To re-canvas or to use as flower bed??

[Lamales]

I have a Shell Lake Boat Company Canoe, ID #1177-81. My husband bought this before we met and I believe it was in the late 50's or early 60's. It has been stored inside all those years. He passed away a couple of years ago and I was thinking about trying to get the canoe back into usable condition. I have had different people look at it and they have all given me different advice. None have any specific canoe knowledge.
My question is: What would a ball park figure be as far as cost to re-canvas this? There are a couple of strips of wood that will need to be replaced and I saw at least one small hole in the bottom.
I am trying to figure out if the cost and effort will be worth it. The inside looks good. The canvas is ripped and cracked. Or should I just place it in my yard as a flower bed!! Thank you in advance!

 

[ken.kelly]

Lamales,
Thanks for getting on this forum to ask. Posting photos of the canoe would help with any of us wanting to comment. And,
others with different experience will likely comments soon, so don't take my reply as the only approach. But I advise that you don't use it as a planter no matter what. If you don't want to fix it please sell it to someone who will.
In my experience, $2500 is the ball park for a full restoration of a wooden canoe. To just put a canvas on would be less, but when you are changing the canvas is the best time to strip and revarnish the interior too...so smart to do them at the same time and have the canoe in completely restored condition ready to serve for another 50+ years. If you split the restoration into separate stages you will likely pay more in the long run.
Sorry, but also have to mention that it is unlikely you can find a buyer willing to pay any more than the cost of the restoration when the canoe is completed. So enter into the restoration only if you want to keep and enjoy the canoe...otherwise my experience suggests it is probably better to sell it as is.
Hope this helps - and No flowerbeds please.

 

[Greg Nolan]

Lamales --

Pictures would definitely help. And as you have found, talking with people who have no specific knowledge of wood/canvas canoes is usually not helpful.

What Ken has said above is correct -- restore it only if you intend to use it -- otherwise, buyers of wood/canvas canoes generally prefer to handle a restoration themselves, so they can get it done just the way they want. If you do decide to sell it instead of keeping it, don't forget that WCHA members can place a free classified ad on this website. And if you decide to use it, you will find that the Michigan Chapter of the WCHA are a friendly, helpful bunch -- check out their latest newsletter --
http://www.wcha.org/chapters/Michigan/Michigan Chapter Latest Newsletter.pdf

Also, some people who do have specific knowledge can be found in the WCHA Builders & Suppliers directory --
http://www.wcha.org/buildsupply/

Greg

 

[Lamales]

Thank you very much Ken and Greg. Your advice is very helpful. If I were 20 years younger, I think it would be fun and interesting to join in with a group like this and take on this project! I will take some pictures and probably list it for sale. I won't insult the wood canoe community by making a flower bed!

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Went for a drive a few years ago with my friend Denis. We stopped in a nearby town, where he wanted to show me a canoe. He pulled up near a house and said, "can you see the canoe?" I could, and it made me sad. We inspected it and decided it was a Carleton... but the serial number was buried, so I couldn't look it up.

Yes, it's a good thing that wood-canvas canoes can go back to the ground instead of living forever in a landfill... but keeping them afloat seems a happier thing.

 

[HEBlumer]

My first question was going to be where do you live? I'm in my late 70s and have been restoring old canoes for about 5 years... Would love to share notes, ideas, and to help you learn how to do it yourself.. But I'm a long way from where you are in Michigan. I live in NW Wisconsin, an area where the Shell Lake name recognition is high and my guess is there are a number of folks in this neighborhood that would be interested in buying a restoreable Shell Lake canoe. The guys at the Wood Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner WI (less than 10 miles from Shell Lake) have been very helpful in getting me started and I would guess you would find the same help if you were to get in touch with members of the Michigan WCHA group. There is help available if you look for it. Whatever you do don't turn it into a flower bed or a Book Case! It could be worth $500 or more if you were to advertise it as a restoreable canoe..If you don't wish to keep the canoe, it will sell much better as a restoreable canoe than one that has been restored. I just purchased a hundred year old restoreable Old Town which the owner made me promise to give him first dibs when I finish and sell it. He will no doubt buy it back for much less than he would have to pay to have it restored professionally and will have the opportunity to inspect the quality of the work before he puts out the cash as well. I simply can not get the selling price that a professional restorer can get for a finished canoe. Restoring these old canoes has become a wonderful and rewarding retirement hobby and I keep doing it regardless of the profit margin. You may find persons with similar interests in your area just by getting acquainted with members of the canoe association.

 

[Lamales]

Well, I live in Northern Michigan. Not the UP, but the northeastern lower. I can see by snooping into several WCHA sites and forums that there is a huge wood canoe community. I think at this point, for various reasons, I will post some pictures and try and sell this canoe. It really isn't a trash job. It does need canvas and there are a couple of spots the wood is bad, but from what I see, most of the strips (see, I don't even know exactly what you call them) should be replaced anyway, because of the age. Somewhere I did see that there is some sort of museum or source with old records about Shell Lake canoes. I will try and track that down and get a little history for my own curiosity. Thank you for your encouragement, though. I think my retirement hobby card is filled with other interests!