skeezix needs your help

griffing

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I finally found my moms Old town camoe after 12 years of begging my older brother to help me when I get to Cleveland Ohio this fall. We looked up old relatives grand childeren an lo and behold one of them knew its where abouts. Mom bought it used near Detroit when she was a teenager with her girl friend.
The basic hull is in great shape ,no broken ribs or rotten planking, but needs a lot of trim parts. I would like to figure how old it is. I cleaned up the area where the S.N.is and found 582 // 16. Can any body identify this?
Also trim parts ,who is the best person to contact about them.
Am a retired vocational instructor for over 30 years and have plenty of know how. Have done carpentry and cabinet making all my life.
I have rebuilt an old Morgan 25 and do a lot of racing with it and made a beleaver that the old boats can still win. I even won the Egmont race on Tampabay which was about 100 miles and beat the American Cup back-up boat Stars and Strips on corected time of over 2 hrss. of corrected time. Of coarse I used a young skipper who was running fourth place in the 49's for the olimpics, that might have helped some.
By the way Skeezix was my moms nick name.
Thanks for anyone that can help and hope to join this forum more and become a member. Grover Griffin
 
Welcome, Grover--

Please post pictures so we can try to identify your canoe... and we do love seeing what other folks have. If it is in fact an Old Town, it would have 5-6 digits followed by a space and the canoe's length. Then we can look it up and give you the skinny on Skeezix's canoe!

Most who restore make the missing parts-- as you have woodworking experience, all you will need perhaps is a bit of encouragement! Plus suggestions on where to get the wood, if you need anything special. This is the place to ask questions and you'll get the answers you need to enjoy the family canoe.

Take a digital picture of the serial number and see if the digits don't show up a bit better.

Kathy
 
Skeezix

That S.N. could read 58511 16 ? As far as an Old Town , it still has the original dacal on the bow Grover
 
My guess is that you may have the Old Town canoe with serial number 52511 if it is 16 feet long. This is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, maple decks, maple thwarts, maple seats, and a keel. It was built between October, 1918 and April, 1919. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It shipped in 1919 to Napolean, Ohio. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others 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/ot_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-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

There is also a note that this canoe was originally stamped with serial number 52517 and then changed to 52511 so that may explain why the last digit is not clear. None of the other likely records for numbers 52577, 58511, or 58577 show a 16 foot long canoe. The trim parts can be rebuilt or replaced from another similar canoe. There is a list of restorers at http://www.wcha.org/buildsupply/ and Gil Cramer of The Wooden Canoe Shop at http://www.woodencanoeshop.net/ may also be able to help.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
 

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skeezix

Benson Gray, Looked again and it still comes up after I scraped a little an SN 58211 16 . The original red is still there. THe wood trim and deck is ash cadar planking and ribs .Grover Griffin
 
You may want to verify the digits of the number on each end and get your tape measure out to confirm the overall length. Can you attach some pictures of the numbers from each end and the rest of the canoe? The Old Town canoe with serial number 58211 is 18 feet long with maple decks and trim. This record and several other likely candidates are attached below. (The one with serial number 52577 is probably not your canoe since it shipped to Havana, Cuba. It is interesting as the only example of a canoe with the Tiger color design that I have ever found. This design is shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/tiger.gif if anyone is curious.)

Benson
 

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skeezix

Benson,
The decal on the bow shows Anchor and below that CANOE LI?ER Akron Ohio and measures 16 ft.. Is this a club decal?Also the same SN appears at the other end. I guess I have a real gem on my hands.My brother thought that it might have been in real good shape when my mom bought it used. In 55 ,I refinished the varnish inside and out and used it on the rivers and Lake Erie for two summers.It was in its glory then always garaged kept except the last few years. I'm still thinking that it is over a 100 years old. Grover
 
Does your canoe have open or closed gunwales?

Is the decal with the anchor the same one that says Old Town?
 
skeezix

Open gunwale? The outer gunwale has the ribs end showing with the inwales screwed thru from the outside. Now that I look at the original decal,the Old Town does not really show . The manufacture has me baffled. Grover
 
Grover,

There are many canoe companies that used serial numbers. Many canoes simply get remembered as "Old Town" because the name is so well known, but like many of them, yours may or may not be an Old Town. The simple way to get an accurate answer is to post some photos, especially of the decks and any interesting details (thwarts, seats, other...). With photos of these and the serial number, your canoe will almost certainly be identified right away.

The Anchor Canoe Livery was located in Akron, OH from at least the teens through the mid-20th century. It was run by Melvin F. Cooper, and they made canoes available to the public near where the Ohio and Erie Canal entered Summit Lake. I think that's near where I-76/77 now cross the canal. Your decal is probably from the Cooper boathouse. If you look carefully, there may still be traces (even just a ghost outline) of a decal from the canoe's manufacturer on the deck- just the shape of such a remnant decal would help identify your canoe - again, a photo if possible would really help.

H.E.
 
H E Pennypacker ,
I was wondering if there is a chance that I might be able to get another decal like the old Anchor Canoe? If not what if I had a sign painter reproduces a similar one. I plane on revarnishing the canoe later and want to salvage the decal some how.
I have been going all thru all of the threads on restoring the old canoeand looks like everyone really is helpful in giving ideas.Is there anyone in the Tampa Bay area that you know of that might like to lead me in the right direction?
As soon as I get my wifes kitchen done, promissed to have it done for Christmas,then I get to work on the canoe. Thanks Grover Griffin and Skeezix
 
Hi Grover,

Unfortunately I don't have access to this decal. How much of yours is left? You could do (or have done) some graphic arts on the computer. If you can get a good digital image, you an print to water slide decal material. This may be your easiest and cheapest routes. Otherwise, there are commercial outfits that will do this for you. Any way to a reproduction decal, though, will require a reasonable original decal as a starting point.

Best of luck,
H
 
It appears that your serial number ends with 583 16 so it would be great if you could supply some pictures or a guess of what the digits are in front of this. Thanks,

Benson
 
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Benson ,
There are only the three numbers plus 16 which probably refers to the length. I guess this one is a real oldy and can't wait to get started. My wife said the kitchen comes first .
Am still wondering what type of canvas and filler to use. Getting supplies ready so as to be able and jump into it after the first of the year. Thanks Grover
 
With open gunwales, it can't be a three digit Old Town. Might not even be an Old Town. Can we get a shot of the entire deck from above? The shape of the inboard edge of the deck is often a tattle-tale as to who made the canoe.

Dan
 
Dan,

One of your people helped identify it built by Anchor Canoe Livery in Akron Ohio some where between 1902 and early teens.I sent some pictures of the canoe on a thread yesterday. Grover
 
Liveries tended to buy their canoes from other manufacturers. I doubt the Anchor Canoe Livery was actually building canoes, just buying them and applying their own decal.
 
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