1941 Old Town Guide

[SteveG]

Hello new friends,
Or so I hope anyway -- I'm not trying to sign you up for anything! Lol.

This is a great forum -- I've admired many boats and read about restorations with great interest. That's about the extent of my expertise, though.

I recently had a chance to buy a 1941 Old Town Guide, 18', the CS (midgrade) model. To my layman's eye it seems in fairly good shape, but emphasis on "layman." I've attached some pictures.

The things I wonder about are
1. one rib has a (partial?) crack - it doesn't seem to go all the way through;
2. the gunnels and rib ends were painted white (wince);
3. some scratches and two small (~2" x 2") areas of cracking in the paint on the canvas. Plus the build record tells me it was originally dark green vice red.

It's a lovely boat, and I lean toward keeping it, but any restoration work would be my first such effort. Plus I probably need to sell either it or one of my other boats, lest there be some hard questions from my wife. So I'd love to get folks' take on what work is required and a sense of its value.

Many thanks for any thoughts!

 

[Dave Osborn]

Steve
You’ve got a nice canoe in great shape.
I guess it depends on what you want to be the end result.
If you want a “paddler”, go paddle. Looks good enough to float.
If you want to restore it, I’m not sure if there are many around that would be easier than than this one. Outside of the cracked rib, I see nothing that really requires repair. Closer inspection could add other things, but nothing jumps out.
Looks like more of a refinish job. Stripping, sanding, repainting, new varnish,etc.
The rib can be repaired. However to do it properly the canvas must be removed. Or you could force epoxy into the crack until the time comes for recanvas.
Canvas stretching is intimidating at first, but not that difficult. YouTube probably has a video. Or maybe there is a WCHA member in your area with experience.
I’m sure others will chime in. We are here for ya.

What’s it worth? Goood question.
Here are some guidelines….

Thread 'How much is my old wooden canoe worth?'

Nov 14, 2004

How much is my old canoe worth?

One of the most common questions that gets sent to the WCHA webmasters is "how much is my old canoe worth?" Tim Hewitt's responses over the years have included the following comments:

Any wooden or wood/canvas canoe in usable condition is worth $1000 - $1500. A canoe that is documentable will go on the high end, one that is particularly rare will bring more, up to $3000 for a wood canvas canoe, and as high as $5000 for an all-wood canoe. These high end canoes must be in showroom condition and you must have evidence or documentation of their age and...

• Benson Gray
• Replies: 4
• Forum: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• 

 

[SteveG]

Thank you, Dave! That's really encouraging.

I had looked at the "what's it worth" compilation, but some of the posts are old enough that I wondered if the estimates need any adjustment. Unsure, I looked at the current WCHA classifieds. I see one boat - maybe an OTCA -- somewhat nicer than mine for $1200. A couple others in worse shape at $300 and $600. I'm not sure how offputting my white painted gunnels are. Would I be off base in guessing $8-900?

 

[SteveG]

I'm really tempted to keep it and work on it, though, based on your input. Hard not to be with all the beautiful boats folks have posted on here. Many thanks again for the advice and your welcome.

 

[Todd F]

Keep it and work on it. Strip the paint off, get it in the water. Paddle it a bit. If it is too much sell it but you have what looks like a solid canoe. folks here will help guide you through the basics, you have a good canoe.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Steve
Everyone here had a first canoe.Its in great shape. Stripped, sanded and refinished, it will look as good as ours.

 

[SteveG]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. It'll be great to get her looking a bit like some of the boats on here, and out on the water. Our January-February thaw looks like it'll end just short of reopening the lakes around here, but I look forward to getting her out when I can. Thanks again.

 

[Gary]

Hi Steve, Dave has given you great advice. I would add a warning, that these things don't like to be alone. Once you get working on one you'll get "the bug" and want more, ha.
I helped my Dad restore our family canoe in the driveway in the late 70's and I'm still at it. Everyone in my family and all my close friends are now owners of gifted restored cedar canvas canoe thanks to my "hobby".
You will never regret the decision to bring this canoe back to life and paddle it again. Its a perfect one to start on.
Enjoy! Gary

 

[chris pearson]

Guides are great boats to paddle. The 18’ is very heavy. I prefer anything no longer than 16’ for day paddling.

 

[Benson Gray]

I had looked at the "what's it worth" compilation, but some of the posts are old enough that I wondered if the estimates need any adjustment.

My experience is that the prices for ordinary wooden canoes haven't changed much in the last few decades. The high end of the market has moved up a bit as the restoration costs have increased. There are still many more sellers than buyers of wooden canoes in need of attention. The link below has more about the numbers behind this.

Benson

Thread 'What is the total number of wooden canoes that were made and how many still exist?'

Apr 29, 2015

I am occasionally asked "What is the total number of wooden canoes that were made and how many still exist?" but I've never had a good answer. Kathy's recent article in the Wooden Canoe Journal mentioned that there are a total of 335 Morris canoes in her database. This gave me an idea of how to come up with a better answer to the original questions as shown in the table below.

There are some records from the Old Town Canoe Company which indicate that the highest Morris serial number may be 17262. Kathy's total divided by this total produces a nearly 2% survival rate. It appears that...

• Benson Gray
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Research and History

 

[SteveG]

Thank you Gary, Chris, and Benson. This isn't such a hard decision, then. I think it'll be rewarding to do a little work on it and get it on the water. It doesn't take much looking at the WCHA website for these boats to cast their spell on you.

I'm sure I'll have questions as I go but I'll reserve that for another time and thread.

Many thanks again to all of you. This is a great and really welcoming forum.

Cheers--
Steve

 

[dtdcanoes]

Welcome , Steve
You have an 18 foot 1/2 full cup and I gather from your comments that you will benefit enormously from this first resto experience. My first canoe was a derelict Boston courting boat. I learned so much from working on it , I pretty much sailed right through the many that followed and into the second career . ....looking forward to your maiden launch whenever. Have fun
Dave