The wooden canoes we've owned...

[Benson Gray]

The Wooden Boat forum has an interesting thread titled "The boats we've owned." at http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?139031 and it seemed worth starting a similar thread here. It was slightly alarming to put my list together:

1981 17' Old Town Canoe Company Molitor model, http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5305&d=1215358989
1995 15' Old Town Canoe Company Trapper model, http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1336&d=1143576684
1970s 17' Old Town Canoe Company Molitor model
1907 16' Old Town Canoe Company Charles River model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12320
1922 17' Old Town Canoe Company Molitor model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?4175
1936 18' Old Town Canoe Company Otca model, http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=10026&d=1268689103
1960 16' Old Town Canoe Company Otca model
1936 16' Old Town Canoe Company Yankee model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?1967
1932 18' Old Town Canoe Company Guide model, http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5305&d=1215358989
1914 15' Old Town Canoe Company Fifty Pound model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?3968
1938 15' Old Town Canoe Company Fifty Pound model
1959 18' Old Town Canoe Company Otca model
1919 15' Old Town Canoe Company HW model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12413
1927 17' Old Town Canoe Company Special Sailing Canoe model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?3994
1904 15' Old Town Canoe Company HW model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?2780
1952 11' Old Town Canoe Company Fifty Pound model
1901 18' Indian Old Town Canoe Company GG model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?11487
1921 18' Old Town Canoe Company Molitor model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12325
1906 15' Old Town Canoe Company Charles River model, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12416

It would be fun to have them all back.

Benson

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Benson,

They are all OT's??? How could that be?

But, the boats listed, do they have to be water worthy or are projects counted?

Dan

 

[Benson Gray]

do they have to be water worthy or are projects counted?

Yes, I do admit to some bias in my preferences for canoes. My list in the Wooden Boat forum includes a few boats that weren't made at Old Town. I think that projects count but you can decide. Most of mine were water worthy during at least part of my ownership.

Benson

 

[Dan Miller]

I can't remember the canoes I have now, let alone the ones that are no longer here.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Currently Owned
1938 18' Old Town Guide - project
mid-late 30's 17' Thompson Indian - project
mid-late 30's 16' Thompson Indian - project
unknown 15' Lakefield - project
pre 1920 16' White Camp (?) – beyond project
late 50's 16' Peterborough Champlain Low end
1950 18' Chestnut Guide Special
1955 18.5' White Guide
193x 18' Chestnut Ogilve -project
pre 1920 18' Mullins
1915 17' Morris Model A Type 1 – needs canvas
1943 17' Willits
late 50's 16' Rehbein
1958 17' Seliga
2001 17' Seliga
2005 18.5’ Stripper – Winter’s Quetico

Parted with
1998 17.5’ Stripper – Winter’s Winisk
1999 18.5’ Stripper – Winter’s Winisk
1935 18’ OT HW – project
Early 40’s 16’ Thompson Indian – restored
Early 30/40’s 16’ Thompson Ranger – project
1928 17’ OT HW – project
1950 17’ OT HW low end – restored
Early 30’s 16’ Penn Yan Owasco – restored
1946 17’ OT OTCA – project
1928 14’ OT Squareback – project
1940 18’ OT Guide – project
Unknown 18’ Shell Lake – project
Unknown 18’ Shell Lake – usable
50’s 16’ Peterborough Huron Crusier – usable
Unknown 16’ Thompson Indian – project

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Dan,

That's why lists are made, so we don't have to remember.

Dan

 

[Dan Miller]

Dan,

That's why lists are made, so we don't have to remember.

Dan

Mmmm. That only works if you remember to make the list in the first place.

 

[Dave Osborn]

I can't remember.

 

[goldencub]

It's easy for me to remember - just one. A 17' OT OTCA I purchased new in 1964. I still have it, use it occasionally, and it is just as it was picked up at the dealer - same paint, same varnish, same seats. Yes, the blue hull is a tad faded and there are some light scratches on the varnish,but from 10 feet away it still looks pretty good. Al D

 

[Rob Stevens]

Mmmm. That only works if you remember to make the list in the first place.

I can't recall anything I've forgotten.

 

[dtdcanoes]

Probably because you really never forgot " it "....you could be searching too hard in the wrong place ? ( I may have misplaced my wild shrooms , no ? )

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Here's my list-- I put an asterisk before the ones that were/are definitely water-worthy. If I used one of them in a video, I listed the link. Several that needed work have since become quite beautiful in the hands of their new owners.

