My first wood canoe

[scouthaus]

I have been a canoeing for years, but this is my first experience with a wood canoe.
I bought a wooden canoe to do as a project with my boy scouts and I wonder if you can give me any information about it.
The gentleman I bought it from said it was a wood/canvas Old Town that he thought his dad bought new in 1958.
When I got it home and hosed it off I found the tag
"Thompson Bros
Boat MFG Co
Peshtigo Wis"

It is 176" long at the top point to point, longer if you measure out to the rounded ends. 16 Foot?
It is 33.25" wide.
It has a few patches that look like epoxy and the finish is cracked.
My granddaughter and I put it in the lake and it paddled really nice, very stable, with only a few leaks in the center area.

It is wood strip, I don't know what kind of wood and I don't know if it is canvas, or maybe fiberglass coated.
I also don't know what its worth.

I have attached a few pictures, I think.
Any assistance someone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

In looking through the forums I find an amazing amount of information to help me once we get started on this restore.

Thanks,

 

[Dave Osborn]

Scott,
It appears to be a Thompson Indian model. It is not wood strip construction, rather wood/canvas construction. (but we knew what you meant). To the uninformed all wood/canvas canoes are Old Towns, in the same way all colas are Coke, or all tissues are Kleenex, so I'm glad you found the tag!
I live near Minocqua Wisconsin and almost always have a Thompson canoe or row boat in the workshop, which makes sense because Thompson's were built in WI. Also Thompson had a retail outlet for their boats and canoes in Minocqua for several years, so the area here is saturated with them.
I'm a full time restorer and can help you in any way that you'd like.... feel free to find my contact info on the builder/supplier tab on the home page.
Best of luck!

 

[thompsonboatboy]

Brochures for Thompson Boat and her various spin-offs can be purchased ona CD-ROM from WCHA right here. An invaluable resource.

There is a Thompson Antique & Classic Boart Rally held every other year. The next one will be in June 2013, most likely at Marinette, WI again.

Andreas

 

[scouthaus]

Thanks for the reply Dave,
By reading different forums about the interior, I beleive it should be stripped and refinished. But I have not found about the outside.
The finish is cracked (you can probably see that in the pictures), but except for a couple of patches of epoxy? I see no holes. Can we sand it smooth and repaint it or does it need to be stripped down to the canvas. I want to help my scouts learn to do it the correct way.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[Dave Osborn]

Gary,
If it were mine or a customer's canoe I would remove the old canvas, pull off the gunwales and seats, strip the interior, sand and revarnish the inside, reglue and recane the seats, re-canvas, fill and paint.....

 

[Greg Nolan]

+1 on Dave's advice.

You could try to sand the hull smooth, but the chances of a successful result commensurate with the time and effort are low. Stripping (by sanding) down to the canvas is a lot of work and generally will likely not result in a finish that meets your expectations -- certainly not for the long run. See discussions at:

http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8906-Repaint-Tips

and

http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?9173-Restoring-the-canvas&p=48870#post48870

and the links found there.

If you just want the canoe to look a bit better for a year or two before doing a proper job of replacing the canvas, just a coat or two of paint with minor sanding will improve appearances a bit, provide some protection, and will seal any very minor leaks that might be present because of the cracked paint and filler, for minimal effort. A perfectly appropriate course of action for the short run.

But with paint (and probably filler) cracked as bad as yours, the canvas really should be replaced, filled, and a new paint job -- with a color/design of your choice -- applied.

The varnish at present looks old and worn, and while another coat or two of varnish will provide some protection, appearances will not improve, and additional varnish will simply make the inevitable and necessary stripping more difficult down the line. The time to strip and varnish is when you are replacing the canvas.


Replacing canvas and refinishing the varnish are considered routine maintenance on a w/c canoe, somewhat like replacing tires on a car. Painted and filled canvas can last a long time, but there comes a time when replacement is called for.

The webbed seats are functional, but most folks find caned seats more attractive, and they are fully functional. Reweaving the cane takes a bit of time, but is not actually very hard -- can make time watching TV more productive.

There is lots of information here on the forums. If you can find a copy, or borrow it from your library, "The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance" by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok (now out of print) provide all the information you need. Another good resource is "Building the Maine Guide Canoe" by Jerry Stelmok.

Good luck -- and post pictures of your project as it progresses and when finished. We love pictures.