I bought all three of my wood canvas canoes by daily searching Craigslist. The first, an 18 foot Old Town Guide, I bought just across town from my home. I paid $400.00, which was too much because I was too eager to restore my first canoe, and I did not know what to look for in determining condition. The second, an 18 foot Thompson Brothers Hiawatha, for which I traveled from Minneapolis to eastern Wisconsin and back in one day. I paid $200.00 for the canoe, but factoring in time, gas, and food, I probably paid too much, again. My most recent purchase, however, was something I had held in my heart as a dream. I wanted an affordable classic canoe which I could easily make seaworthy. I found it in a 1915 B.N. Morris for sale in a nearby suburb for $300.00, which I felt was a bargain price, and for which the seller was very pleased to sell. In my opinion, having looked at many canoes on the internet, and several canoes by actual inspection, I readily saw that it had been substantially restored years ago and was in terrific shape, only needing two small holes fixed, and a re-canvassing. I fixed the holes, repaired the canvas with glue, canvas scraps, and duct tape just enough to get it in the water this season. I expect to use it again next season, and refinish and re-canvas it in the fall and winter of 2012.
So, I have a Guide in the basement which has been stripped of its fiberglass and old finish, and which I am replacing its ribs, rails, decks, and repairing seats and stems. I have a decrepit Hiawatha of undetermined age awaiting the same treatment in my backyard. And, I have my dream canoe, my B.N. Morris, which I am able to enjoy while I work on the other two.
I find that I still yearn to acquire more canoes, but the size of my basement, my garage, and my budget----as well as the limits of my wife's patience---prevent me from acquiring any more until the three I have are finally restored.
Buying and rescuing these old canoes can be addictive. Read a few books about building and restoring wood canvas canoes, read the numerous blogs about them on the internet, read and follow the WCHA forums, keep some cash on hand, search Craigslist and E-bay regularly, inspect several canoes, but don't necessarily buy the first canoe you see, and enjoy both the hunt and the final bagging of that special canoe.
Mark Douglass