Current:

*Early 1890s BN Morris
*1960s Kennebec reproduction (currently being restored)
*Early Chestnut Bob's Special

Past:

BN Morris (no s/n) 16' open gunwale, long decks, wide thwarts, high half-ribs
*BN Morris 3031, 15' with Folsom Arms medallion
BN Morris 3889, 16' heart deck
BN Morris 5222, 12'
BN Morris 8435, 18' heart deck, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAz-rspieqE
BN Morris 9749, 16' heart deck, D outwales
BN Morris 13324, 18' with 24" decks
BN Morris 15768, 18' Belle Isle Molitor, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXILZU6Jm-s
*Kennebec Ketahdin, 17', video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbCaP7eJegY
*Veazie Canoe Co. 1032, 17' with decal
Veazie Canoe Co. (no sn) 16', keyhole deck
Rushton Indian Girl 18' with oar locks, originally set up for sailing, video (unrestored canoe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isPjxgCj3hU
WhistleWing (Rushton) 16' with sponsons
pre-1900 UFO with laminated ribs
*pre-1900 Gerrish-type ("EBW") 15', video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcqLvWQ7RGk
15' Detroit
16'Detroit
PennYan Rainbow from 1946, 16', video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKo7fpaPecI
EM White with sponsons and D-shaped rear seat
EH Gerrish with open gunwales
*16'RacineWis
18'RacineWis
Shell Lake
16' Faber
*16' Richardson
16' 1918 Old Town with sponsons

Kathy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

For those who can't remember what they've had, what was your very first one? And now that I've asked that, I'm remembering one that I left off my list! A little 14 foot stripper!

Kathy

 

[Dan Lindberg]

And the other half to that question is how long did it take to find it?

In my case, the 1st 2 were a 18" OT w/sponsons and sail rig and the 16' T I restored, both now passed on.
It took about 2 years of looking from when I 1st got interested to finding these.

Also, re: my list above, some on that list were only bought to save them and to pass on to somebody else later.
And others were bought because it's an addiction.

Dan

 

[pklonowski]

Dan, they were ALL bought because it's an addiction... Making excuses doesn't make it less addictive.

I've only had two... they're both waiting for me to get around to start working on them. And there's nowhere to put any more.

Though I could get rid of some furniture and...

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Does anyone with wooden canoes actually put their car in the garage?

 

[Dave Wermuth]

-Both cars are in the garage! But the barn is full.
I can't remember the ones I've owned. I can't even hardly recall the 10 I built. I can barely recall what's out there now.
But I remember my first. Old Town HW CS 88445 18'. A derelict, perfectly rebuilt by Brian Baker in 1997 and I still have it and it carried Ferdy and me in Quetico last year.
And there is also the Beaver Bark Canoe. It's in the garage and caressed every time I leave the house or return.

And then there are the ones I did for friends. And the ones friends brought here to work on. And the ones given to me. And the ones given away.

 

[Mark Adams]

ohh jees...

1943 Old Town OTCA, the one that started it all
1923 Willits 8C147
1937 Willits 585
18" Penn Yan rainbow, sold
1905 OT Double ender, given to my father
1997 Platte River solo
2012 Platte River pack canoe, built for my father
1917 18' BN Morris
19?? BN morris, given away
19?? OT guide, given away
19?? Kennebec Invisible Sponson, given away
19?? Peterborough cedarstrip, given away
1933 Penn Yan Hunter
1977 Walter Walker 4 Flat
1986 Walter Walker Gordon
1888-1893 Rushton Vaux
1895 Rushton Arkansas Traveler
1895 Rushton Springfield
191? Rushton Huron
191? Rushton Nomad
1906 Rushton Indian Girl, sold
1937 14" OT sailing Dinghy, metal centerboard
193? 14" OT Alden Sailing Dinghy(sorry Benson, the date escapes me!!)
1945 OT 25' War Canoe
19?? 7' OT dinghy
1964 OT 18' Square Stern

Those are the ones that I can remember without delving too deep into the dim recesses of my mind...

 

[JClearwater]

So here is my list and the reason why therapy has been suggested more than once.

Canoes I no longer own:
1941 OT 15’ Trapper – my first wood canoe and the one that started it all
19?? Plycraft 16’
1921 OT Charles River 17’
1923 OT HW sailing canoe, fully rigged
1936 OT Otca, AA grade 17’
195? OT Otca, AA grade 16’
I also gave away at least five others that were given to me.

Canoes I still own.
The top five float, the rest are awaiting their hour of resurrection.
1904 OT Charles River 17’ AA Grade
1912+/- Crandel 17’ AA grade
1935 OT Otca, 16’ CS grade
1943 OT Double End, 16’ with after market sail rig
19?? Willow Wisp by Jerry S., solo canoe

1911 Carlton, 17’ CS grade
1912 Morris 17’
1915 Morris 17’
1927 Kennebec Kineo Special 16’
1906 Detroit, Hudson River Model, 16’
1938 OT HW sailing canoe with rig, 18’ (for sale)
196? OT Otca, CS grade 16’
1996 West Country Canoe by Larry Bower, 16’
2005 Jack McGreivey Detroit 15, solo canoe

We are in the process of adding a master bedroom suite onto the house. The bedroom has a vaulted ceiling. When I suggested that we hang a canoe up there it was vetoed with extreme prejudice. Oh well.

Jim