fred capenos
Canoe Pilot
While refinishing 3 thwarts for an 18 foot Old Town Octa, I noticed these letters stamped into the thwarts. any idea why?
Old town thwarts
- Thread starter fred capenos
- Start date
shelldrake
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Forward (Bow) thwart, Starboard side?
Is there any indication that this canoe has been repaired before? Shelldrake's suggestion makes sense, especially if it was done during a prior restoration. I don't recall ever seeing a build record notation referencing port or starboard. Bow and stern or right and left were the commonly used phrases. Do the B and S positions align with the current bow and stern or bow and starboard? Do you know if the initials of the current or a former owner were BS?
Benson
Benson
Last edited:
OP
OP
fred capenos
Canoe Pilot
Mystery solved. Shelldrakes suggestion is spot on. The thwarts are from the canoe that the Three Rivers Chapter is restoring to donate to the WCHA auction. It is in Craig Johnson's shop. He marked them when he removed them. My contribution is refinishing the thwarts, mast step,leeboards and polishing all the brass. It's a sailing canoe with sponsons.
Craig Johnson
Lifetime member
Things I say are often referred to with those two letters, but they are not my initials. I have a set of small punches and the only letter missing is the P, so I couldn't mark "port" but now I realize that the S for "starboard" could be confused with "stern". The worst part is that when Fred asked me about the markings I forgot that I had even done it. Anyways, this is our chapters 1st attempt to restore a canoe to donate for the auction. Like Fred said it is an 18 foot old town OTCA with sponson's and sale rig. We have a good start and it should be a great canoe for the auction. By the way we are talking about the 2017 assembly auction. We will keep you posted as the work progresses.
Craig
Benson[/QUOTE]
