Old Town #185815

[Chris C]

I realize that this canoe isn't exactly wooden, however it's a very interesting model that Old Town produced sometime in the late 60's. I'm from Northern Maine and lived in Old Town for a few years in college. I found this canoe on sawhorses outdoors uncovered at my fiances' uncles house. It had been his fathers and he apparently had no use for it. I expressed interest in helping him get it refurbished and eventually he decided to just give it to me. I'm a big history buff and very much interested in finding out everything I can on the topic of this canoe. I think I remember seeing one like it in the Old Town factory store back in 02-03.

Thanks for the help

Photos can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/christophercorey/NewCanoe#

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 185815 is a 16 foot long FG (fiberglass) model. It was built between December, 1970 and January, 1971. The original exterior gelcoat colors were desert white on the deck with a breakout design on the hull. It shipped on June 16th, 1971 to Livermore Falls, Maine. The back side of the card indicates that the gelcoat was thin on the rails along with some wax buildup and undertones on the ends of the hull. Scans of this build record can be found by following the links at the thumbnail images attached below.

These scans and several hundred thousand more 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.

I also have one of these as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1336&d=1143576684 and the messages at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=3962 have some more details. They do fade so you may want keep it out of direct sunlight. The one in the factory store has a vinyl rail like the fiberglass Carleton model so it is a bit different.

Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Chris C]

Thanks Benson, I really appreciate the quick reply. Her grandfather lived near Augusta for many years so it makes sense that he could have picked it up in Livermore Falls. I'm very excited to refinish the top coat that is pretty badly damaged. You have a beautiful example. Have you done the restoration on that? or is it still original? I think the family will be excited to hear a bit of the history of the boat.
Thanks again!
-Chris

 

[Benson Gray]

Have you done the restoration on that? or is it still original?

I have cleaned it like you did and used an ordinary fiberglass polish with a very fine grit to shine it up. The colors have faded some like yours. I've seen one that was left in full sun on a dock for decades and it is now a dull yellow with just faint outlines where the original colors were. It looks like your decks may have been painted white so that may be a challenge. You could argue that it is a wooden canoe since it has an end grain balsa wood core in the floor. Have fun,

Benson