Lotta Canoes this weekend

[Robin]

I did a 220 mile road trip today and came home with two good canoes-

a nice young professional type guy in southern Ct sold me Bell Northstar for gas money and a six pack of yuppy beer. The bell has a big crack a few minor cracks, no gunnels to speak of and I was lucky to get it home in one piece.
Very lightweight canoe-lots of reading up on how to get those cracks fixed. Thought about keeping it for a few minutes, but I'm hoping to make enough off this canoe to keep my second Chestnut Chum as a lightweight version....12 oz canvas, lightweight gunnels...

The second canoe is a Mad River Explorer, owed by a widow. Great canoe in really pristine condition under the grime/rotted wood, even nicer story of the times she and her late husband spent in it. I will burn his and her names under the new decks when I restore it. This canoe will pay for my 2 week trip to Woodland Caribou Provincial Park next August. I was thinking about WCPP while I was stuck in traffic in Hartford.

I'm back on the road to deliver the 18' Old Town wood canvas tomorrow early am in Mass, then north to Maine to bring home 3 Roylex canoes my daughter scored for me (hope they nest) 2 more the next trip.

Very busy winter here, retirement is fun.

Like

 

[shanks]

Holy smokes!! Is there even a scratch on the hull of that explorer! ?!
Nice haul!

 

[Robin]

Amazing old Roylex hull.As I lifted it and placed it on my truck racks she told me about her husband portaging a mile with it in the ADK's. lotta love there,. It was dark when I picked it up and couldn't wait to see it's condition. Hard to find old Explores like this anymore.
She offered it to her son in law but he passed..

 

[Alan Gage]

Wow, nice finds! Is the Northstar the Black Gold layup or just painted black? Hard to tell from the picture. Is the big crack in the left front? Looks pretty tough. Hard to go wrong for gas and beer money though. I had one of those for about a year. Nice boat but I was raising money for my big trip and let it go seeing as how I don't get to paddle tandem much anyway.

You're living the good life: driving around to pick up and deliver canoes!

Alan

 

[Canotrouge]

Good score, I wish to do more canoe repair in the winter when I have a shop. Now I do all of them outside in the summer when I should be paddling....

 

[Odyssey]

Quite the haul. You might need to get yourself a trailer. That would be pretty handy and easier to load/off load.
Sounds like really nice memories in that one canoe for the lady. Inscribing their names under the deck is a thoughtful idea.
So your workshop has a woodstove, and is full of boat projects, but do you have a bunk yet? Might be good to have on long days in February, or when the boss says "Another canoe?! Right! That's it! Outta the house!"

 

[Qayaq]

Wow! Sounds like fun alright. I think you're going to have a great winter.

 

[snapper]

Robin - I've joked with my wife that my retirement job will be doing "canoe interventions" to save all the hulls I see sitting out in the elements around where we live. It looks like you've already beaten me to the punch. Congrats on some nice looking canoes. I can't believe that someone would pass on that Mad River. I had one given to me for the price of some wine and never regretting getting it. It's my faux birch bark canoe for re-enacting and it paddles great on the big waters of Lake George and all that can blow up there. Enjoy it while you have it!

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

snapper

 

[Jim Dodd]

Boy I wish I could find deals like that, except my storage is filling up.
Enjoy the ride !

Jim

 

[Murat V]

Great stuff, Robin. I like how you're restoring canoes to pay for a future canoe trip all the while maintaining a canoeing forum. Sounds like a wonderful retirement right there.

 

[southcove]

...and helping to make your's and someone elses (the new owners) memories jut that much better! Nice deals. All the unloved and unused boats I see anymore on the shores of Long Island Sound are faded recreational kayaks...

 

[Jamie]

My wife just shakes her head when I come home with a new to me canoe. I've likely bought and sold about 25 canoes in the past 10 years, some I work on some I don't. It's a great way to fund either your paddling or another hobby.

 

[Robin]

Wow, nice finds! Is the Northstar the Black Gold layup or just painted black? Hard to tell from the picture. Is the big crack in the left front? Looks pretty tough. Hard to go wrong for gas and beer money though. I had one of those for about a year. Nice boat but I was raising money for my big trip and let it go seeing as how I don't get to paddle tandem much anyway.

You're living the good life: driving around to pick up and deliver canoes!

Alan

Hi Alan,
Here are a few pictures of the canoe, I just got home from Maine with 2 more canoes and since it was so nice here, I spent some time on the Bell,

Here's the big crack just at the knelling thwart, the guy who owned it before the guy I bought it from did some repairs with non ss screws and even a couple of sheet rock screws, lots of rusty screws. Tomorrow I'll give it a good bath and see what's there.

I'm used to cedar plank, cedar ribs, and ash gunnels, this is a whole new ball game for me.

here's another view of the same crack,

here's the crack on the other side,

profile at 0 dark 3O,

 

[yellowcanoe]

Or nightmare. I'm betting this sends you back to the wold of wood

 

[Robin]

Ha, I never left, these canoes finance my love of all things Chestnut and Northern Ontario. Unlike a wood canvas canoe, this canoe will never be like new, it's damaged goods and it will always have the scar's.
My plan is to fix those cracks as best I can where the outside of the canoe is smooth and solid, new ash trim and then a good old Epifanes paint job and sell it with full dis-closer...light weight name brand tandem canoe-entry level price. a few blemishes.
Of course plans change but that's what I'm thinking tonight.

 

[Mihun09]

So what is the shiny new looking boat on the ground beside it? One of the Maine boats you got today?

 

[Robin]

That's a MR Legend (royalex), one of two I bought. Kinda rough on the bottom and the PO did some quick repairs that I will clean up, but it will serve someone well when I get done with it. Nice downriver canoe.

 

[Robin]

Hi Alan,
Here are a few pictures of the canoe, I just got home from Maine with 2 more canoes and since it was so nice here, I spent some time on the Bell,

Here's the big crack just at the knelling thwart, the guy who owned it before the guy I bought it from did some repairs with non ss screws and even a couple of sheet rock screws, lots of rusty screws. Tomorrow I'll give it a good bath and see what's there.

I'm used to cedar plank, cedar ribs, and ash gunnels, this is a whole new ball game for me.

here's another view of the same crack,

here's the crack on the other side,

profile at 0 dark 3O,

I called Northstar canoe this morning, not sure who I spoke with but he was friendly and very helpful. They use fiberglass for repairs. I forget what term he used but it amounted to they only do functional repairs, they don't worry about aesthetics and they tell the customers up front. I ordered a repair kit and some epoxy from them, no doubt I could have found something cheaper if I looked around but the guy was so nice and helpful I wanted to support his shop.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Now to me that looks like a fun project Robin !

Resurrecting something like that old Bell, and putting it back into use.

Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

Robin, if you have a pair of calipers and some extra time would you mind measuring the hull thickness of that Northstar for me?

Good luck on the repair. The boat really looks like it went through heck. Did the seller give you any idea of how it happened?

Thanks,

Alan