gunwale caps on 1912 OT

[mccloud]

Time to cut & fit new gunwale caps for a 1912 OT 16" HW that I have been restoring. There was not enough of the old caps remaining so that I could tell how they were tapered and fit together at the stem. My guess is that they should extend all the way to the stems, tapering just enough to allow a stemband in between?? A photo of an OT closed gunwale deck with caps in place, built around this era, would be much appreciated. A piece of the original cap has nail holes in a repeating ~7" pattern, two nails in/out, one in, one out, two in/out. Was this the "standardized" way of nailing the cap on? Thanks for the help. Tom McCloud

 

[Benson Gray]

The picture of a 1914 Old Town fifty pound model at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/42156/ may answer most of your questions. See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/15877/page-2#post-82197 for more details about this canoe. The dimensions and pictures of a 1919 HW at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/3815/#post-19434 may also help. I suspect that the precise nailing patterns may have varied over time.

Replacement rail caps are also frequently rounded along the entire top inside edge including the section along the decks. Original rail caps are usually more square on the section over the deck than on the part that adjoins the open part of the canoe. This is difficult to see, photograph, or describe in words but you can easily feel the change if you run your hand along the inside of the rail cap near the deck. Both the 1914 and 1919 have this characteristic. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question or if you want more details. Thanks,

Benson

 

[mccloud]

Got It!, Thanks, Benson. I see the stemband going over top of the two gunwale cap ends, not what I expected, but that's what it will be. And a single screw holding the stemband to the deck. I would not have noticed the difference in the 'rounding-over' if you had not mentioned it, so will try to do it that way. Cut to length, with a small excess, began to hand plane for taper, and sanded this morning.
Tom McCloud

 

[JClearwater]

Tom
Attached is a pic of my 1903 Old Town. The gunwale caps and side caps are original to the canoe. The edges/corners are slightly rounded but not much. What is important and sometimes overlooked is that they both taper in width. Mine start to taper about 18 or 20 inches from the ends. They don't need to taper much, maybe 1/4" less. Without a taper the canoe looks bazaar. With the taper it looks correct and finished. Good luck with your project. See you in July.

Jim