Is this a Langford??

[Howie]

Just picked up a 'new' canoe today. I think it might be a Langford. There isn't a decal or badge or serial #, but it sort of looks like a canoe I had a while back that WCHA folks ID as a Langford.

It is 13' long and 12" from top of planking to top of thwart. At the center it measures 32-7/8" wide from the outer rails, and 30-5/8 to the insides of the ribs. Features I note are: untapered inner rails by the decks, 1/2" wide aluminum stem bands, square-socket type chrome-plated(?) screws and bolts, and babiche seating. Seat spacers appear to be copper pipe. Dowels holding the seat together extend to the outside of the longer pieces. Ribs are untapered and 2" wide, with 4-1/4" spacing. Each end has 2 cant ribs which are 3" wide and quite thin. There is no keel. I haven't seen the deck pattern before. And it weighs a feather weight 50lbs!

I was told the previous owner had it for 30 years and for all that time it was kept in a warehouse when not in use. The canvas is cracked in places, but while the rails and thwart have some varnish wear, the interior varnish is near immaculate. And there appears to be no wood damage at all.

Am I right in thinking it's a Langford? Can anybody guess the model name/number? Any guesses as to when it was made?

And any quesses about why it weighs so little? I'd expect a 13' canoe to weigh about 65 lbs! Is the canvas not filled? Maybe the material isn't actually canvas! (I haven't taken it off yet)

 

[Benson Gray]

The catalog show near the end of the thread at the first link below indicates that it may be their Explorer model. I've found two other Langford catalogs but none of them list a 13 foot long canoe. Their current catalog shown at the second link below doesn't list one either. Thinner materials are usually the key to a lighter canoe.

Benson

Older Langford Canoes; a mystery it would seem!

Hi, I just obtained what appears to be a 15' Langford Canoe; for free. The decal is similar to the photo posted on this site by someone else, right down to how it has worn and torn! Except it is yellow and black. My Langford is in really good shape, just needs new canvas and a new keel. I...

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[Murat V]

Hi Howie. My summer cottage is near Dwight where the current Langford company is based. There are many Langford canoes around the area. I've been researching the build features and complex timeline of the company going back to the original founder, Kenneth Langford around 1945. Since his time, there have been 6 different owners including the present folks. Each have brought their own construction style to the brand leading to widely varying features.

Like Benson mentioned there was no 13 foot model in their catalogues. But their 14 ft EXPLORER was actually built with 1-1/2" ribs, not the 2" found on your boat. See price list circa 1978 below:

What might help is a bit more info from the previous owner. Did he happen to mention that he was the sole original owner?

If so and the boat is all original from 30yrs ago, then that would put the build around 1993. At this time the MacAllister family had taken over the company and instigated many changes. They moved the company first to workshop in Dorset, Ontario and then a little north Dwight where it is headquartered today. Most importantly, they destroyed the existing original forms and basically outsourced their wood canvas operation to a builder in Quebec.

 

[Howie]

Thanks Benson and Murat. This thing is definitely 13'. So maybe it was made by somebody else? It's deck looks nothing like the ones on the Langford I restored a few years ago. Anybody recognize it? What type of deck did Langford make after 1993?

 

[Howie]

I just took off the outer rails to have a look at the canvas. Yes, it is definitely a 'canvas' - I was thinking it might be something else. But I'm wondering if the canvas was never filled or mudded. It certainly bends easily enough, so maybe someone simply painted over the canvas. I restored a 13ft OT 50 Pounder several years ago. It weighed 65 lbs - a full 15 lbs heaver than this canoe.

So how about that? If the canvas is impregnated with a mildewcide (a-la Northwoods Canoe) it should last as long as a filled canvas in terms of rot, right? Obviously having just a few paint layers would make the canoe far less durable than one with a fully treated/filled canvas, but by how much? Maybe that'd be ok if the canoe only weighed 50 lbs!

 

[Murat V]

Not sure what type of deck Langfords had after 1993. Far as I found, the current builders of their wooden boats are these guys:
https://rheaumecanoes.com/

But they tend to use babiche seats woven in the snowshoe style and seemed to have abandoned canvas for a clear epoxy exterior.

Strange that there is no filler in the canvas of your canoe. Maybe it was some sort of experiment to lighten the hull? The more I look at the construction features, the less and less "Langfordy" your canoe looks to my eyes, especially to what the founder Kenneth Langford had been making.

 

[Rob Stevens]

Sliding down the rabbit hole
checking out Rheaume Canoes.
For what it is worth, I notice they build furniture, coffee tables, bookcases and display models.

Rheaume Canoe

Luxury Canoe Manufacturer

rheaumecanoes.com

Also, they had a major fire, and apparently rebounded;

OUR INSTALLATIONS​

"Since 2017, we have been established in St-Tite, following the fire in a large part of our buildings which had always been located in Grandes-Piles.
The configuration of our new facilities allowed us to separate the two plans of our business, namely the wood and cedar canoes section, as well as the composite and canoe assembly section. We took advantage of this move to optimize our facilities in order to increase our efficiency and productivity, which allows us to have an excellent capacity to respond to orders."

 

[Howie]

I'm surprised... So nobody recognizes this deck?

 

[Benson Gray]

I'm surprised... So nobody recognizes this deck?

This is not a distinctive or unusual deck shape. There were hundreds of builders in Maine alone as listed at https://wcha.org/catalogs/maine-list.htm and probably more in Canada but only a few of these can be identified without a tag. This is likely to remain a UFO. Sorry,

Benson

 

[MGC]

I'd line up with Benson on this. This really is a B♭ deck. There is nothing about it that jumps out and says, "I am a XXXX".
It's quite obviously Canadian. It has quite a few tells that might help to point to a maker, but none that make a simple declaration.
I see un-tapered ribs, wide cants, the simple decks, aluminum bang plates, babiche seats all point to.....Huron village and builder ??? These are tough to ID. Locals in the know would be the only ones who might know enough to tell.
Picard had that deck shape, but without the arrowhead it would suggest the possibility of a Picard contract boat or one from the 70's. I don't know. There were 13 foot Hurons and all of the Huron builders made a run with Verolite and some with vinyl fill. It looks nothing like the Langford you restored.

 

[Howie]

Ha! I'm thinking it may be a Tremblay. At least they have the same deck shape as mine. Only trouble the catalogue I found doesn't list a 13 footer.
Have a peak here: https://woodencanoemuseum.org/deck-image/tremblay

Apparently Trembly was covered in a material called Verolite - a colored PVC-impregnated canvas. This sounds exactly like the stuff on my canoe. Is it still available? Anybody know where I can get some? I have a fella who's very interested in a 13' w/c canoe if I can recanvas it and have it weigh 50 lbs/

 

[Benson Gray]

The undated Tremblay catalog at the link below includes a 13 foot version that weighed 50 pounds on pages 3 and 14. I don't know of any sources for Verolite. Good luck,

Benson

Tremblay Undated | Wooden Canoe Museum

woodencanoemuseum.org

 

[Howie]

Benson! Thank you! I've started putting feelers out to see if this Verolite stuff is still available.

 

[Howie]

Nope... Verolite is not for me. I heard nothing good about the stuff. I consider myself lucky that my canoe is in such good condition - must not have been used much in the past 30 years.

I'm investigating other filler choices...