-ribs.

If a rub rail was factory-installed, the build record should reflect that, but it could have been added either by a dealer or by a previous owner -- a camp might have added rub rails.

Outside stems are wooden stems outside the canvas, but inside the brass bang strip, usually varnished, as on my fully restored 1922 OT Ideal (click on the photos):

cr 100_1412.jpg

but sometimes painted, as on my 1931 OT 50 pounder when I bought it:

small cropped 100_2543.jpg

Floor racks (sometimes called floor boards) are an accessory that can protect the bottom of the canoe from gear and other loads, and can keep
things drier than if loaded right into the canoe:

OT 17ft HW 1.JPG

As to the interior varnish, if it is badly UV and otherwise damaged, it would have to be removed before revarnishing.

Though varnish can be removed with heat and scraping, the best way is to strip the old varnish entirely, usually using a chemical stripper. But to do that efficiently and effectively, the canvas should come off. The canvas (kor fiberglass) on this canoe may need replacement anyway, in which case, the time to strip the interior is when the hull cover has been removed. I suppose soda or walnut shell blasting might work, but I would be doubtful -- cedar (your canoe most probably has eastern white cedar ribs and western red cedar planking) is a very soft wood, and it is difficult to sand or otherwise abrade paint or varnish from it without also removing some of the wood -- and there isn't much wood in a canoe to remove.

Without seeing your canoe, or some good photos, it is hard to say whether you have canvas or fiberglass

Some pictures would help -- both to evaluate the canvas, and to decipher the serial number. (see the tutorial at http://forums.wcha.org/knowledgebase/Tutorials:Posting+Photos+to+the+WCHA+Forums?do=comments ).

Looking at the serial number with a raking light (from a flashlight) sometimes helps. But be careful about trying to remove paint or varnish -- it is really easy to remove the serial number.

Greg
 
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