I've been canoeing as long as I can remember, but I've never owned my own. My dad has a couple that I have used a few times with my kids. One is an old fiberglass one that dad and I floated on the local river hundreds of times growing up. It's still a good canoe, but I wanted to have something I can take on a canoe trip in Canada one of these days. I found someone selling an Old Town Penobscot 16 with some paddles and a few other things included. I did a little research on the model and it is light at only 58 lbs and highly regarded by those in the know. I will be going to pick it up on Thursday morning. I just have to find a place to store it. It will probably go in dads barn at first, but I will figure out something where I can keep it at my house. Ever since I spent 2 summers working in the Boundary Waters and Quetico Park of Ontario I have wanted a nice Old Town. I've done numerous canoe trips in these areas, but always in a noisy aluminum canoe. I look forward to carrying my green Old Town on my shoulders across a portage or better yet watching my son carry it.
No idea about these days, but Old Town was always the canoe of choice. Ran a 20' Grand Laker with a 6 HP on it in all kinds of water on the St John and Allagash Rivers. Absolutely abused that boat and it never failed me.
We used to push the gunnels out with a wider spar keep spray out FWIW.
Old Town has always been the canoe choice in modern times. Years ago before power dams it was the old cedar rib canvas back canoes: Chestnut (the king of canvas back), Miller, Lennon. But they are heavy canoes. Even so, my grandfather has carried them around in his younger days. I've got a 22' Miller here. Bill Miller still builds one or two a year. His grandfather started the canoe business. Bill himself is almost 80 years old.
I just saw a trailer load of canoes the other day, most of them were Old Town on there, there were other brands.
Old Town used to be the choice for canoes 40 years ago when they made them out of Royalex (the called it Oldtownar). The Tripper model was nearly indestructible, folks would wrap them around trees while white watering so the bow and stern was touching and once they got them out, they could pop them back in shape, usually the only parts damaged might be the gunnels or seats. Folks still snap them up on Craigslist and restore them. The color is all through the outer layer so scrapes can be carefully sanded and then rubbing compound is used to bring the color back. They do tend to get dragged up over the shore so the bow and stern may be worn through the outer layer but there are special Kevlar patches that can be applied.
Subsequent owners of Old Town went to a new lower cost rotomoulded material. Its lower cost but still pretty beefy (not as beefy as the former Royalex). The big sin was they redesigned the hulls to be able to ship more of them in a truck and made them to have higher primary stability while reducing the secondary stability. If you look at a hull section of the older designs versus the newer ones, the newer ones are a far squarer section with flat floors and straight gunnels. This makes the boat sit flat on calm water and make it easier for entry and exit but far more of a handful in waves and swells. The older hulls in general were more responsive in fast water when used by skilled paddlers. The modern sections also have more wetted hull area per foot of length meaning they require more paddling effort. I long ago had a 16 foot Penobscot and when I built a new 18 foot cedar strip design based on a native american hull it was quite noticeable the reduction in effort in paddling. It was much better in swells and rough water than the Penobscot, but a bit more of handful in getting in and out. Be careful to avoid trying some of the newer ultralight Kevlar canoes, like a Wenonah, once you try one you may never be able to go back. They are fragile but super light, fast and maneuverable. I switched over to building kayaks and never looked back but my niece loves the old cedar strip canoe I gave her for family.
Old Towns are still superior to fiberglass and a great family canoe. No maintenance to speak of and great for lending out. If they are going to get dragged in and out of the water over rocks, adding skid plates makes a big difference Canoe Skid Plates - Northwest Canoe Company, Inc. (https://northwestcanoe.com/canoe-skid-plates)
BTW if you are a new paddler, see if you can take some paddling lessons. A few hours of instruction can really improve most folk's technique. On a long day or overnight trip it can make a big difference in fatigue.
I made several Canadian canoe trips using a Mad River Voyager made of Royalex, thats an 18' canoe that can haul a lot and handle big water while still being relatively easy to paddle. It is currently at a canoe/kayak shop near Harrisburg PA on consignment.
