Old Town tripper 17 ft restoration

[jason.talley161]

I purchased this Old Town tripper for $150 and will be restoring it. I have noticed that the gunwales you have a substantial crack on both sides and either need replacing or repairing. Unfortunately the gunwale used for the canoe or the beige vinyl and I'm not able to find replacements. Really hoping somebody can give me some ideas on how to repair these sections if possible and any advice on how to restore the hull dents from the damage. From what I understand if I can fix the structural issue on the gunwale, I may be able to restore the hull but I don't have any experience working on gunwales. I do have an older Old Town Discovery 174 that I can strip the gunwales , would I be able to cut these to fit the tripper and replace it or would y'all recommend that or is it recommended to try to repair the gunwales.

 

[jason.talley161]

 

[Alan Gage]

I would think removing them and replacing them with vinyl or wood gunwales would be the best option. Your dents might improve once the kinked gunwales are removed. I think you can still by knock down wood gunwales online to lower shipping. Or you could rip your own from lumber. Replacement vinyl gunwales might be available from a canoe dealer.

You could probably use the gunwales from your Discovery but then what do you do with that hull? Personally I doubt if the juice is worth the squeeze on this hull unless you enjoy this kind of work.

Alan

 

[Benson Gray]

Congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 228314 and hull identification number XTC28314M80F is a 17 foot long Chipewyan Tripper model with aluminum inserts in the rails, rotationally molded seats and decks that weighed 78 pounds. It was built between August and December, 1979. The original exterior color was green. It shipped on January 18th, 1980 to Dallas, Texas. A scan showing this build record can be found below.

Replacing the gunwales with wooden ones will probably be your easiest solution. Good luck with the project,

Benson