Old Town 16

WillC

New Member
Good day! I'm hoping to learn more about my Old Town serial# 30110 16. Any information is greatly appreciated!
 
The Old Town canoe with serial number 30110 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between December, 1913 and March, 1914. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on April 28th, 1914 to Stratford, Conn. 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/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
 

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Wow thats Great! Thanks very much. It's in great shape for its age but has significant damage to both stern and bow tips. Are you aware of anywhere that I may obtain plans for the Old Town Charles River so that I can make the repairs?
 
There are no plans available for Old Town Canoes. However, restoring the bow and stern tips is a fairly common restoration job, and information about how to do it is available.

In addition to asking questions here on the forums (and using the search function to research older discussions of stem repair/restoration), there are three good sources of information about canoe restoration which you would do well to get, or at least look at -- "The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance" by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok, and/or "Building the Maine Guide Canoe" by Jerry Stelmok, and "The Old Town Canoe Company" by Susan Audette and David Baker.

The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction, and the third is a great history of the company and its canoes. These are available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon. “The Wood and Canvas Canoe” is currently out of print, and so can be hard to get. I am told that Jerry Stelmok has some copies for sale: Island Falls Canoe Company, Atkinson, ME. Email: Islfalls@IslandFallsCanoe.com

Also, your library may have the book, and if not, should be able to get it through the interlibrary loan service.

The WCHA online store also has a collection of magazine article reprints on rebuilding/restoring canoes -- “Rebuilding the Wood & Canvas Canoe” -- for $3 -- http://store.wcha.org/Rebuilding-the-Wood-and-Canvas-Canoe.html This is well worth $3 -- the information is not as detailed as in the books above, but is accurate and can be a good starting point.

Greg
 
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WillC,

Post a few pictures of the canoe. Overall pictures as well as pictures of the damaged areas. Someone will surely offer suggestions on how to proceed. It would also be nice to know if the canoe has open or closed gunwales. Depending on where you are located there may be a local WCHA member or better yet a local Chapter who you could consult with. Good luck with your project.

Jim
 
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