We stomped one of those ABS canoes back out when the scouts wrapped it just about tip to tip around a rock. Splinted it with saplings and paddled it out. Most of the boats were Mad River's but he had several Old Towns and there was a personal canvas one in the back being restored the whole time I worked there. The boss's car project. We got a call at the canoe shop one day, the boat renters had walked out, didn't know where they lost the boat, and it was raining when they called. I got a couple of guys in kayaks and we went looking for the boat, going around everything on the way down and meeting back up. I was finally surfing the bottom rapid waiting on everyone, we had not found it and the river was dark and rising... When I looked down, it was wrapped around the rock I was surfing :D. I got real good with a rivet gun on rails working there. We were paddling the James in Richmond and happened across a badly wrapped aluminum boat. We rescued it and towed it out. There was an Alcoa plant at the takeout, we just left it at the back door :D. Listening to those boats coming down the river, we called it boomalum.
I am an occasional paddler and have a Grumman aluminum like the ones I learned on as a kid. Mostly it's ponds and lakes for us. I like the light weight (except alone in the wind :D) but don't like the noise they make with sloppy handlers.
But Don's story reminded me of recovering one once. We were doing swiftwater rescue training and our team was made up of qualified folks from 3 different departments covering the districts where we had those calls. So one Sunday we were doing 'moving swimmer recovery' rescue drills up the line in pretty strong water and there had been an aluminum canoe wrapped on a rock for over a year. The town supervisor had asked if we could assist with removal because it had become an attractive nuisance. Town highway came to assist. So this thing was under the water line in strong current and the team attached lines to the bow and over to a dual axle dump which yanked it out, mostly unpeeling it from the rock. There wasn't much left to fix when we were done. :D
As an aside, I always found those actual rescues to be a lot more dangerous than going into a burning structure. The training was sometimes (OK, often) nearly as dangerous, you can't turn down the water flow to make it 'safer' and one false move puts you in a bad spot. I got more injuries from that than almost anything else in the fire service. Several actual recues (recoveries mostly) we nearly lost a few divers and we did lose one zodiac that got wrapped up in strainers. Couldn't get that one out and the LEO's on scene shot it full of holes to make sure nobody was tempted to salvage it.
I'm not sure what vintage the used Old Town canoe my friend bought was. He explained that he liked them because of how durable they were, and that even if wrapped around a rock you could replace the aluminum parts and it would be good to go. Then we took the freshly purchased used canoe to a stretch of white water and proceeded to wrap it around a rock, as if to prove his point. I also wrapped myself around several rocks and nearly drowned, learning the hard lesson of not trusting someone else's judgement of the water🤦♂️
I've got a Old Town Appalachian use to have a Scout before that, they are the same shape except the Scout has higher sides and is heaver and tougher material. Also paddled a Mad River Freedom quite a bit too, it is a bit more of a white water canoe than the Appalachian.
The Appalachian/Scout shape is a bit better in whitewater than the Penobscot because of its wider ends and more rocker but the Penobscot will leave it behind in flat water with narrower ends and better tracking.
I have looked at those super light solo canoes but most of the rivers I travel have granite rocks that have quarts crystals sticking out of them so I would only be able to use it in lakes and flat water rivers which would be most of what I do now but they cost more than I payed for my vehicle. :D
Happy canoeing, I think you will enjoy the Penobscot.
Quote from: barbender on September 28, 2022, 09:30:21 AM......Then we took the freshly purchased used canoe to a stretch of white water and proceeded to wrap it around a rock, as if to prove his point. I also wrapped myself around several rocks and nearly drowned, learning the hard lesson of not trusting someone else's judgement of the water🤦♂️
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. :D
I said Grand Laker above, that was the square stern we use on the lake. The river canoe was an XL Tripper.
Then there was story of the guy who borrowed his BIL's new aluminum canoe (without asking) and took it to a remote backwoods camp, to get it to the camp they put it on his skidder which worked better than carrying it except he tied it to the roof and ran a rope from one end of the canoe to the back of the skidder.....it kinda wrinkled it every time the skidder turned. They just put it back after the weekend, apparently it took the guy quite a long time to figure out how his brand new aluminum canoe got those wrinkles in it.
This Penobscot is royalex. I see that the newer penobscots are not royalex and the way to tell them apart is that the newer ones are three digit, like 164 for 16' 4". I would not get a canoe that weighs 90 lbs for portaging. I would be ok carrying it now, but not when I'm older or have a bad back.
