Pleased to join! Seeking Serial # info!

[Dave Kosley]

Hello Wooden Canoe Friends,
I recently purchased an 18' Carleton reported to be made in 1928. I'm chomping at the bit to get started rehabbing this canoe, and feel honored to have it in my care. The senior fellow I purchased it from has known this canoe and its former owners for his entire life. He provided a wonder provenance for me!

Before I do any work I would welcome any information about this vessel, in order to honor its roots as much as possible. The serial number posted on the stems (as seen in the attached photo) is 18 18153.

Any knowledge about her will be greatly appreciated!
I look forward to learning from your experiences as I move forward.

Best,

Dave K

 

[pklonowski]

Welcome to the WCHA!

Someone will be along with the build sheet, usually fairly quickly.

For building and repairing/restoring WC Canoes, there are three books worth acquiring:
https://www.wcha.org/store/wood-can...tory-construction-restoration-and-maintenance
https://www.wcha.org/content/old-canoe-how-restore-your-wood-canvas-canoe
and "Building the Maine Guide Canoe", currently out of stock in the WCHA store, but look on Amazon, eBay, or your local library.

Besides that, use the forums here to post questions... you may get multiple answers to questions of how to do things, but that just means you'll get to choose which options suits your skill level and tool set...

Also, look into whether we have a Local Chapter near you: https://www.wcha.org/local-area-chapters
At Local Chapter meets and Assemblies, you'll have people around to answer questions with hands-on help, as well.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, the information about this canoe is available at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/5606/ from a previous request. Feel free to reply here or there if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Dave Kosley]

Thank you for the record, Benson. I see on the build sheet "Revarnished." This leads me to believe that this might be a repair notice and not the actual build sheet. do you think it is possible that the canoe pre-dates 1924? The canoe was shipped to "The Fair" in Chicago, which I have learned was a department store. I'm waiting for warm enough weather to get to work, but am enjoying research and preparing to get underway.
Best,
Dave

 

[pklonowski]

Usually canoes that came back for repairs have the repair detailed on the back side, like this one:
http://forums.wcha.org/index.php?threads/old-town-info.17133/#post-88058
It may have simply needed another varnish coat, before it was shipped? Maybe it got bumped, or some other cause. Just speculating, really.

 

[Benson Gray]

I agree with Paul. Most repairs were shown on the back side like the Old Town example he cited. See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/3480/ and https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/3481/ for a similar Carleton example. Many canoes include the revarnished notation as shown at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/40631/ in color and at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/40630/ in black in white. These two and the pair attached below also highlight how much is frequently lost without color. The large number of blank areas on the black and white image of your build record probably have light stamps that simply didn't scan well. I may be able to get a color scan of your build record to confirm this once the snow is gone.

Benson

 

[Benson Gray]

I was at the factory recently and able to get a better image of this build record as shown below. Let me know if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Dave Kosley]

Yikes, I had not kept up with this string and now see the recent scan.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!