Sn: 16413-18 old town?
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Old Town serial number 16413 was a 15-foot 50-pounder model, so I assume that number is incorrect. Serial number 15413 was an 18-foot CS (or common sense) grade HW model that was built in 1911 and shipped to Philadelphia. It had spruce gunwales and thwarts, and ash decks. It also had spruce finish rails and a keel. The original color was dark green.
The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image. This scan and several hundred thousand others 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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to renew.
If you are selling your canoe and plan to use this build record information as part of an ad, please consider giving the WCHA credit for this information on eBay or craigslist or wherever your canoe is listed.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Norm
The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image. This scan and several hundred thousand others 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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to renew.
If you are selling your canoe and plan to use this build record information as part of an ad, please consider giving the WCHA credit for this information on eBay or craigslist or wherever your canoe is listed.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Norm
Attachments
Thank you Norm. I purchased a membership to WHCA a few days ago.
The number is 15413. I was also able to remove some more of the varnish on the other stem and can see the five more clearly. At some point it was unfortunately rebuilt with with 1/8" plywood planking and fiberglass
When I bought it, I could not locate any serial numbers. But, it being Southern California, and local wood canoes few and far between figured I would refinish the inside, replace the gunwales and a rib or two, patch the fiberglass and call it a day. Now I'm torn as to what to do given the age.
So, here is a open question to the board. What would you do with it? i should mention that basically, only the ribs, seats frames, and stems are original
The number is 15413. I was also able to remove some more of the varnish on the other stem and can see the five more clearly. At some point it was unfortunately rebuilt with with 1/8" plywood planking and fiberglass
When I bought it, I could not locate any serial numbers. But, it being Southern California, and local wood canoes few and far between figured I would refinish the inside, replace the gunwales and a rib or two, patch the fiberglass and call it a day. Now I'm torn as to what to do given the age.
So, here is a open question to the board. What would you do with it? i should mention that basically, only the ribs, seats frames, and stems are original
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It's a really old canoe. My instinct leads toward preserving old things, but that can be time-consuming and expensive. Perhaps if you could post some pictures of your canoe here, then the folks with a lot of preservation and reconstruction experience could comment.
Norm
Norm
Photos of the canoe are posted here http://gallery.me.com/rkerlin/100090
It would be great it others would like to offer their opinion.
It would be great it others would like to offer their opinion.
Steve Ambrose
Nut in a Canoe
Wow! It would be a major undertaking to get that boat back to original (or close). From the pictures it appears the plywood planking distorted the ribs. I reworked a 18' Guide that had been fiberglassed and half her ribs were broken. Ended up replacing over 30 ribs and half the planking. She has some lumps and bumps under her new canvas - trying to restore the shape of a hull that far gone is a real challenge.
I don't have as much experience as many of the others on this forum, but it doesn't look that bad to me. The stems and decks are intact. Some of the outwales would need a new spliced section. I can't see a whole lot of broken ribs, and if you're going to fiberglass the boat the broken ribs don't matter as much as with canvas. It's the plywood in place of planking that scares me. You'd have to remove all the fiberglass, replace planking and possibly patch some ribs from the outside, then re-fiberglass or canvas the canoe. That is time consuming, but it's a boat from 1911, right? Also the junk on the inside is kind of amazing. Is that just bad varnish or did someone apply fiberglass resin inside the canoe? Either way, it's not too hard to remove, then you can sand.
Norm
Norm
hey steve,
thanks for the offering up some insight. i had just happened to have read your blog about the guide a few days ago. it was quite the eye opener.
i striped the fiberglass off this last week end. it took it well due to the strength of the plywood. so far i can only see 4-5 ribs that need to be replaced. i will be stripping the interior this week. i think then i'll really get a chance to see whats truly going on with the ribs. (added a picture to the gallery of the striped hull.)
what i can't quite get my head around is the order of operations for dealing with the plywood and the misshaped/broken ribs. i'm thinking i would have to remove and re-plank with cedar one board at a time. then replace ribs. does that sound right?
thanks for the offering up some insight. i had just happened to have read your blog about the guide a few days ago. it was quite the eye opener.
i striped the fiberglass off this last week end. it took it well due to the strength of the plywood. so far i can only see 4-5 ribs that need to be replaced. i will be stripping the interior this week. i think then i'll really get a chance to see whats truly going on with the ribs. (added a picture to the gallery of the striped hull.)
what i can't quite get my head around is the order of operations for dealing with the plywood and the misshaped/broken ribs. i'm thinking i would have to remove and re-plank with cedar one board at a time. then replace ribs. does that sound right?
