Is this an all-wood boat?

Brad Fisher

Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
A friend has asked me to help restore this unidentified boat. It has Old Town “ogee” decks, narrow planks, external stems, and half-round ribs. No stem number that I could find. No canvas, and he says it has never had canvas. The deckplate says “Canadian Canoe, Evansburg, CA”, or something like that, which he says is a precursor to Old town. Is it in fact a hundred-year-old pre-canvas boat? Where can I find out more about it? Thanks!
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It looks like other all wood canoes that I have seen advertised. Narrow planks and half round narrow ribs. Cool.
 
My guess is that you may have a Nipigon model from the Canadian Canoe Company in Peterborough, Ontario. See page 6 in their 1950 catalog at https://woodencanoemuseum.org/manufacturer-catalog/canadian-canoe-company-1950 for more details. The page at https://woodencanoemuseum.org/builder-history/canadian-canoe-company has more information about the company. I'm not aware of any connection between the Canadian Canoe Company and the Old Town Canoe Company. Can you provide a better image showing the deck decal? Good luck with the restoration,

Benson
 
Thanks Benson! I'll post better photos when I get the boat into my shop. The one above that shows the deck (upside down) actually does have a deck plate in it, very faint. It has the shield shape that suggest it's a Canadian.
 
Hi Brad, I agree with Benson's assessment of it being a Canadian Canoe Co. canoe and as such it would not have been canvased. Below is their decal should you wish to see if it matches?
Hope you'll post pictures as it will be a beautiful canoe!
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Thanks. I “wood” appreciate any tips and/or experience restoring a boat like this. I’ve only done wood/canvas. I’d love to hear horror stories and mistakes to avoid.

Thanks!
 
Having done a cedar rib my general advice is to be kind and gentle with the canoe. What you don’t want to do is sand the tack heads down. Hand sand is best and probably safes.
Geoffrey Burkes “boat soup“ application will also help prior to varnish, varnish and oh,more varnish.
Do post more photos. Put some life and rich colour back into what looks like a lovely canoe.
 
I have it in my shop now, and it’s definitely a Canadian. There’s a better photo of the deck attached. I’m not sure of the age … couldn’t find a number on it. You’ll see that the owner has done a lot of sanding already, but gave up on the interior. Should I pick up sanding where he left off, or use a chemical stripper? Also, there are a few broken planks that have been fixed with screws and a backing plug. I’m assuming rebuilding these means sourcing new lapped planks. Any trick to installing them, or is it pretty much like a wood/canvas job?
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Outwale profile

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Stem band repair

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Interesting scarf joints. They’re the same all around. I think maybe not a repair, but original, like the builder ran out of outwale?

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Stems in pretty good shape.

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Partially sanded interior. How best to finish off? Or just wash it down, seal with boat soup and varnish it to death? Note the repair on the right, backing a cracked plank.

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Test varnish patch.
 

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Hello Brad,
happy to have some conversations about your all wood, if you are interested. PM me if you would like to go over some aspects of them and their restoration and repair,
cheers,
Andre
 
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