When I was working for the canoe outfitter in 1994 a group had rented Wenonahs from us. They had pulled up to the top of some falls and did not pull the canoe up or tie it. The next thing they knew the canoe had taken a solo trip down the falls. The canoe got wrapped around a rock and folded in half. They straightened it back out and patched it up with some duct tape. Before they paddled it back home they removed an N from the side so that it spelled "We onah". My job was driving a "tow boat" where we carried canoes and people and gear back to camp across Lake Saganaga. I remember thinking my boss was gonna be *pithed. I'm not sure what they paid, but those guys went home with the canoe.
Another time me and another guy had to paddle in to retrieve a an aluminum canoe that some people decided to shoot rapids in. They wrapped it around a rock. It tore all the way down the gunwales on both sides so they left it and paddled back out in 2 canoes instead of 3. The other guy and myself had to do a bunch of jumping up and down in that canoe to straighten it back out. Then we used duct tape to make it float and we towed it back out. I remember portaging it and my head was hitting the floor of the canoe. Good times in canoe country of MN and Ontario.
I can't wait to go back and take my boys and some friends.
All of my Canadian canoe trips were with the Boy Scouts, I was a leader, the boys were all in aluminum canoes mostly 15' so my big Mad River hauled all the food and cooking equipment much of it in 5 gallon buckets. We did a lot of fishing and had a blast, my canoe/crew always caught the most fish and maybe it was the quietness of the Royalux but I claimed superior skill ;D.
I had no intentions of wrapping that canoe around a rock, should've seen the signs with the guy I went with but🤷♂️ I had never paddled white water before, spent a lot of time paddling lakes. I was visiting with this guy one day and he mentioned he canoed whitewater a lot. I expressed an interest in that and before you know it I had a phone call. "I'm going to pick up a couple of used royalex canoes in Ely and there's a stretch on the Vermillion River I ran last fall I think would be great. Wanna come?"
I later learned that the stretch of water we ran goes from a Category 2 in low water to a Category 4 or 5 in high water. It was spring time, the ice had just went out and the river was angry that day my friends! I felt fortunate to have escaped with my life, I have never experienced water with that kind of power and nor do I care to ever again.
Any of you that enjoy canoeing, and enjoy a good book, would probably find the book, "The Adventures of Jack Pine Bob" a great read. The author ("Bob" I can't remember his last name😊) was a newspaper writer and editor in Ely, MN and his book is a collection of short stories about adventures he had paddling and fishing the Boundary Waters and elsewhere.
I have a Old Town Camper made of Royalex it weighs 59 pounds. It was made in 1995 , the last 2 digits of the serial number give you the year. It has floated a lot of miles on rivers in Virginia in the 27 years I have owned it. I installed a bicycle lift in my garage to lift the canoe up to the ceiling.
Quote from: barbender on September 28, 2022, 07:21:47 PM
Any of you that enjoy canoeing, and enjoy a good book, would probably find the book, "The Adventures of Jack Pine Bob" a great read. The author ("Bob" I can't remember his last name😊) was a newspaper writer and editor in Ely, MN and his book is a collection of short stories about adventures he had paddling and fishing the Boundary Waters and elsewhere.
I have the book. His name was Bob Cary.
Poquo, I am planning to do something like that in my carport where my camper lives. I need to lift it high to get it out of the way.
Now I'm trying to remember the reporter who's start in journalism was a senior summer trip up to Hudson Bay... that's back in the foggy recesses :D.
Back around the late '70's, Coleman had another plastic boat they called Ram-Flex. It was just a skin where the abs boats had an inner and outer skin over a styrene core. The coleman required an aluminum pipe |"keel" inside to keep the plastic from oil canning. We had one in the fleet for one year. That keel was no good in whitewater. The same material was used for pack frames and I still have one, that worked. With the rotomolded comment it made me remember, most of the fleet was Perception boats ut of Liberty, SC. They were the first to do a rotomolded kayak, the Quest. I horse traded from a broken up fiberglass boat I rebuilt to a Quest, which was a tub but indestructable. About a year later they figured out how to mold much better lines and came out with the Mirage, and I did a little more trading. It was a fair boat but not having to patch all week to paddle the next weekend was nice. My boss got the hot fiberglass boat from Phoenix out of KY that year, quite a few pounds lighter and cut the water like a knife. Even in glass he didn't have to patch nearly as often as the rest of us.
