Old Town 16' 179044

[TheDude]

Greetings All

I recently came into possession of an Old Town canoe
16 footer bit of a basket case but the price was right $0.00

The canvas was peeling off in several places so being excitable I just peeled it all off

The body is in Very Good condition
Seats are Mint

Seems just that the canvas was the problem

Anyhow any information that you can provide on this canoe would be much appreciated

I believe the SN is 179044 and it is a 16 footer

I'm getting the number off of the bow and stern inside stems
the full number is

179044 then a gap of several inches followed by a 16 although I think the 16 is listed first on the bow stem

If I get detailed enough info I may restore it to original specs, otherwise I may just apply fiberglass to the exterior and either leave it natural wood or paint it if I screw it up too badly

Seems to be a great canoe, very nice lines - sorry no pics yet though !

thanks in advance for any assistance
kevin

 

[Mark Adams]

Do anything but fiberglass it! Do a search here on the forums about glassing canoes. It is a whole, ugly can of worms. Glassing is pretty much agreed to be the worst thing that you can do to a canoe.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 179044 is a 16 foot long Otca model with a keel. It was built between September and November, 1967. The original exterior paint looked like the image at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design04.gif and was known as design number four. It was shipped on April 16th, 1968 to Fayetteville, New York. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

It is also possible that they could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match the canoe. The image at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/specific.gif should give you most of the original specifications. Fiberglassing it is generally considered an exceptionally bad repair technique as Mark suggested. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Dude,

Applying canvas is much easier. 'glass will ruin it. If it has no other issues than canvas, I'd say it has a good value as is. You are very lucky.

 

[TheDude]

Thanks for the replies and the good information

When we first peeled the canvas off we discussed that the bare wood would look quite nice and be a nice complement to a cedar strip kayak we made a few summers ago

BUT, after the comments made and after lurking about the forum for a while I see that it would be near heresy to not at least try to return the boat to her former glory
Canvas it will be.

Any chance that there are decals available to match that original paint scheme ? Hand painting that pattern would be problematic at the very least !

Dave- Very lucky indeed ! When I first heard about a free canoe I said absolutely, if it's trashed we can always dump it, if it's so-so it can be made seagoing again. I didn't expect it to be gorgeous. At first glance it was in rough shape but after peeling off the rotting canvas and giving it a quick cleaning it became rapidly apparent that it was a grade A boat. The previous owner is going to be very unhappy when he sees it come out of the garage early next summer. I've got to get some pics

great forum you folks have here, now I just have to read all the great info and buy a book or two

 

[Benson Gray]

Any chance that there are decals available to match that original paint scheme ? Hand painting that pattern would be problematic at the very least !

Old Town, Grumman, and others have offered vinyl colored triangle stickers in the past to simulate the design number four but none of them ever looked great on a canoe. The compound curves of the rails, stems, and hull mean that nearly every triangle is a slightly different shape and size. The messages at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=1967 review some of the issues. Try putting this design on a canoe with sponsons as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=8099&d=1248028261 and http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=6208&d=1222825989 if you want a real challenge. You can probably find a local sign painter who can paint this if you don't want to take it on yourself. I have worked out most of the geometry if you want more details.

Benson

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Hey Kevin,

Good to see you over here.

And good to see you are going to put that old arn to good use.

Dan