Howie
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
I've been looking for one of these for several years: a 13' OT 50 Pounder. Serial # 117297 places it as made in 1936 (thank you Benson!). Just rescued it from its home in Staten Island NY. This is far away from where I usually look for canoes, but I just happened to expand my CraigsList search area last weekend and saw it had just been listed. Luckily the seller offered to meet me half way in Scranton PA - otherwise it'd still be there!
Everything seems in decent shape. Don't see any broken ribs yet, and the deck & stem tips have just a little rot. And the 'D' shaped outer rails are intact - although there is a little rot visible. Even the cane on the seats is in good shape (machine made pressed-in cane). Though the old floor rack is missing... no worries there.
BTW... Did all 50 Pounders come with 'D' shaped outer rails? And were all secured by screws from the inside of the inner rails (except at the decks)?
A few things strike me as odd. Hopefully you folks will provide answers.
* I'm puzzled by the 'Old Town' name professionally painted on both sides. Did Old Town do that in 1936? I'm thinking the canoe was returned at some point to Old Town to get either a new canvas & paint, or to get a new paint job over the old canvas (although Benson made no mention of it being returned to OT). I note that the original color was Dark Green, so it has been repainted - thankfully the outer rails were removed before painting. But the brass stem bands were painted over with the red paint. That seems odd - I would have thought Old Town would have removed them... unless they painted over the old canvas and didn't bother to remove the stem bands when painting.
* Also have a look at the pic showing the inside of the canoe. Note that large flaps of the varnish are coming loose over the ribs in places, and that underneath these flaps is what appears to be red cedar. Of course someone may have varnished over old varnish and the red cedar color is just the original varnish color. Guess I'll know more when I start stripping!
* And did Old Town use machine made cane in 1936?
I'll know more when the weather gets warmer. In the mean time I'm just happy to have a 13' 50 Pounder again. I restored one (a 1960 - it was in very rough shape!) back in 2013 and it was great for solo canoeing. But I sold it. I'm thinking I'll cover this one with Dacron in order to get the weight down (my back will thank me). I've also restored two 11' 50 Pounders but with them I mostly paddled in circles! I also restored a 13' Tremblay a few years ago, but found it to be way too damn tippy!
O - this'll be my 52 restoration!
Everything seems in decent shape. Don't see any broken ribs yet, and the deck & stem tips have just a little rot. And the 'D' shaped outer rails are intact - although there is a little rot visible. Even the cane on the seats is in good shape (machine made pressed-in cane). Though the old floor rack is missing... no worries there.
BTW... Did all 50 Pounders come with 'D' shaped outer rails? And were all secured by screws from the inside of the inner rails (except at the decks)?
A few things strike me as odd. Hopefully you folks will provide answers.
* I'm puzzled by the 'Old Town' name professionally painted on both sides. Did Old Town do that in 1936? I'm thinking the canoe was returned at some point to Old Town to get either a new canvas & paint, or to get a new paint job over the old canvas (although Benson made no mention of it being returned to OT). I note that the original color was Dark Green, so it has been repainted - thankfully the outer rails were removed before painting. But the brass stem bands were painted over with the red paint. That seems odd - I would have thought Old Town would have removed them... unless they painted over the old canvas and didn't bother to remove the stem bands when painting.
* Also have a look at the pic showing the inside of the canoe. Note that large flaps of the varnish are coming loose over the ribs in places, and that underneath these flaps is what appears to be red cedar. Of course someone may have varnished over old varnish and the red cedar color is just the original varnish color. Guess I'll know more when I start stripping!
* And did Old Town use machine made cane in 1936?
I'll know more when the weather gets warmer. In the mean time I'm just happy to have a 13' 50 Pounder again. I restored one (a 1960 - it was in very rough shape!) back in 2013 and it was great for solo canoeing. But I sold it. I'm thinking I'll cover this one with Dacron in order to get the weight down (my back will thank me). I've also restored two 11' 50 Pounders but with them I mostly paddled in circles! I also restored a 13' Tremblay a few years ago, but found it to be way too damn tippy!
O - this'll be my 52 restoration!
