Trying to identify a canoe I have been given.

[Carl French]

I am being given a 17 or 18" long wood canvas canoe that was thought to be by the owner as 1924 Old Town. I have however not found any production numbers. I only found The name York stamped or carved in the stern in the same general area as Old Town but stern. It is preceded by another letter or two. Right now it is upside down in a barn and very dusty. It also has a Very plain deck on either end. I am wondering if home made/ Other things to look for?

 

[Carl French]

 

[Carl French]

Bow;



Stern

 

[Carl French]

In case anybody is wondering, the green is fiberglass mat that his brother put on several years ago. There does not appear to be any canvas under it that I can see. He said they knew it was going to stored for many years so they did it to help the hull maintain its shape. Odd but seems to works and I've been able to remove small sections of with little problem.

 

[Benson Gray]

My guess is that it was home made. It clearly isn't an Old Town. Pictures of the seats, thwarts, and seat drops might help. The list of Maine builders at http://wcha.org/catalogs/maine-list.htm includes an R. A. York from Hampden who built from around 1909-1916 but this canoe doesn't seem that old. Was the previous owner named York? Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[Carl French]

Thanks, I am at work and did not get to add other shots and/or descriptions for a bit. I also restore old British Bikes and Cars and in the Bike circles you have the term "bitsa". I noticed the hardware was round slotted head (I did not get to see if square of hexagonal nuts). I saw the diamond head bolts on at least one section of of gunwale and one of the thwarts was very much like Old Town in shape. When I get it home monday I can really get into it to see everything better. Either way, It seems very solid.



This section of wood about 2' in length was attach was attached to the inner gunwale on each side about in the middle.

 

[Carl French]

I have it in my possession now. I am at my one of my jobs tonight and brought it into the well lit bay. It is clearly a "stalled restoration" of which I am used to with cars and bikes I have done. The canvas was taken off. there appears to have been some nice repairs to the hull. The interior was stripped and about five feet of it was sanded but then it stalled. It was fiber-glassed on the exterior to hold it's shape and then stored under an opened walled but covered structure on a farm. It has two thwarts that appear to be clones of Old Town ones as well as the one seat that it came with. It has a two foot long section of I can describe as another inwall that is on both side at midship. I do not know what the use of these were but they were stoutly attached.

The is all the pictures I have on my photobucket account so far (1 1/2 pages) on this album.

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/leylandauto/library/?sort=3&page=1

 

[Greg Nolan]

"two foot long section of I can describe as another inwall"

What is the condition of the real inwale behind these -- are they cracked or broken?

 

[Carl French]

Good question, I do not remember seeing or feeling any issues but I will check again tomorrow. I had wondered if it was part of the support assembly for perhaps a sail rig or the like.