Canoe with a history!

[Jeff Brodie]

I recently rediscovered what I believe is an Old Town 16 canoe in our lakeside garage in the Swan Valley Montana. The canoe was acquired by my father in the late '40's. The story I was told was that the original owner wanted to get rid of it as there had been an "accident". My father and his brother and brother-in-law then used the canoe to ferry or tow building materials across Holland Lake to build a cabin before any road was in. My sibs and I used it as children before it was parked in the garage and forgotten for the last 40 years.
The serial number is a bit smudged, but I am pretty confident it is :
SN: 122494 16
I would really appreciate any history on this canoe that could be provided! Thank you so much!
Jeff Brodie

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Jeff--

Nice to have a family canoe, with history of happy times and adventures and hauling cabin materials!

Old Town 122494 is a 16 foot AA (top) grade HW model canoe, completed from July 1937 to February 1938, with open mahogany gunwales and mahogany decks, thwarts, and seat frames. It also had a keel and a floor rack, and was originally dark red. It was shipped to Portland, Oregon, on May 9, 1938. The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.

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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to renew.

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.

Is she still in paddling-shape? If not, there are folks here who can help you get the family treasure back into the water!

Kathy

 

[Jeff Brodie]

Kathy, Wow! Thank you so much for the information! The canoe will need some work! Some of the ribs are broken, one of the "cross beam" (?) is broken, and some other structural and cosmetic stuff would need to be done, but I am interested in learning more about how one can get a great canoe like this back in shape.
Thank you again!
Jeff

 

[Kathryn Klos]

The cross beam is what we refer to as a thwart-- I think it's so-named because it thwarts the boat from collapsing or otherwise getting out of shape. Some early builders called them "braces" for the same reason.

The so-called "bible of wood-canvas canoe construction and repair" is Stelmok and Thurlow's "The Wood and Canvas Canoe", which is available in the WCHA store and just about everywhere books are found, including the library.

There's much canoe-repair information on YouTube... search "bending ribs" and see if anything comes up. I'm always amazed by what's there.

It's very helpful to learn if there's another WCHA member living near you... or better yet, a local chapter. Then you might get some in-person help with the project.

Lots of folks are here in the Forums, ready to answer questions too... or use the "search" function above to find old posts.

Welcome!

Kathy