171744-18
- Thread starter tirwin
- Start date
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
The Old Town canoe with serial number 171744 is an 18 foot long, Guide model. Neither the grade nor the woods are specified. This canoe was equipped with a keel. It was built in 1962, getting its second coat of varnish on May 9. 1962. The original exterior was painted with OT design number 4. It was shipped to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on May 10, 1962. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
Design number 4:
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
Design number 4:
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
Questions on restoration
Greg,
This is my first wooden canoe restoration. I have a lot of experiance in fiberglass canoes. There are stem repairs needed and gunnel and keel replacement which I can handle after getting materials. The inside varnish is excellent with an few minor repairs needed. I am wandering about canvas or fiberglass of the exterior. Can you point me to information on the merits of either?
I actually have two canoes to restore. You may get questions from me about the second for which I have a separate serial number inquiry.
Greg,
This is my first wooden canoe restoration. I have a lot of experiance in fiberglass canoes. There are stem repairs needed and gunnel and keel replacement which I can handle after getting materials. The inside varnish is excellent with an few minor repairs needed. I am wandering about canvas or fiberglass of the exterior. Can you point me to information on the merits of either?
I actually have two canoes to restore. You may get questions from me about the second for which I have a separate serial number inquiry.
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
In addition to asking questions here, there are three good sources of information about canoe restoration which you would do well to get, or at least look at -- "The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance" by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok, and/or "Building the Maine Guide Canoe" by Jerry Stelmok, and "The Old Town Canoe Company" by Susan Audette and David Baker.
The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction, and the third is a great history of the company and its canoes. These are available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon. “The Wood and Canvas Canoe” is currently out of print, and so can be hard to get. I am told that Jerry Stelmok has some copies for sale: Island Falls Canoe Company, Atkinson, ME. Email: Islfalls@IslandFallsCanoe.com Your library may have it, and if not, should be able to get it through the interlibrary loan service.
The WCHA online store also has a collection of magazine article reprints on rebuilding/restoring canoes -- “Rebuilding the Wood & Canvas Canoe” -- for $3 -- http://store.wcha.org/Rebuilding-the-Wood-and-Canvas-Canoe.html This is well worth $3 -- the information is not as detailed as in the books above, but is accurate and can be a good starting point.
There is quite a bit of discussion about replacing canvas, painting, replacing canvas with fiberglass, and so on. The general consensus here is that if a canvas-covered canoe needs a new hull covering, canvas is the best way to go. It is as durable as fiberglass, easier to repair, and when the time comes, much easier to replace. Properly maintained, a canvas can last 50-80 years (I have a 1931 canoe with its original canvas, that is just now needing replacement. The canoe has suffered enough punishment to crack a few ribs and planks, damage the gunwales, and scrape the paint of down to bare canvas -- before I got it-- but the canvas still keeps the water out). c
Take a look at the discussions found at:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?9902-Fiberglass-question&highlight=fiberglass
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.p...trength-Old-Town-Trapper&highlight=fiberglass
A bit of searching will find other discussions as well.
Comments by Todd Bradshaw, who generally favors canvas and has substantial experience building, selling, and restoring all kinds of canoes, are particularly pertinent because he has one nicely maintained canoe that he re-covered in fiberglass, but he nonetheless favors canvas.
If your canoe is in useable condition, don’t be in a rush to restore it -- take the time to learn what is involved and what the various trade-offs are in choosing among various options. If your canoe is useable but looks a bit tatty, a simple coat of paint will improve things greatly while you take the time to learn how to proceed.
By the way, does you canoe still have the design number 4?
And check my response on your other inquiry.
Greg
The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction, and the third is a great history of the company and its canoes. These are available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon. “The Wood and Canvas Canoe” is currently out of print, and so can be hard to get. I am told that Jerry Stelmok has some copies for sale: Island Falls Canoe Company, Atkinson, ME. Email: Islfalls@IslandFallsCanoe.com Your library may have it, and if not, should be able to get it through the interlibrary loan service.
The WCHA online store also has a collection of magazine article reprints on rebuilding/restoring canoes -- “Rebuilding the Wood & Canvas Canoe” -- for $3 -- http://store.wcha.org/Rebuilding-the-Wood-and-Canvas-Canoe.html This is well worth $3 -- the information is not as detailed as in the books above, but is accurate and can be a good starting point.
There is quite a bit of discussion about replacing canvas, painting, replacing canvas with fiberglass, and so on. The general consensus here is that if a canvas-covered canoe needs a new hull covering, canvas is the best way to go. It is as durable as fiberglass, easier to repair, and when the time comes, much easier to replace. Properly maintained, a canvas can last 50-80 years (I have a 1931 canoe with its original canvas, that is just now needing replacement. The canoe has suffered enough punishment to crack a few ribs and planks, damage the gunwales, and scrape the paint of down to bare canvas -- before I got it-- but the canvas still keeps the water out). c
Take a look at the discussions found at:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?9902-Fiberglass-question&highlight=fiberglass
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.p...trength-Old-Town-Trapper&highlight=fiberglass
A bit of searching will find other discussions as well.
Comments by Todd Bradshaw, who generally favors canvas and has substantial experience building, selling, and restoring all kinds of canoes, are particularly pertinent because he has one nicely maintained canoe that he re-covered in fiberglass, but he nonetheless favors canvas.
If your canoe is in useable condition, don’t be in a rush to restore it -- take the time to learn what is involved and what the various trade-offs are in choosing among various options. If your canoe is useable but looks a bit tatty, a simple coat of paint will improve things greatly while you take the time to learn how to proceed.
By the way, does you canoe still have the design number 4?
And check my response on your other inquiry.
Greg
