sailing plans

Michael Ringler

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I am in the process of restoring a 1913 and 1962 Old Town 16' H.W. Does any one know where I can find plans for an early 1900's sailing rig that I can build?
 
To start with, download this folder which will show you some of the Old Town rigs from various eras and specs for several different sail sizes:

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/Old Town Lateens/

I'm not an expert on just which versions apply to which time frame, so you may need to get some help from Benson or some of the other folks on that issue. There are also members here who could probably measure their original rudders, leeboards, etc. to give you some dimensions for those parts. In general though, the woodworking is pretty straightforward and the components are not terribly difficult to duplicate. Finding the metal hardware to do tasks like holding the rudder on tends to be the toughest part of the job, but it can usually be done with some hunting.
 
The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=969 has lots of specific details about the Old Town sailing rigs and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=4107 describes how they changed over time. It is usually easier and less expensive to find an old sailing canoe that you can rebuild rather than starting from scratch. The other variable is if you want to recreate an accurate period sailing rig to go with your vintage canoes or just go have some fun sailing. What else do you want?

Benson
 
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