Recent content by Benson Gray

The first two pictures below show how the mast seat and step looked on one old factory style configuration in an ABS canoe. The last two pictures shows some home made alternatives. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question. Benson

Canoes used to be transported by fancy cars more frequently. (The first image is a 24 foot canoe behind an MG.) Benson

The Old Town catalogs are only a rough indication of what the factory was producing at any given time. Most canoe builders will make almost anything that a customer is willing to pay for. I suspect that if Dick's Sporting Goods wanted to place a significant order for some canoes like yours...

The Wooden Canoe Heritage Association's Wooden Canoe Bibliography at the link below has some additional options. Benson https://wcha.org/Books.htm

This probably indicates a canoe that was made in 2011. The link at https://www.usps.org/national/safety/HIN/HIN.pdf has more details. The fact that this was "chipped off" may indicate that the canoe was stolen at some point. Good luck, Benson

See the link below for a similar example. Benson https://forums.wcha.org/threads/mystery-canoe.726/

No, the canoes were donated to the New Hampshire Boat Museum by various other individuals. I was just helping move them. The car is a 2013 Volvo C30 Polestar Edition which does belong to me. Let me know if this doesn't answer your questions, Benson

I helped move some canoes from storage to the New Hampshire Boat Museum last week so they can start building their new exhibit of courting canoes. The maroon Robertson and green Morris are a great start. Benson https://www.nhbm.org/

The video at the link below shows racers dragging wooden canoes over a portage in 1927 without any obvious issues. The dragging portage segment begins around 0:47 and runs to 1:07. Benson

This reminded me of Bill Mason's early version of a helmet mounted video camera as shown below. Old Town mounted a video camera in a waterproof case to the deck of a white water kayak around the same time. Their results were less impressive than Bill Mason's. Benson

It appears that Robin Lauer at https://www.youtube.com/@RobinLauer is the channel you want. The Wooden Canoe Heritage Association has one at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiUfywu-e7oLi72GDH2e5cg which is even smaller than Robin's. Enjoy, Benson

That is usually considered the best source of information on this topic. This Old Canoe by MIke Elliott is another good reference. The forum at the link below is also a great resource. Most questions have been asked before so the search function can help. Good luck, Benson...

I will be there helping with a canoe sailing demonstration and a few other things. Benson

Normal canoes are generally fine to use with motors. One of the first motor canoes was listed in the 1905 Old Town catalog as shown below. They do require some extra thought, care, planning, and practice. The more common approach is to use a motor bracket which can help concentrate the weight...

I faced a similar dilemma last summer when my old trailer finally died. An aluminum trailer would have been nice but I ended up with a used, galvanized MegaSport as shown at https://maloneautoracks.com/MegaSport-Kayak-Trailer-w-86-Load-Bars.html from Malone. I also need to occasionally haul...