Serial Number 76829

[Michaux Hiker]

Just picked up this canoe for next to nothing and wanted a little more information on it. I plan on restoring it but need help on where to start. The ribs all look good except one. However it was painted on the inside and that will need to be stripped and sanded so there may be more cracked, plus both ends needs work (ribs look ok at the ends) and the rails need replaced. Doesn't appear the seats are original. There are two layers of canvas which I did not remove yet. I have enough woodworking experience so this shouldn't be a problem just many hours scraping, sanding and producing replacement parts.

Thanks for your help, Mike

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 76829 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, half ribs, a keel, outside stems, sponsons, and a bang plate along the full length of the keel. It was built between February and April, 1923. The original exterior paint color was dark brown. It shipped on May 2nd, 1950 to Harrisburg, Penna. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.



This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The seat frames appear to be original but cane would have been in the middle rather than the current lacing. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Michaux Hiker]

Thank you Benson. Glad to get the info. I was wondering why there were screw holes on some of the ribs in the general area for the sponsons, which are missing. I have it stored under the porch till fall/winter time. If I see I'll start to work on it now.

I'll have to join later this year as the forum has lots of useful information, especially when I go to work on it. I'll have lots of questions. When I ripped off a little of the canvas the brown paint is visible along with green, red, blue and grey.

Thanks again, Mike