We went down to the Chattooga every now and then. We were getting ready to put in on section 4 one morning and there was a lone pair of young guys getting ready to put in. A new canoe with spray decks, air bags, saddles and thigh straps, the whole setup for rolling in heavy water. If you have 2 paddlers with lots of time together. We quickly realized it was a rich boy and his friend on their first real whitewater trip... and they chose the rough section of the Deliverance river. My boss, who coached us on the line through rapids and knew every river we paddled by heart, told us to keep them inside of our group. They were swimming in the first mile and for most of the trip. They spent more time on our ropes than in their boat. We eventually got to a rapid with a keeper that supposedly has a few grapple hooks stuck in the bottom, and a sneak. We all took the sneak around the hole but the boys missed the chute and went into the keeper hole. They almost punched through but the hole grabbed them, hauled them back in and ate them. We watched as the boat tumbled end over end in the hole repeatedly, getting torn to shreds for what seemed like minutes. The spray decks came up ripped, then the air bags deflated, the end caps and seats broke out and the rails and thwarts were a wrecktangle. One paddler luckily flushed out but the other tried to stay with the boat. He was like a rat scurrying for high ground as it tumbled. Finally he and the boat flushed out and we got them to shore. There was nothing seaworthy left and we were down in the gorge but my boss pointed them to a trail to the rim and the last we saw they were carrying it out. They missed the good stuff, five falls was a couple of miles ahead. Its an E ticket series of solid class 4-5 rapids one right after the other. The river drops, ahh, I think 45 feet in a very short distance then dumps into Lake Tugaloo and a couple of flat water miles that feels like molasses on a spent body :D.
Lots of folks in Arkansas think the Buffalo Canoe (https://buffalocanoemanufacturing.com/) is the best. Two reasons, its locally made by nice people, and its made from T-Formex. T-Formex is claimed to be superior to Royalex. I don't know, but they are really nice canoes. I owned one but sold it as I usually kayak. Looking for another one as a solo trip on the Buffalo River from start to end is on my bucket list.
You're not thinking of Charles Kuralt are ya?
I got the canoe this morning. Has a few dings, but overall in great shape. I can't wait to get it on the water.
T-formex is supposed to be an equivalent of royalex made by another manufacturer. The company that made royalex was bought out and the product was discontinued.
There is car wax product called NuFinish (that used to be advertised on TV) that worked pretty well in cleaning up the hull pretty quickly. I think it has got silicon on it. I expect fine rubbing compound and a separate wax job would work better but the NuFinish seemed to clean things up quick. A waxed hull makes a difference. In most cases the hulls can get pretty gritty.
In my barn I just put up some 2 x 4's for a square bracket for each end of the canoe. Put one end into a bracket, go on in enough to clear the back end of the canoe. Lift the back up, pull the canoe into the rear bracket. Been sitting there 30 years. :D
Here she is floating in my front yard. Up on the left high enough to be out of the way is where I want to store the thing. I will put some sort of panel on the side of the carport to keep the sun from shinging on the canoe.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/received_8862310983794929.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1664479566)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/received_500915231847594.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1664479587)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/55962/IMG_8020.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1664501556)
This is just high enough to walk under. I changed the rope to nylon and use lifting straps , I didn't trust the rope and plastic catch that came with the lift. One of my fishing buddies has an Old town Penobscot they are real nice canoes.
Just in time for the maiden voyage... it finally popped into mind, Eric Sevareid "Canoeing with the Cree". Just out of HS Sevareid and a friend paddled 2250 miles, Minneapolis to York Factory. He sent back accounts to the local paper along the way sparking his career in journalism.
Eric Sevareid - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Sevareid)
edit, an excerpt is here;
http://ww3.startribune.com/blogs/oldnews/archives/26
There's 2 glass decked boats hanging under the barn shed, one of my old kayaks, and a gem :D, a Perception "Warwoman" a early '70's C-2 that is mostly patches that places both paddlers near the ends of the boat. It avoids paddle strikes but Michelle was underwater in the bow a lot :D. Our "drill" was when we flipped, I would switch paddle sides so we were both on the same side, tap the hull 3 times and we would both hit it and flip up on the third tap. We never successfully rolled the boat with both of us in it. The closest we came was BOTH of us switched sides, 3 taps and the boats lifted vertically, and then splashed back down :D.
