1994 Old Town Penobscot 16 Added to Fleet

[Mike K]

I recently purchase a new to me 1994 Old Town Penobscot 16 for $75. I repaired the degraded cane seats with new webbing, added a walnut yoke, and made my own pull handles and thwart out of mahogany (should have been walnut). There were some minor blemishes on the hull which I repaired with GFlex and added skid plates. Lastly, I added a new seat in the solo position (solo seat shown in pic with the stern seat still installed). Now the canoe can be a solo or a tandem with the bow seat reinstalled.

My current canoe inventory is a Northstar NW Solo canoe, Old Town Penobscot 16, and a Mohawk Intrepid 16. The NW Solo will serve as my primary tripping canoe, and the Penobscot 16 will be used on trips that may have some minimal whitewater (maybe Wabakimi), and the Intrepid may be used on WW after some lessons.

Prior to picking up the Intrepid and the Penobscot I was contemplating getting either a Esquif or Nova Craft (Prospector 16) for trips that may have more challenging conditions than the NW Solo could handle comfortably. Will a Prospector 16 be a better canoe for river trips or trips with some WW compared to the Penobscot?

 

[snapper]

Man, I'd love to know where you guys find canoes for that little money (LOL)! Most of the "beaters" I see are way overpriced. I'd love to take on a small project like this as I think it would meet my limited skills in an appropriate way. Oh well...just got to keep looking.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Robin]

I'd love to take on a small project like this as I think it would meet my limited skills in an appropriate way. Oh well...just got to keep looking.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

Hi snapper,
I have had a lot of fun in my retirement years working on old canoes. I would buy them cheap, fix them up and sell them for a small profit. Here are some ideas I learned along the way.
1. Post an ad on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist, mine was like this, “Canoe wanted, I repair old canoes that need attention, maybe cold cracks, wear, broken seats, new gunnels etc. I pay fair prices for quailty used canoes that need work, please no big box Coleman types, just Old Towns, Mad River, Kevlar, Royalex or fiberglass types.
2. Post a picture with the ad of a canoe needn’t repair for attention, like this.

3.Plan on selling finished canoes for $500-900, it all depends on the brand name and model. I found a couple of different Explorers that I paid $300 each. Both had good hulls, not much wear or fading, lots of dirt and pine sap iirc.They needed new wood gunnels and seats needed webbing, and a good cleaning. Both sold for $900. I paid $45 for a beat up Bell, needed a lot of Kevlar repair and wood, sold it for $750 iirc.
I drove 2 hours for a royalex Explorer, seller forgot to mention cold cracks, he was a nice old guy with lots of stories so I bought it, maybe $150, I glued up the cracks with G-Flex and added beefy gunnels, sold it for $300 to a really nice young couple, they sent me a note years later that the canoe was still going strong. I took a beating on that one but the note made up for it.
4. I always make my own gunnels. If a canoe has decent aluminum or other non wood gunnels, I would always replace them with wood. New wood gunnels with varnish sell, old non wood gunnels with scuff marks or wear dont look good from my experience.
5. Buy ash or cherry on Market place or Craigslist, 1x8” or 10” by 10’, rough sawn, make a jig as shown on YouTube for decent 8” scarfs. DONT BUY GUNNELS, shipping and price will remove all profit. Make your own. I never had a problem selling a canoe with wood gunnels, and they look so much better for that first impression. Buy #8 by 1 & 1/2” SS screws at Home Depot, they sell them in small packages much cheaper than the individual screws sold at hardware stores.

6. Tools-I use an old Craftsman table saw I bought for $40, added a new blade to rip the gunnels. A heavy belt sander to clean up the gunnels. Titebond III to glue. A decent 1/4 sander, a staple gun, at least one decent drill, some decent clamps (Irwin 12” clamps are nice when you work by yourself)
7. Paint- I use Interlux Briteside, 1 quart will do a canoe with 3 coats. I use 6” foam rollers with a 4” foam brush to tip out the roller lines. Don’t paint royalex. Sand between coats, 150 grit between 1st and second coat, then a scuff pad between 2nd and final coat. Sometimes “Brushing liquid 333” added to your paint helps give a better final product. I use Interlux varnish, “Original” , I never use Oil on these canoes. You get what you pay for in paint. Most folks who buy these canoes aren’t going to oil the gunnels.

I hope this helps, restoring old canoes is a great way to stay busy during retirement. You meet so many nice people too.

 

[Erica]

Man, I'd love to know where you guys find canoes for that little money (LOL)! Most of the "beaters" I see are way overpriced. I'd love to take on a small project like this as I think it would meet my limited skills in an appropriate way. Oh well...just got to keep looking.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

They are a dime a dozen here in south Florida.

 

[snapper]

@Robin - Thanks so much for all that information. I plan on logging it all and hope to use it in the future. I do have a nice basement, with direct outdoor access, that would lend itself to doing a boat during the winter months. My biggest concern downstairs would be dealing with dust but unless I'm painting something, that should be manageable. I already have most of the tools you mentioned and there is a Home Depot nearby where I can source the screws. Now all I need is a canoe! Guess it's time to put out some feelers.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Will a Prospector 16 be a better canoe for river trips or trips with some WW compared to the Penobscot?

Depends on the difficulty of the features and the length of the flat stretches. But I generally would prefer the Prospector styles for any rivers where maneuverability is desirable. I had both the Penobscot 16 and the NC Prospector for a while. The Penobscot was faster, but the Prospector was much easier to turn, drier in big waves, and more forgiving. Lightly loaded, the Prospector was more of a handful in wind.