Langford??

[Iskweo]

Last week I was in need of some retail therapy so I took a quick drive after supper to look at an old canoe that was lurking around in some fellow's barn. He had sold a Langford earlier and when I contacted him about that one he mentioned that he had another old canoe that he was not sure of the make. Sooooo nothing ventured nothing gained, I went for a look.

It is an interesting boat with many chestnutty features but definitely not a Chestnut. It had very small ribs that are rounded on both edges and decks that are not undercut. It does not have that typical Chestnut kick at the end of the gunwales either. Without seats or a thwart it had relaxed a bit over the years, which is why I have it roped together at present. No canvas or outwales. As it sits it measures 16 feet long by 36.5 wide plank to plank and just over 12inches deep. Slight tumblehone.

I knew it was not a Chestnut by the serial number which oddly enough looks like an Old Town number...a 16 followed by a six digit number. 16....023092. The guy said it was his grandfathers canoe and he had been holding onto it for a while. Surfing the WCHA files I found a picture of a deck and serial number arrangement for an older original Langford that is a dead ringer for mine. Putting all of this together I am guessing that is what it is. Too cool the things you find just driving around in the country.

 

[sweeper]

'Retail Therapy' is that what you call it, Nice, I may have to use that later.

Nice find.

 

[Iskweo]

Aaaaaaand back to fixing canoes. Retirement has brought up the need to fill some time so I dragged this old relic out of the barn and got started again. We had peeled a bunch of buckled or rotted planking off last year. Then Karin made new stems for it...laminated. We then proceeded to replace every single rib tip, including the cant ribs. It then went back into storage.

Now however it has been brought out again and I have been refitting the cant ribs and planking the hull with new white cedar, and a few of the better of the old pieces. I cut some cherry and spruce strips and Karin laminated them together for seat frames. Since this one came without seats or a thwart we are just making new ones that will work, not original style ones. So, each day I go out and fit a few strips and nail them in. It is coming along nicely. I will however need to cut more planking and that is a bit of a problem with it being so cold out....the saw is in the unheated barn.
My plan is to have the wood done by the end of Feb and push it out to its rack in the barn until it is time to canvas this spring. That will let me get the old 14 foot Huron into the shop. Now THAT will be a challenge. I had to take that one as part of a package deal to get the boat I actually wanted, a 14 foot Tremblay. So far though things are looking pretty good to have the Langford on the water this summer.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks for the update. That Langford/mystery canoe is looking loved again, really nice work.

 

[Iskweo]

I have made some progress on this one....being retired you would think I have nothing BUT time to work on boats but au contraire.

I did one rib repair by masking and shimming the crack open then flooding it with epoxy and then setting weigts on top of it. I am happy ish with it but the other broken one will get the full treatment with planking removed and a better backside repair. I got around to making some new decks out of spruce. I will stain them to blend them in a little more. There is also a new cherry thwart as there was none with the boat when I got it.

You can see from the amount of planking that was replaced how neglected this particular canoe was. We had to replace all of the upper edge planking for rot and warp. Most of it broke into pieces when I removed it to replace the rib tips which were also rotted. Likely left outside on the ground upside down.

You cant see it here but the inwales are pinched at one end ...there is no way I am chopping them out though. It will get enough love to put it back on the water. We are going to start mortising out the seat frames today. Then it is flip over ...one more rib repair and some buckled planking that has to go. Then stripping the interior.

I hope to have it back to its rack by end February then start on another.