1938 Old Town 50# restoration

[patrick corry]

Second round of steam bending ribs over the canoe. Lots of good steam here and it's fun bending this soft Northern White Cedar! This old canoe has been a beast to repair, and I still keep finding broken ribs! A couple of them can be repaired with glued-on tips- most of which I am saving from the full-width broken ribs found elsewhere.

Fortunately, I have lots of clamps! There are many more inside the canoe holding the battens which define the shape where so many ribs are broken in the center third of the canoe.

Here, a couple of tight bend ribs are formed to use at the opposite end of the canoe where the existing ribs are 1/2 gone. They extend fully under the stem foot.

Rib tip (though a long one) waiting for a donor tip from elsewhere in the canoe. You'll notice the nail holes in the inwale. I had nailed the existing rib tip into the new inwale before I discovered that the rib was broken; yet another roadblock in the long recovery of this poor, abused canoe. I can, however see light at the end of the tunnel. New planking is ripped and ready for the drum sander and will go on the re-framed canoe shortly! Maybe I'll even get her into canvas before it gets too cold in the barn, but I doubt she'll be filled; my barn has no heat.

 

[Worth Gretter]

With all this good workmanship, the end result is going to be great!

 

[patrick corry]

Repairs done! Wow, this canoe has fought me every step of the way. 23 new ribs, several scarfed & glued rib repairs, new inwales, lots of new planking.

Although not original, I'm making mahogany outwales. My logic is that there's so much new material and repairs... does the original canoe really exist? Perhaps it's a Ship of Theseus. The mahogany stock I found is 1"x10"x19' that in its former life was the gymnasium seating at Cardinal O'Hara high school in Springfield, PA; originally installed there in the 1960's. Note the holes from original bolt fasteners to the original bleacher frame.

Rabbet (rebate for our UK followers) setup on the table saw.

Final rabbets. Outwales to be shaped overall and tapered at ends after steaming and installation on the uncanvassed canoe. They will remain there over winter until shop temperatures will allow canvas and filling, then to be re-installed permanently following paint.

Now, it's on to making an Ash thwart and caned seats. This canoe was shipped to the Red Cross without seats originally, but the owner will want seats for future use.

 

[Todd F]

Well done Patrick, love seeing your progress.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Terrific workmanship there. Thanks for sharing.

 

[patrick corry]

Update: Since my last post on this project there have been delays due to cold weather, discovery of additional broken ribs, failure of the mahogany outwales to take the curves, and the fabrication of a new thwart and seat frames/caning. I made new Spruce outwales (yet to be fitted) since that species was original to the canoe anyway. Finally,

progress has resumed with the initial coat of thinned varnish on the interior. While I can't say I'm 100% content with the interior color matching, I am satisfied that I have done my best. I'll put on at least 4 coats before installing the thwart and seats. Then, canvas and fill.

 

[patrick corry]

A little over two years later, and I'm at it again:

Thread 'Seat/thwart placement guidance'

Oct 7, 2023

I may need guidance. I have reached the point in my Chestnut Bobs Special restoration where I'm anticipating putting the canvas on. Prior to doing so, in order to maintain structural integrity, I will need to install the center thwart and seats. I can use the old inwales to duplicate the original locations, but the seats were placed in pretty extreme positions. The front edge of the stern seat was located on the rib on which the stern stem terminates, resulting in a tiny seat quite far back in the canoe. The bow seat was originally in a 'normal' location but at some point a previous...

• patrick corry
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Wood and Canvas

Getting ready to position and fasten the center thwart and seats in this project. The original inwales had been heavily altered and repaired, so I couldn't derive positioning from them. I measured two other 50#ers, and two Chestnut 15' canoes. The result is I'm centering the thwart (portaging balance be damned!) and the seats follow the average measurements of all the canoes I had to compare to.

Now that I'm looking at this photo I'm considering using the mahogany-framed seats seen behind the canoe in this shot. I'll include a picture of the seats themselves too. Please offer your aesthetic opinions, but keep in mind I don't have a mahogany thwart to use along with them. Would using a mis-match of seat frames and thwart be odd looking?

EDIT: I looked into using the mahogany seat frames, and... the bow seat frame is too short for the width of this canoe. I'll have to reserve them for a future, more narrow canoe!

 

[Benson Gray]

Would using a mis-match of seat frames and thwart be odd looking?

It's your canoe project...

 

[Todd F]

Looks great

 

[Gary]

Patrick, You've done a wonderful job in giving a beautiful old canoe a new life. Regardless of whether it departs from the original, or things match perfectly, (I think they do!), it looks amazing and will be a thrill to paddle. This canoe will make many more memories for its owner.
Outstanding and thanks for all your pictures and updates, its been fun to see the progress along your path of restoration.
Gary