Howie
Wooden Canoe Maniac
I completed this Langford a few weeks ago. It's a bit of a cautionary tale: the previous owner got the canoe in good condition when his father passed away. The canoe had always been stored in a barn, but the new owner made the mistake of storing it outside without a tarp. You can guess the rest - water got underneath cracks in the canvas and rotted the edges of the two central cedar planks.
The canoe was easy to ID from the decal on the front sides. There is info on the keels - '173-73' on one; '108-30-9655' on the other, and hand written on the planking under the canvas was the following the above numbers along with 'GPWERRIG'. But while Langford is still in business they weren't able to tell me the model # or date - apparently their records don't extend back vary far. But I'm guessing the canoe was made in 1973.
I modified ('improved' I trust) the canoe while restoring. I got rid of the rail caps as they seem like water traps to me. And I made new hand-caned seats replacing the crude babish type, and I replaced the crude keel with one from an Old Town 18' HW that was just the right size as it had broken tips.
O - if anybody could forward a high resolution .jpg of a Langford decal in good condition like the one shown here I'd appreciate it!
The canoe was easy to ID from the decal on the front sides. There is info on the keels - '173-73' on one; '108-30-9655' on the other, and hand written on the planking under the canvas was the following the above numbers along with 'GPWERRIG'. But while Langford is still in business they weren't able to tell me the model # or date - apparently their records don't extend back vary far. But I'm guessing the canoe was made in 1973.
I modified ('improved' I trust) the canoe while restoring. I got rid of the rail caps as they seem like water traps to me. And I made new hand-caned seats replacing the crude babish type, and I replaced the crude keel with one from an Old Town 18' HW that was just the right size as it had broken tips.
O - if anybody could forward a high resolution .jpg of a Langford decal in good condition like the one shown here I'd appreciate it!
