floor board specs.

[Ray Irons]

I have a '24 HW about to get new canvas, after receiving 21 new ribs and 85% new planking. My original build order says floor boards were installed. There being no trace of these, I would like to know how they are built and installed. I see pictures but no details in many areas of this and other posts.
If someone can steer me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.
Thanks,
Ray

 

[smallboatshop]

Floor rack

Hi Ray,

Old Town mostly used spruce for their floor racks with rib stock for the cross pieces. The hold downs are pieces of stem band about 2" long and there would be 4 (possibly 5) on your 16'er. One hold down on the end of each stem and one mounted on a spacer the thickness of the floorboards and the width of the space between the two middle slats mounted under each thwart. Occasionally there is another hold-down on the rib under the front of the stern seat.

There are 6 slats in the floorboards and they extend two ribs beyond the stem ends - so a 16' HW would be 136". They are 1/4" thick, 1 3/8" wide and the ends taper to 7/8" wide. The length of the taper is 3'. The space between the slats is 7/8" in the middle of the canoe. You can probably see the outline of the floor rack in your canoe so you can judge how the width changes as the slats approach each end. (I don't have that measurement written down and don't have a canoe with a floorrack in the shop at this time.)

There are 5 cross pieces - middle, under each thwart, and at each end in the space between the ribs, one rib away from the stems. You can see just the edge of the cross piece in the photo.

You can fasten the slats to the cross pieces with canoe tacks - predrill the spruce and set the cross piece on a flat iron or the like to clinch the tacks.

Hope this helps.

Dan

 

[Ray Irons]

Dan,
Thanks so much, this info is great and I can interpolate it to my 17er.
Funny, the build order says when floor boards were installed but there is no trace left, no shadows, no screw holes in the stems or extra screw holes in ribs. I'm gonna do it. Tomorrow I bite the bullet and smear on the filler.
Thanks again,
Ray

 

[Dan Miller]

Ray, are you sure you have the right build record? It would be very unusual (but not inconceivable) to find options indicated on an Old Town record that weren't found on the canoe. In my experience, Old Town was pretty remarkable in their accuracy.

 

[Ray Irons]

Dan,
I just went out and rechecked the number on the stem and the build order, seems to match. You could have a look at #83600 17 to see what you think.
Rails, keel and floor rack on Apr 3 - 1924.
Thanks for your time and interest.
Ray

 

[Benson Gray]

Does it have outside stems, sponsons, or any old screw holes in the ribs below the rails? The stamp is a bit below the line so it may have been intended for the sponson line. Can you also attach an image of the serial number? Thanks,

Benson

 

[Ray Irons]

Dan and Benson,
No sponsons, I'm pretty sure. Here's serial no.
Thanks for your interest.
Ray