New Old Town Canoe Restoration!
- Thread starter Cygarrett
- Start date
Dave Osborn
LIFE MEMBER
First off, I don’t think you have an Old Town. I’m guessing Chestnut or Peterborough. Someone will help narrow it down to the correct builder and model. More photos may help.
In addition to the great folks on the forum for helping you through issues and suggestions on restoration. The search option is your friend. There are a lot of archived threads that contain answers to your questions, or feel free to post the question.
I would get one or both of these books.
This Old Canoe by Mike Elliot
The Wood Canvas Canoe by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow
Both give you step by step instructions on wood canvas canoe restoration.
Welcome!
In addition to the great folks on the forum for helping you through issues and suggestions on restoration. The search option is your friend. There are a lot of archived threads that contain answers to your questions, or feel free to post the question.
I would get one or both of these books.
This Old Canoe by Mike Elliot
The Wood Canvas Canoe by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow
Both give you step by step instructions on wood canvas canoe restoration.
Welcome!
I agree with Dave that it looks more like a Canadian canoe than an Old Town. Old Town canoe serial numbers are all numeric and the charts at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/oldtown_chart.html indicate that one from 1948 should have a serial number closer to 150,000. Can you provide some pictures of the serial numbers and surrounding areas from the insides stems on both ends? Thanks,
Benson
Benson
Thank you for the update. I'm honestly am not sure what type it is. I know that the title that came with is states that its an Old Town. I did get a better look at the SN. The one posed on the interior bow reads # 1492 then there's a space followed by 7949. Im not sure if its supposed to be one solid # 14927949. Its hard to tell if the very last digit is an 8 or a 9. Hoping to determine what type of wood it was made out so I can try and match it. I do also have the book, This old Canoe, I appreciate the info tho Dave.
Thank you for the help everyone!
Thank you for the help everyone!
Attachments
My guess is that you have a Peterborough Champlain model #1492 with serial number 7949. These were listed in their catalogs with this model number from 1943 to 1958. See http://www.wcha.org/store/canadian-wood-canoe-and-boat-company-catalog-collection for more details. The thread at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/16889/ shows a previous request about this canoe and https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/16443/ shows another similar example. There are no known serial number records for Peterborough so there isn't much more that anyone here can tell you. Sorry,
Benson
Benson
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pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
There was another non-Old Town canoe that showed up here recently with an Ohio title, stating it was an Old Town. I wonder if the Ohio DNR folks simply assumed all wooden canoes were Old Towns. Or possibly, they had to put SOMEthing in that form, and that's all they knew... would be interesting, in somebody's alleged "spare time," to look more deeply into this, but then all we'd probably get would be copies of some titles with odd serial numbers... without the canoes, there's not much to go on. Like I said, "spare time..."
The trick with research like this is finding someone who will respond to your request. I contacted the Illinois IDNR's Watercraft Registration / Title Office in 2009 to see if I could get an electronic copy of their database showing the manufacturer (i.e. Old Town Canoe Company or other), and serial number of each canoe that is or has ever been registered in Illinois (without paying the $5 fee for a copy of each individual title record). My goal was to use this information to determine how many wooden canoes still exist since the Old Town database project could provide some reasonably accurate estimates of how many canoes were originally shipped to Illinois. I was told that an Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) request form was required but no one would provide any more details about how to proceed.
I would still be interested in doing the analysis if anyone can get the data from Illinois, Ohio, or any other state. Many states don't require canoes to be registered unless they are used with a motor so that tends to skew the results. Thanks,
Benson
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Here's a photo of what you have acquired. It's a low end Champlain and a darn nice canoe. This is one that looked a lot like yours when I acquired it. It is a great canoe for your first rebuild. Enjoy the journey and keep us posted. BTW if you are in the Cleveland area there is a great group there, CABBS, the Cleveland Amateur Boating and Boatbuilding Society. I can give you contact info if you send me a pm. There will definitely be some folks in your area who could give you valuable info such as where to get good canoe wood.
pklonowski
Unrepentant Canoeist
Illinois used to require registration for all canoes, but has since changed that to only if you put a motor or sail on it. I still maintain the registration on my canoes, even though I have neither motor nor sail, because I know of three lost or stolen canoes or kayaks that were returned to their rightful owners, because they had registered the boats... though I may be the only one in the state who still does this. We found a canoe in the river here last summer, and the first thing the Forest Preserve Ranger wanted to know was whether there was an Illinois sticker on it... there wasn't, but he still called in the HIN, and no previous owner had ever registered the canoe. Would have been a 4th one returned... It was a chopped fiberglass junker, just 12' long, in any case.
All that said, I know some folks who might know how to play the IL FOI game... let me check.
All that said, I know some folks who might know how to play the IL FOI game... let me check.