I've been seeing a few Old Town canoes locally on FB Marketplace. One I was watching was a Discovery model, 17' 6" I believe, made in '97. Do any if you Old Town guys know if that was a decent canoe? My use would just be fishing on small lakes and mostly still water.
At that length it should be a good flatwater boat. You are looking for a straighter keel, longer narrower lines where in a whitewater boat you don't want it to track at all, so they tend to shorter, more rocker to the keel, wider with more bulging sides "tumblehome" for reserve stability if it lays way over.
I never recalled that trip to York Factory. The canoe trip that stuck in my mind was the one with a father and two sons in the opposite direction to the Amazon. But the one to York Factory is way more remote. Beyond Winnipeg it's just woods and water and no unfriendly countries to pass through or circumvent. :D
Quote from: barbender on September 30, 2022, 09:11:52 AM
I've been seeing a few Old Town canoes locally on FB Marketplace. One I was watching was a Discovery model, 17' 6" I believe, made in '97. Do any if you Old Town guys know if that was a decent canoe? My use would just be fishing on small lakes and mostly still water.
The Discovery line is inferior to the older Royalex boats. They are still durable but they changed the hill design into a product liability special and to be able to ship more on the same truck. As I described, they had flat bottoms and steep sides, not very tippy in flat water but a handfull in rough water if someone knows how to paddle. They also end up with lot of wetted hull area so they are slow and require more work to paddle. The term I prerogative term used are "tupperware boats". I had one and sold it once I built my White Guide 18 footer.
So for your use on still water it may be good boat as the stability benefits may outweigh the other limitations. They are quite durable but heavy.
BTW, the original advertising for the Tripper was to throw one off the 4 story roof of the original factory and then paddle away, when the Discovery line came out, the made sure to throw one off the roof. One thing to watch is there are lot of "seconds" of Discoveries out there, they are structurally fine but some of them have ripples in the hulls. They are now made in Brewer Maine in modern warehouse and handed their special order wood canvas business to another company.
SD, are you talking about Teddy Roosevelt on the River of Doubt? I thought he just had one son, who was with him and was probably the only reason the porters didn't agree with TR and leave him in the jungle. That trip would have been just before WW1. TR had lost to Woodrow Wilson and had to go somewhere and do something. It nearly killed him, or it probably did kill him.
I've only heard of one more party running it, I think it was a national geo documentary?
Barbender, one of my boats was named "river pig" I had acquired it free in 2 halves and reassembled the wreck but it was a pig to push through the water. It resides by a nearby pond for kids to play with, or its on the bottom :D.
If it is a quiet water boat only, my choice would be a fiberglass, laid up cloth boat (as opposed to a heavy chopper gun glass boat) When plastic first came out, we called them plastic caskets and worse, they were pigs. Fiberglass boats have clean edges and curves, fast lightweight lines which all equates to ease of moving it through the water. Both materials have improved but it hasn't erased that difference.
I didn't go, being the young broke kid, someone had to mind the store. My boss and some friends laid up kevlar kayaks and ran the Grand Canyon. He did manage to break an unbreakable paddle but the boats were all fine.
No, it was Don and Dana Starkell, the second son gave up. They left from Winnipeg.
'Paddle to the Amazon' was Don's written account.
I sometimes canoed with a guy (since passed away) named Andy Smith that wrote a book on canoeing in western Nova Scotia called Paddling the Tobeatic, we (8 people) were on a 4 day trip and staying in a cabin called Mason's cabin in Kejimkujik National Park on our last night.
Mason's cabin is on a hill in between 2 lakes, after we got settled in at the cabin Andy wanders down to the cove at the lake, after a bit 2 young guys paddle up to the portage and one starts saying "thats him, thats the guy that wrote the book!", as it turns out one of the guys got Andy's book for Christmas and convinced his friend to go canoeing with him. We joked after that Andy just spends his time wandering around the woods greeting other canoeist.
