Searching for Maker, and Where to get parts.

[Thom W]

Hello, I recently purchased an old wooden canoe that I think has a fiberglass skin at a church rummage sale. It has the serial number - 123456 and a little to the right of that, the number 16.

The canoe measures 16 feet long.

The numbers are stamped into the stem at both the front and the rear of the canoe.

Once I determine the maker, I'm hoping I can contact them to get parts. The keel needs to be replaced, as well as the two wooden deck plates. It appears the canoe sat a long time upside down directly on the ground, and the decks rotted away.

Any help you can send my way would be helpful.

Cheers,
Thom

 

[mccloud]

That is the correct number format for Old Town, and 123xxx makes it around 1939. Someone will be along soon who has the build sheets. THe hull appears to be in pretty good shape. It is probable that the hull is covered with filled and painted canvas. If the decks were rotted by long contact with wet ground it is likely that the gunwale tips and stem tips will also need some work. Most folks do their own woodworking. Island Falls canoe is building from Old Town molds: http://www.islandfallscanoe.com/ Good Luck, Tom McCloud

 

[Thom W]

Thank You

That is the correct number format for Old Town, and 123xxx makes it around 1939. Someone will be along soon who has the build sheets. THe hull appears to be in pretty good shape. It is probable that the hull is covered with filled and painted canvas. If the decks were rotted by long contact with wet ground it is likely that the gunwale tips and stem tips will also need some work. Most folks do their own woodworking. Island Falls canoe is building from Old Town molds: http://www.islandfallscanoe.com/ Good Luck, Tom McCloud

Thank you Tom. BTW, love your last name, mine is the German word for 'cloud'.

A friend gave me the lead on contacting Old Town with the serial number, and the young man there was extremely helpful, getting a chuckle out of my perfectly sequenced serial number. Mine was built in June 1938 for a person in Franklin Park, MA.

The hull is in very good shape, no cracks. I could put it in the water right now if I wanted. The gunwale and stem tips both are rotted as well. The stem tips are the piece that runs on the inside of the gunwale ?

Island Falls was also VERY helpful, and we're going to proceed with ordering new gunwales, decks, and a new keel.

What are "build sheets" ?

Thanks from a fellow "Cloud".

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 123456 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with open spruce gunwales, a keel, a floor rack, and sponsons. It was built between November, 1937 and June, 1938. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 28th, 1938 to Franklin Park near Cliftondale in Saugus, Mass. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan 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/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Old Town parts are available from http://www.islandfallscanoe.com/old-town-parts-and-materials.aspx as Tom mentioned and many of the other restorers listed at http://www.wcha.org/buildsupply/ here. Feel free to reply if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Thom W]

Thank you Benson. This is an exciting new world opening up before me !

Couple questions:

- The young man at Old Town said that "HW" stood for "Hard Wood". I'm inclined to believe your definition more.

- You mention "a floor rack, and sponsons". What and where are these ?

- The exterior of the hull which I'm guessing has faded a little over time, has scratches and some minor pitting. I was thinking of sanding and filling any scrapes with putty or glue.
A.) Is this advisable ?
B.) Is it possible that the exact same paint formula might still be around ?

 

[Benson Gray]

The young man at Old Town said that "HW" stood for "Hard Wood".

The short answer is that there is no known documentation for what HW stood for so everyone seems to have their own definition. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?10762 for more speculation on this topic.

You mention "a floor rack, and sponsons". What and where are these?

A floor rack consists of slats on the bottom of the canoe to help keep your gear dry and sponsons are air chambers on the sides of a canoe that increase buoyancy. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12416 for some early examples of these. The notation on your build record is vague so these may not have actually been installed. They could also have been removed during a previous repair although the screw holes usually remain. Your pictures show no signs of sponsons but the bottom of the canoe has indications that a floor rack was there once.

The exterior of the hull which I'm guessing has faded a little over time, has scratches and some minor pitting. I was thinking of sanding and filling any scrapes with putty or glue.?

Light sanding and repainting with a good marine paint sounds like a great idea. Filling scrapes is usually not worth the effort. Your canoe was probably painted at the factory with a lead based paint that isn't likely to still be available. Canvas typically lasts about twenty years in normal use so you may not have the original canvas and paint on the canoe now. Others with more restoration experience may be able to offer better advice. Good luck,

Benson

 

[Larry Meyer]

Where are you located? Lots of folks in eastern Mass to take a look

 

[Craig Johnson]

The notation for sponsons seems vague at best and I can see no screw holes at the top to the ribs to indicate they were ever there although it had a floor rack and the notation for that is vague also. Maybe the note for floor rack just wandered down into the sponson line.