Total mystery for fans of Canadian built craft

[Andre Cloutier]

Possible St Louis! In Northern Ontario....

In light of Dan's ID, (whose knowledge i have only ever questioned at my own peril), this damn thing still looks like a Rice Lake boat, but maybe its just a LONG way from home.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

more

Only additions are the 4 pieces under the deck that were added at some time, likely when the canvas started to go south. Rice Lake for comparison..

 

[Dan Miller]

Gee, sure looks like a St. Louis Meramec to me...

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Gee, sure looks like a St. Louis Meramec to me...

If it is, it'd likely be one of the most travelled, 4 hours north of Toronto. Where's the obligatory catalog shots.... 17' overall, 32.5" from inner to inner (outside edges) and 35" overall, so what model?

 

[Dan Miller]

Work breaks are only so long this time of year - sun sets early! This five minute break gets you your catalog pages.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

And thats why you reign supreme - thanks. When were they built? the build quality is subtastic, they never hear of sandpaper?

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Post the serial number, Andre... some records exist. The St. Louis Chapter rescued them.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Post the serial number, Andre... some records exist. The St. Louis Chapter rescued them.

Great, will go scrape some alligator'd varnish off, theres numbers on it....

Definitely a 17, but its it looks like 601, though the numbers are pointing upside down from one another. 17 one direction, 601 other. i dont think its T09.

 

[Gil Cramer]

Andre, It's a long ways from home. Actually, not as far as one might think. Many St. Louis residents summered in Michigan, and rode the rails to their summer homes. There was a St. Louis canoe dealer in Ann Arbor, MI at one time, and many of these canoes turn up in Michigan. It is still odd that it would cross the border and be so far north with so many Canadian canoes available.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

"it'd likely be one of the most travelled"

Many canoes on these boards show that they've traveled much farther:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8186-build-sheet-request-for-72021-17-old-town
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?9483-Kennebec-in-Jacksonville-FL

Apparently 2% or so of Old Towns made it straight from the factory in Maine to California:
http://wcha.org/legacypages/ot_records/location.jpg

And many from various makers ended up around the globe:
http://wcha.org/legacypages/ot_records/haiti.gif
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?10871-Hello-from-Paris-france
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?1244-Aussie-Canoes

In any case, it's a good-looking canoe but for a couple of cracked ribs and damage at the tip.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Yes Gil, but there is the odd US built boat up in the Muskokas and on Georgian Bay, as many Americans had summer places in the 1800 and 1900s
-well, still do of course - but i've only come across one Old Town in my travels, and came off an island owned by a fellow from NY. This picker i know is after an Old Town hanging in a boat house, i'm anxious to see if its closed gunwale and an oldie. BTW, the one i found was AA - at least what was left of it. Burned real well, with all the fiberglass on it.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

"it'd likely be one of the most travelled"
Yup, i read the forums. Maybe i should have just said its a long way from Misery, but its an obscure area for it to turn up, almost 3 hours north of the Muskoka lakes that Americans flocked to. Most likely had to have been brought up by an American and subsequently sold or given away. The tariffs on US built goods in the 20s and 30s were very high, hence the Chestnuts motivation to begin building canoes for a market looking for a less expensive craft.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

St Lous

I still have one inwale for a St Louis if anyone wants it. the other was chewed through. the outwales had that same splice you have too. And the wood grain in the decks-same as the one I did. The seats were mortise/tenon. Pretty cool. I thought is was pretty nice.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Very nice! thwarts, seats, decks and carry handles and outside stem are all oak. It has the same square seat hangers, one i the back and i see the front seat is canted forward on yours as well! It is a nice shape hull. Was this one 17 or 18? This one is a 17 and has two thwarts, and never had a 3rd, just like in the catalog shot.

 

[KAT]

Andre...

I've seen one Old Town for sale on Kijiji out here last year, in Manitoba of all places, the land of Huron's and Tremblay's.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Yes, the one I did was 17. When I got it there was 'glass to deal with. the center yoke was dimensional lumber with a big knot through it. I assumed it needed a center thwart/yoke. If I had known they were sans center thwart I would still likely have added one for the sake of being able to lift it and move it around.