As the two guys carried their 100 pound Coleman canoe past the cabin I'm sure they heard us saying "That's a Coleman Canoe!" because we were so impressed that they had paddled and portaged it that far but it did't seem to bother them as they marched by with the canoe and 2 large packs. I always wondered if they thought we were impressed with their Coleman canoe.
Side note: Andy had quite a collection of canoes to chose from, on this trip with limited white water he and his wife were paddling a Penobscot.
Extra side note: Another year on a warm sunny spring day my canoeing partner and longtime friend were about to paddle into the same cove mentioned above at Mason's cabin, we were feeling kind of tired and beat after a long day, so sort of for encouragement but mostly as a joke I said that for our reward for all our hard work there were going to be scantly clad women frolicking in the water when we get to Mason's. As we turn the corner into the cove there was a 5'6" 250 pound guy in his underwear up to his knees in the lake splashing water in his face trying to cool down from backpacking. :D
Nice canoe, lucky to have the center seat.
I picked up a 17' Tripper Royalex this summer, it's a great boat. I can definitely tell anyone to stay away from the newer Old Town Guide. I had a 14'6" Guide and it was the tippiest canoe I have ever been in, even when loaded. It also weighed probably 15 or 20 pounds more than the longer Royalex one.
What year did the Old Town changeover to the newer ones occur? Is there a definite point in time, like a "pre-'64" Winchester Model 70, where they went downhill? I'd like to get something a little nicer to paddle and fish out of, but I don't want to end up with a big log to push through the water. I already have a leaky aluminum canoe for that🤷♂️😊
Barbender, I can't answer your question. But I was just searching the CL and there's a 17' Old Town Penobscot Royalex just like firefighters. It's down by the twin cities but it seems like a reasonable price. Honestly, if I was looking for a canoe still I would make the drive.
Some history about the tripper and its builder
BIRTH OF A LEGEND: The Story of the Old Town Tripper Canoe! (cliffcanoe.com) (https://www.cliffcanoe.com/post/birth-of-a-legend-the-story-of-the-old-town-tripper-canoe)
The company that made Royalex discontinued that product in 2013. I've read where there is a replacement product similar to Royalex called T Formex they're using in canoes now.
Ford made a concept car out of it, I remember from a Popular Mechanics or something around then they were talking about ABS Cougar's but it was too expensive.
This is another manufacturer of the material, I think Bill mentioned them earlier.
T-Formex - Esquif (http://esquif.com/en/manufacturing/)
Edit... I musta been writing, so did Poquo just above
Seems such a weird thing to go from making nice, light canoes out of Royalex and then settle for making much heavier ones just because Royalex was discontinued. I can't imagine taking a 75lb Penobscot on a long canoe trip with long portages when I know there is a version that only weighed 58lbs. I'm glad I stumbled into this one.
When I bought mine the light weight was the main reason, I fish a lot of small Rivers and Creeks where you have to drag over logs and rocks a lot.
I have considered aluminum canoes too. Before I would buy a heavy plastic one I would buy a light aluminum one. The 16' alumacraft we used in Quetico were something like 65lbs I think. Those were lightweight as opposed to standard weight.
Now go check out a Swift canoe, make sure to spec out one with carbon fibre trim and carbon fusion hull. A prospector 16' comes out at 36 lbs, be prepared for sticker shock. ;D
The guy I bought my canoe from also had:
2 wood Old Towns originally used in BWCA (before it was BWCA)probably 1910-20s era
Another 17' Tripper
A Wenonah
A brand new Swift with all the bells and whistles, it was incredibly light
And a couple of aluminum ones
Quite the collection
I've seen a few 16' and 17' Old Town Penobscots on FB Marketplace lately. A little short on $$ with the knee being banged up, I'd really like to grab one otherwise.
That's quite the collection. I carried and cleaned a lot of Wenonahs when I worked in MN, but I never got to paddle one. My boss was too protective of them to let me try one out.
@Otis1 (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=35323) I saw Wausau, we watched Olympic trials in Wasau for kayak, C-1 and C-2 must have been around '93 during the WI River logjam on the 4th of July IIRC.
