Recent content by Benson Gray

A local sign shop can probably reproduce the decals from a good picture or scan. This is likely to be much easier than any removing / re-applying efforts. Pick any color you like since "It's your canoe..." Painting is usually regular maintenance so it may not be difficult to alter in a few...

I help manage the Fans of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) group on Facebook and I am confident that not all of the current 12,818 members there are interested in wooden canoes. The same is true for the WCHA forum's 30,838 members. The screening processes for both of these are not...

This is also an ongoing issue with the WCHA forum as well if that is any consolation. Bots and spam are simply parts of life in a modern internet forum. Benson

You may find that weight is not a great indicator for Oltonar versus Royalex. The 1972 catalog listed the 18 foot long Chipewyan at 75 pounds and the 17 foot long Tripper at 74 pounds. This increased to 80 pounds for the 18 footer in the 1976 catalog when the Oltonar name was introduced. The...

I would like to know more about how "the maximum load" for your canoe was determined. There are a broad variety of ways to calculate this and all manufacturers do not use the same technique or formula. Their standard may be higher or lower than your comfort level. Page 24 of the 1974 Old...

A full set of Old Town Canoe catalogs from 1901 to 2023 is available in the member's section of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association site at https://www.woodencanoe.org/member-home-page if you want more details. Various Old Town catalogs are available from other sources. The 1972 is at...

The Chipewyan model was introduced in the 1972 Old Town catalog and described as "vacuum-formed from a single sheet of amazing Royalex (R)" on page six. The reference to Uniroyal's trademarked Royalex was omitted in the 1973 and following catalogs. The 1976 catalog introduced the term OLTONAR...

The usual expression is 'too thin to plow or walk on but too thick to drink' or something similar. Benson

These are generally known as "photographer's canoes" so they can more easily match the color of the canoe to the background of their picture. The image at https://forums.wcha.org/attachments/32530/ and link below have some more information and other examples. Benson...

The fragment of the hull identification number indicates that it was made by Old Town Canoe in the early 1970s. The picture below shows a similar complete tag from that era. There should also be a six digit serial number stamped into the hull just below the rail near the end. The picture...

No small boat builder ever seems to have enough clamps. I attended the estate auction of a long time canoe builder several years ago and noticed that Rollin Thurlow was also there. Rollin has been building canoes for fifty years now but he bought a large assortment of clamps at this auction. Benson

Murat's Paddle Making blog is a great resource if you want to explore very old paddles at the first link below. Paddles, canoes, and other wooden objects don't survive very well in most North American soils so the archaeological record is a bit thin. We know much more about the stone tools used...

I believe that is actually an Ojibway model and not a Discovery, although it is made from the same material. The 2005 catalog description below has more details. This model name was also used previously for wooden and fiberglass canoes. Benson

A long time ago I ran the canoeing program for a few years at camp Timanous in Maine and the page at the link below indicates that they charge $12,900 for the full season and $8,500 for a half session (which is about a month). My understanding is that some other camps in the region charge more...

The recording is available now at the links below. Benson https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/lectures/waltham-on-the-charles-canoeing-capital-of-the-world-in-the-early-1900s