Restoration of Old Town Guide

Jeffrey Ward

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I have an 18 foot Old Town Guide in need of restoration. This is my first restoration. I have stripped the interior of the hull, and now I need to gather materials and supplies for the wood that needs replacement. As far as I can tell, the boat needs the following repairs.

There is rot at the forward end where the deck and the tips of the rails meet. The forward deck needs to be either replaced or have a new tip added. Likewise, both the inner and outer rails need to be replaced or have new tips added. The rot does not appear to extend down into the forward stem.

The outer rails are somewhat worn from general wear and tear, but other than the rot at the tips, they appear to be serviceable. In light of the wear and tear, and the rotten tips, however, I am considering replacing them in their entirety.

The inner rails (both port and starboard) have sections about a foot long near the bow seat where it appears that a squirel or other little critter has chewed on them. I am not sure whether the damage is so extensive as to render the rails structurally inadequate. It might be sufficient to sand the areas smooth and leave it as is. On the other hand, I plan to use this boat for sailing when I restore it, and the chewed areas are near the mast, so the rails probably should be strong to handle the force of the mast and the mast-seat. As such, I am leaning toward replacing them.

In addition to the rails, the critter also chewed several of the ribs. Also, there are seven cracked ribs.

Finally, there are two holes in the planking, each about the size of a quarter.

So, it seems to me that a complete restoration of this hull requires a new forward deck (or a new tip spliced onto the deck), new rails (both inner and outer for both port and starboard sides) (or at least new tips spliced on and new section scarfed on where there has been chewing), a new aft stem, nine new ribs, and enough planking to repair the two holes and replace anything removed and destroyed while making the other necessary repairs.

I took a bunch of pictures of the damaged areas, but I don't know how to post them. They are jpeg files, but they are each over 2 MB so they exceed the maximum size permited by the forum.

I would appreciate any advice that more experienced restorers wish to provide. I need to find sources for materials and supplies. I suppose I could order them from Old Town, but I wonder how long that will take and how much it would cost, especially considering the cost of shipping from Maine to my home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I also am aware of other Maine-based suppliers such as Rollin Thurlow. Is anyone aware of any shops in Maryland or Northern Virginia that can serve as a source of materials?
 
Picture of OT Guide

I have attempted to attached a picture of the hull to this post.
 

Attachments

  • DSC00569.jpg
    DSC00569.jpg
    84.1 KB · Views: 358
Attachd to this post are pictures of the chewed rails and ribs.
 

Attachments

  • DSC00556.jpg
    DSC00556.jpg
    280.6 KB · Views: 325
  • DSC00566.jpg
    DSC00566.jpg
    302.7 KB · Views: 316
  • DSC00571.jpg
    DSC00571.jpg
    289 KB · Views: 306
Attached to this post are pictures of the rot at the forward tips of the rails and forward deck, and a picture of the aft stem, which is not straight.
 
Oops. Hopefully the pics of the forward deck/rails, and the aft stem will be attached this time.
 

Attachments

  • DSC00575.jpg
    DSC00575.jpg
    55.1 KB · Views: 313
  • DSC00574.jpg
    DSC00574.jpg
    437.3 KB · Views: 317
Jeffrey Ward said:
This is my first restoration.
I would appreciate any advice QUOTE]

I would start out with Rollin and Jerry's book. It will cover everything you need to do. Your boat does not look too bad. You should have no trouble getting it repaired.
 
cryin shame

Those ends are splicable, too bad for the critter chew amidships though, what a shame. I'd hunt the little pest down and take care of him, just to make me feel better!:eek: Looks like inwale replacement might have to happen as a result.
 
Forgive the rodent!

Jeffrey,

Just went through my first restoration as you are anticpating. You say you have 7 cracked ribs that must be replaced. However, perhaps you might try sanding the lightly-chewed ones first, if you are going for "functional" restoration. Are they serviceable? They might look pretty good when you are done sanding. Every replacement rib is a lot of work. The damage is above waterline where stress is less. I defer to far more experienced folks on the gunwales and inwales! All the best to you in any case.
 
If you are not going for best in show, splice in some new inwale tips, leave the critter scars, and make up a story about being attacked by a beaver.

There are no laws against against adding a little reinforcing along the bottom of the chewed inwale. Do the same thing on the other side to keep the boat symetric and you might have folks thinking it's intentional.

:)
 
That looks familiar. Here is a link to some photos of my OT Guide restoration:

http://www.canoehullabaloo.com/beeby-canoe/intro.html


I'm just a novice, but a quick look at the chewed sections looks to be superficial If it were me I'd sand the chew marks and go for the Beaver Attack story.

Cracks and rot are of course another issue. Out with them!!

Dan Miller has the splicing formula - viz., how much surface the splice needs in order to maintain integrity (Meaning that you splice at fairly long angles to increase surface area).

I hope some of the photos help.

Eric
 
Back
Top