@Don P (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=17),
I remember watching some of that around the same time. I would have been around 14-15 at the time. I think the rapids on the Wisconsin River are called Bull Falls. It's dam controlled so most of the time I call it Bulls**t falls. There's a brewery in town called Bull Falls as well.
Unrelated to canoeing/ boating, there's a 1910's (I think, maybe earlier) train station in Wausau that used to be in TV commercials for Wausau Insurance Company. Very recognizable. Anyway, a friend of mine turned the original brick train station into a distillery. It's pretty neat.
Barbender - your white water trip brought back memories. I brought a friend of mine down the Allagash many years back, all 90 something miles of it, - he was 82 at the time and it was on his bucket list. Al had a heart attack a couple of months before the trip and I recall telling his doctor in the hospital that he had waited for his wife to pass and basically wanted to make this trip for 30 years, all he had to do was sit in the seat and I would take care of the rest. I had my guides license back then and knew that river like the back of my hand, I was quite skilled in white water too. So we paddle the southern part which is all lake for a few days and explore the old tramway, locomotives, etc and get to Churchill Dam which is the start of the actual river portion. Now this section can have Class 2 to Class 4 water in it, probably 5 in the spring, but it's not hard at all as the dam keeper will portage your gear around the rapids for $5 back in the day. So we set off in an empty canoe and I told Al to sit on his seat, put on his slicker as we "might get a bit wet" and off we go. Well basically the first swell we hit you guessed it - bloop, over we go, I mean we are still in the pool at that time and the dam keeper is on the shore looking at me - she knows me, knows I know this river, and I am standing there trying to keep Al on his feet, get the canoe un swamped, and feeling pretty foolish. All he says to me is "We might get a little wet hua?" and he is laughing and being a great sport about it. I did manage to right the canoe, got us both in it and had a successful rest of the trip, but yea - it happens.
Canoes can be addictive. I know several folks who have multiples. One aspect is to always have a spare so if someone drops by that they can go for a paddle. The other aspect most folks have beater boat for whitewater (plus lending out) and a lightweight boat for multiday trips.
A friend of mine picked up a classic wood canvas boat built by a predecessor of Old Town canoe, he really didnt know old canoes and when I saw it, I knew he was in for project. Most of the ribs were cracked, and the hull was distorted. He and friend went to the Wooden Boat School up in Maine for a week long wood canvas restoration class. They brought the boat with them. When the instructor saw it, he let them know that it was a major project and they would need to work a lot of extra hours to get it in shape. They ended up working from sunrise until late into every evening. Near the end of the week someone touring through the class came by and asked them why they were using old pieces of wood in such a nice new canoe. They ended up replacing 70% of the ribs and lot of the gunnels. They ran out of time and never got to apply the canvas. I think its still in his barn uncovered along with another wood canvas that that also needs canvas that his wife won in raffle. I think he also has a Wenonha and at least one solo boat.
I have two cedar strip kayaks and a solo canoe in the attic of my garage.
When I was a kid my dad owned two wood/canvas canoes. One he says was an old town and the other hes not sure. I remember my uncles doing a bunch of work on them one year with resin and glass. They sat out behind our barn for a long time. Both met their demise by being run over. One my grandpa hit with the tractor and the other got run over by someone else. Don't remember who. I bet if I go dig around behind the barn I will find pieces of them.
Sad to say, fiberglass and epoxy coating a wood canvas canoe is the death of the canoe. Not sure the exact mechanism but they rot from the inside out once coated. I think if they were made to be fiber glassed instead of canvas its not an issue.
That Penobscot will make you a great canoe. I've paddled over 1000 miles in one. We did the northern forest canoe trail a few years back, 740 miles from old forge NY to fort Kent ME. Upstream, whitewater, lots of portages, lining and tracking, plus many other trips.
My only complaint is on big rough water I wish it was longer/deeper. Been paddling with my dad and brother in a tripper and they just pull away from my wife and me on a rough lake.
You wanna talk lightweight, Kevlar and carbon fiber. Wow. But pricey. We have a 16' Wenonah Adirondack that needed major repair, got it cheap. 40#, it's a dream to portage.
We did the ADK 90 miler this year for the first time, it's just a sea of Wenonah brown with a few carbon fibers thrown in, and the occasional aluminum or royalex. Some of those carbon racing canoes are over 18' and under 30#, that's nuts!
