Information Boy Scout Canoe
- Thread starter rc135
- Start date
Dave Osborn
LIFE MEMBER
I believe this is a Trailcraft canoe. I think they were home built from a kit.
Pretty low on the desirability scale. Perhaps the very bottom.
I would not walk away from it, I would run.
Pretty low on the desirability scale. Perhaps the very bottom.
I would not walk away from it, I would run.
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
I'm pretty sure that the pictured canoe is not a Trailcraft. The stringers/planking on a Trailcraft were narrower, and there were more of them.
Trailcraft were not very sophisticated boats, but the pictured canoe is much, much cruder than a Trailcraft. Like Dave, I would run from the boat in question -- as I would even if it were a Trailcraft (one of which I built many years ago).
Greg
Trailcraft were not very sophisticated boats, but the pictured canoe is much, much cruder than a Trailcraft. Like Dave, I would run from the boat in question -- as I would even if it were a Trailcraft (one of which I built many years ago).
Greg
samb
LOVES Wooden Canoes
I understand what you are saying JSRIII. My biggest interest in boats is from the repairing and fixing angle. It is worth saving, but I'd now be asking myself what else I could be saving. Skin on frame boats don't look as good as Cedar canvas, Don't need have the same degree of challenge or necessary skill needed, and in my personal experience won't get paddled much and no one will want to buy it. I wouldn't do another but I enjoyed doing the one I have done. Your money - you choose!
Sam
Sam
MGC
Scrapmaker
rc135 was interested in it as "a hanger" and for that it's fine as long as you aren't too fussy about what it is you're hanging. It becomes a decision about "eyeball" (his) rather than one about restoration. If that is his plan, buy it for $50 bucks, powerwash it and hang it on the wall...no need to run away in that scenario. I wouldn't want it hanging at my house but I don't decorate with canoes for the sake of decorating, it's because I've run out of places to keep them.
In terms of time investment in restoring a Trail Craft or as in this case, a faux Trail Craft, most of us would prefer to spend our time working on something that is worth restoring vs. restoring something just to sink time into a project. There are so many better boats out there that are better time investments.....and there is so little time. Choose wisely.
In terms of time investment in restoring a Trail Craft or as in this case, a faux Trail Craft, most of us would prefer to spend our time working on something that is worth restoring vs. restoring something just to sink time into a project. There are so many better boats out there that are better time investments.....and there is so little time. Choose wisely.
Dan Lindberg
Ex Wood Hoarder
No, that was a piece of garbage when it was new, and it's still a piece of garbage.
Like what was said above, choose wisely how you spend your time.
"but for $150 is it not worth restoring?"
Like what was said above, choose wisely how you spend your time.
"but for $150 is it not worth restoring?"
Dave Osborn
LIFE MEMBER
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
You guys are being too hard on Robert. He simply wants a display/wall hanger canoe and if the one he found suits his purpose then I say "go for it." I was a new member many years ago and bought my first wood canoe for too much money, spent too much repairing it, and did some stuff incorrect. Robert should be encouraged to chase his first canoe, just like all of us did at the start, not kicked back to the start line to begin again. I agree that the canoe he found is not the best candidate to restore but that was not his stated purpose. We need to be welcoming to all who stop in here. Just my 2 cents worth - I will not apostolate further.
Jim
Jim
Michael Grace
Lifetime Member
Hi Robert. Let me just say that to me $150 is expensive for an old, home-built, crude canoe. But if as a decorator this "floats your boat", then value to you may be different. We're a group of canoeists, boatbuilders, restorers and historians, so our interests may be different from yours. If after looking around this site you get excited about some of the types of canoes cedar-canvas, all-wood and composite canoes you see discussed here, you'll learn that they can be found at reasonable prices (you should have been at the Assembly auction recently in the Adirondacks - at the end you could have gotten a nice, restorable, well-built canoe for much less than the home-built one above). Who knows, maybe you could have fun bringing back a nice old one from the brink, use it as a decorator, AND enjoy taking it out on the water!
Dave Wermuth
Who hid my paddle?
HI Robert. Interesting canoe there. I'm with the rest of the opinions here. It's not worth anything. For $150 you could do a lot better. Either way, it's only $150, but I'd keep looking. Sometimes derelict canoes can show up for free once people know you are interesting in them. Trust me, I just finished a 100 year old Kennebec that was given to me in 2015, or was it 2014? Anyway, it took considerable time and money to bring it back to life. Luckily, it wasn't all dead, just mostly dead.
Many of us have been there or someplace strikingly similar and willing to share that here...maybe get her on the wall for $50 all washed and looking the best it can. THEN continue the great fun of the search. When you arrive elsewhere you will be able to easily part with the " initiator " , maybe get another budding canoe lover on the path and most likely recoup your $ 50.00 and put it toward your 2nd experience . Have fun with all of this ...Dave
