Vintage Old Town Wood Canoe SN# 259028 17'

[georgejam]

Hi,

I am new to this site and am looking for any details on my Old Town canoe that I purchased restored from The Jersey Paddler in Brick, NJ some years ago. I need to restore the canvas bottom and wood trim and want to get manufacturer recommended prep and materials. I guess I can call Old Town Canoe diectly but I saw some great results on this site based on a similar question.

Any information would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
George

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Welcome, George-- you've found THE place!

Our serial number scans only go through canoe 210999, which was shipped in 1975. You can send $3 to Old Town for part number 01.1332.0100 as shown at http://oldtown.wcha.org/parts.html to get a copy of the build record for your canoe, if there is one. Old Town stopped this type of record-keeping in the late 1980s.

Old Town no longer makes wood/canvas canoes, but the supplies you need might be available through Jerry Stelmok of Island Falls Canoe-- http://www.islandfallscanoe.com/ or one of the others listed under Builders and Suppliers on the home page of this website.

If you post pictures of your canoe and explain the work you believe it needs, others here will provide suggestions re what you need to buy and how to fix the problems... and, if you live near a local chapter of the WCHA, you might be able to connect with others in-person to help with your project.

Kathy

 

[Greg Nolan]

Welcome

Welcome to the WCHA -- you've come to the right place generally for wooden canoes, and particularly for restoring one.

Before undertaking a restoration, in addition to the suggestions Kathy makes, you might try to get your hands on one or more of the following books:

"The Wood and Canvas Canoe" by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok, and/or "Building the Maine Guide Canoe" by Jerry Stelmok, and if you have an Old Town canoe, you will find "The Old Town Canoe Company" by Susan Audette and David Baker of great interest.

The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe, and the third is a great history of the company and its canoes. These are available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon. Sue Audette also sells her book directly ( http://www.thebaglady.tv/ ).

You could check out the web site of Bearwood Canoes, where builder Pam Wedd gives a lot of useful information she has learned in some 20 years of building canoes -- http://users.vianet.ca/bearwood/pages/articles.html

Don’t be bashful about asking questions here on the forums – lots of us are happy to pass on tips and lessons we have learned -- often the hard way.

And most important – post pictures of your canoe – as is, in use, under construction/renovation, whatever. We all like to see pictures of canoes other than our own.

 

[georgejam]

Vintage Old Town Canoe

Thank you Kathy and Greg for your great replies. I will follow up with your recommendations and get back to you. I'll take some pics of the canoe and post soon.

Thanks again!
George