Old Town Square Stern Transom Photos?

[Shari Gnolek]

Does anyone have original transom photos from a long Old Town Square Stern canoe? The one I am working on is 18' long (with sponsons) and was built in 1961. It is very similar to the one for sale in the classifieds section here: http://www.wcha.org/content/1962-old-town-square-back-canoe-sponsons

I can't tell if the transom on the one I have is original. It is made of at least two pieces, though probably more (based on looking at the lines/color of the wood), and it has started to split apart. Photos are attached.

Any photos of a boat like this, from this general time frame, would be helpful. Thoughts are welcome too!

Thank you!

 

[MGC]

That appears to be original...and restorable.

 

[Shari Gnolek]

Well that's good news. I suppose anything is restorable with enough time, wood, and glue.

 

[MGC]

Your catching on...Rollin says he can "restore" a canoe from a single rib.
Transom repairs can be a nightmare...once you open things up things start to reveal. I literally begged my son not to take on an old Chris Craft with a bad transom...finally convincing him that burying his car in the backyard would be a better investment... been there, done that.
What you need to figure out is if the wood is solid enough to re-use or whether or not you are going to end up replacing it...

 

[Shari Gnolek]

The wood seems solid, nothing on the transom that appears flaky or rotted, but you can see some of the planks attached to it are in bad shape, though that is all at the top.

I was mainly thinking it would need to replaced because it was splitting along one of the seams.

There are also a lot of holes along the side from the tacks that held the folded canvas. If the transom was solid, the old holes should be filled right? Otherwise I imagine that they would just accumulate and hold water.