Nice Old Town find yesterday

[Robin]

I found this Old Town canoe yesterday not far from home. The canoe is in very good condition, sadly it's covered in fiberglass, I don't know if it's factory fiberglass but whoever did it was good. It's a 14'6" with a 35 inch beam, nice lines, rotted gunnels, rotted keel, needs decks and splices to the inwales near the decks. It was covered in mold on the outside and dirt on the inside but it cleaned up well. It has an obvious bow in middle, but that will be almost gone when the broken thwart is replaced.
I'll fix it up over the winter and resell it come spring. It's a nice looking canoe and if kept out of the weather and treated well should give someone lots of good times on the water.

 

[sweeper]

The original LeTigre canoe. Nice find.

 

[memaquay]

I had a Pal that was treated in the same fashion, and I used it for many years. If it's polyester resin, the glass will come off fairly easily if you are feeling bold. However, the stuff we use for strippers will be bonded to the wood, and quite difficult to remove.

I'd throw a coat of paint on the exterior and make sure the interior is really well varnished. There's still many years left in that fella!

 

[Iskweo]

Yes sadly that glass is not coming off. Like Rob says, paint her up on the outside and sell it off for someone to use. It will last a while yet.

I hate it when people do this to a lovely old classic.

 

[Robin]

I'm not familiar with clear fiberglass, but it has long cracks in the glass from keel to gunnels. You "almost" can't feel them with your eyes closed, the glass is solid.
Would a lite sanding and a clear varnish over the glass remove the cracks or make them look less visible?

Since it's going to be sold I would like to take advantage of the nice exterior wood exposed. At 14'6" it would make a nice hanger in a camp plus a great day tripper. Lots of folks lie this look so.....

 

[Alan Gage]

I'm not familiar with clear fiberglass, but it has long cracks in the glass from keel to gunnels. You "almost" can't feel them with your eyes closed, the glass is solid.
Would a lite sanding and a clear varnish over the glass remove the cracks or make them look less visible?

I always figure if whatever surface defect I'm worried about goes away or changes when wetted with water the same thing will happen when a sealer like varnish is applied.

Alan

 

[BWCA66]

Did OT ever produce rib and plank canoes with glass instead of canvas? I know around here that the Thompson Bros. canoes were made with glass for a time around the early 60's when glass first was being used in canoes. Showing my ignorance of canoe history here, wish there were more WC canoes in the midwest.

 

[memaquay]

Yes, a light sanding and two or three coats of varnish will make everything basically disappear. I wonder about that keel. Is it attached on top of the glass with screws, or glued with epoxy? If just screws removal will be fairly effortless. At that point you could debate whether or not to put a new keel on. I'm guessing that keel will be the part of the restoration which could prove to be somewhat troublesome.

 

[Mihun09]

It looks like a factory keel. US made boats had those which are higher like it shows in the picture. Although I cannot really tell I don't see the standard screws through the ribs to fasten the keel so if it is bonded by resin it could be problematic to remove and replace. If there are screws, when you remove them you may get an idea of how well the glass is bonded to the hull if there is any delamination where the screws go through the hull. I would also think the keel was "bedded" in some way to prevent leakage at that point.

All it takes is finding the right buyer as you know. Some people believe all the old w/c canoes are much better off with fibreglass over canvas, but just ask Red how that worked on his boat, lol. Proper care of the varnish on the inside will determine how long the canoe lasts with glass on it.

The light and dark areas kind of suggest some kind of penetration of water from one side or the edges under the gunnels.

Is it just an optical illusion that shows some hogging in the middle of the boat, not lengthwise but side to side across the middle?

 

[snubber]

Did OT ever produce rib and plank canoes with glass instead of canvas? I know around here that the Thompson Bros. canoes were made with glass for a time around the early 60's when glass first was being used in canoes. Showing my ignorance of canoe history here, wish there were more WC canoes in the midwest.

I believe in the 70's OT made the 15' Trapper with fiberglass in place of canvas. They looked beautiful. I was thinking of getting one but went with the W/C Guide (now needs new canvas) instead. Seem to remember hearing of problems with the wood under the glass later.

 

[BWCA66]

My son bought a Thompson Bros that has glass, the wood and ribs all seem fine but the glass is cracked all along the stems or they didn't run the glass over the stems and the paint is cracked.

 

[Robin]

I believe in the 70's OT made the 15' Trapper with fiberglass in place of canvas. They looked beautiful. I was thinking of getting one but went with the W/C Guide (now needs new canvas) instead. Seem to remember hearing of problems with the wood under the glass later.

Nice call snubber, you know your canoes. Here is the reply I got from the Benson Gray of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Assoc.

The Old Town with serial number 184600 is a 15 foot long Trapper model with a keel. It was built in between February, 1970 and June, 1971. The original fiberglass exterior was clear to show the natural wood. It shipped on June 9th, 1971 to Millerton, New York. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below.

 

[memaquay]

Amazing! That's too cool to sell, you should keep it!

 

[Robin]

Keeping sweet canoes would be nice, but I come across a bunch and I'm happy to restore it and pass it on to someone who can afford it and take care of it...plus my addiction to western Ontario canoeing requires support to those $80 gas ups across highway 11. Fixed Income/solo tripping blues don't cha know!

 

[Rippy]

I lost track. How many "gas money" canoes are in the works in all. Hope they sell well and you got lots of trips in store this summer.

 

[Robin]

Just started working on the canoe last night. I removed the rotted keel and found an old Chestnut Chum keel up in the loft that looks like a good replacement. I removed the old aluminium stem bands and found a little rot in one stem under the fiberglass. It should be easy to pick out the rot and refill the void with an epoxy filler. I will replace the aluminium with brass stem bands.
I pulled off the gunnels and a few rib ends are punky, easy fix, but most are in excellent condition.
The inwales should be replaced as one is soft and not strong enough to hold the shape of the canoe long term. I have no long ash yet, so I'll refinish the interior and exterior first, then the inwales/gunnels, seats and thwart.

I really like the shape and look of this canoe, it might grow on me and I'll end up keeping it.

 

[memaquay]

It's very "rustic" looking. Got the makings of a good solo! So was the keel just screwed on?

 

[Robin]

Yes, just screwed on and every screw in the canoe, keel, gunnels and decks came out easily, didn't loose one.

 

[Robin]

I removed the inwales and glued new rib tips where needed, built some ash rails and just started fitting the first inwale. It's nice to be working on a wood canoe again.

The stems at both ends need some restoration, but working with a fiberglassed hull has it's issues. I need to save all the stem nails as they are under the exterior fiberglass and can't be removed. The visible part of each stem on the inside of the canoe looks good, so maybe I'll just remove the rot from the stems, add epoxy and clamp it all back together.
Fitting new inwale.

 

[Robin]

I have one inwale started, but the rib tips are so soft from age I had to stop and install some new tips.