Enjoy the Penobscot, and don't let it go!
You can find the year in the serial number. Ours is a 1991 model, my tripper is an 84. It'll have the last two digits of the year, I think at the end.
Thanks. The Penobscot will be mine for a long time. It's a 1994. The seller told me that she bought it in 1994 and the serial number concurs with that. I'm gonna go put it in the water on Friday and paddle it around a little with my wife. I don't think I've ever been in a canoe with her. We've been married 20 years.
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on October 04, 2022, 08:40:04 AM
When I was a kid my dad owned two wood/canvas canoes. One he says was an old town and the other hes not sure. I remember my uncles doing a bunch of work on them one year with resin and glass. They sat out behind our barn for a long time. Both met their demise by being run over. One my grandpa hit with the tractor and the other got run over by someone else. Don't remember who. I bet if I go dig around behind the barn I will find pieces of them.
For a min I thought you were referring to your uncles being driven over, oh no! then the last line was too much, the light bulb got turned on. :o smiley_idea
Lol. I guess you could read what I wrote like that. No, my uncles did not get run over while they were sitting behind the barn.
We just got news today that Bill Miller (Miller Canoes) passed away. Mother was talking to him 2 weeks ago and he said he has cancer and was on his way to Moncton to the hospital. That would be a 4 hr trip down there.
That's too bad.
I just realized that I have a friend in Fredericton NB. That's not too far from Centerville is it? She is kind of know as the Clothes Pin Lady. Have you heard of that? She's a retired Mountie.
Fredericton is over 100 miles from here. But no, I haven't heard of the clothes pin lady. :)
She started making clothes pins in her garage shop just for fun. These are heavy duty, large clothes pins much better than you can buy at Walmart. Then she slowly started to make them and sell them. Now she has made and sold over 1 million clothes pins.
Respect is what that is. That's a lot of cloth pins. :)
I see her Facebook page doing a quick search.
Update Your Browser | Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/hangteshardes)
Yep, that's her.
I put the canoe on the top of the car to take it down to the river to paddle around a little. The river is only about 1/4 mile away, so I didn't need to get to crazy with tying it down. I put a couple boards across the top of the roof rack and strapped the canoe down to it. I love this canoe. It went very straight. It was quiet. It was nice and stable. I've read the Penobscot can be tippy, but its not any more tippy than I'm used to. I'm sure it would be even more stable with a little more weight. My wife and I probably weigh 320lbs together. She's little. This canoe hasn't been used in 15 years. The cane seat broke under the wife. I will have to replace it with something.
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I'm sure it will be a great canoe.
Cars always look better with a canoe on top.
JJ
:D That brings back a memory. My wife worked on the landscaping crew for a large TV station. One of the "action news" reporters... I better not say who cause he is now bigtime, but we called him action Ned. Everything was higher than needed drama, including his urban assault ride with a kayak on top. I asked about it one time, "its a hood ornament, it's bolted to the roof racks :D"
Look up chair caning supplies, those seats are easily recaned.
the inside looks new. must have been well cared for despite not being used. good score.
I have done a couple of canoe seats over the years. Unless you really want authenticity, use a "plastic" cane, instead of real cane. A lot easier to handle and far better longevity. If you need to redo the frame its pretty easy, just make sure that you put coats of good quality UV resistant poly on the frame and down the caning hole before you cane it. If you dont the rot can start in the cane holes and split the seat frame.
Or you can take a short cut Amazon.com : Kenco Old Town Canoe Seat : Sports & Outdoors (https://www.amazon.com/Kenco-Old-Town-Canoe-Seat/dp/B07VPB2883/ref=asc_df_B07VPB2883/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459492569994&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9437617379899284661&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9053468&hvtargid=pla-942811820546&psc=1)
I think I will do the cane myself. Plastic "cane" may be the way to go. The wood is like new. As Doc pointed out, the inside of the canoe looks like new. There are some dings and scratches on the bottom, but not like you might expect for a 28 year old canoe.
I'd recommend nylon webbing. Will last longer and it's more comfortable IMO.
Had an 18-foot Old Town and a 16-foot Thompson back during the late 1950's and early 60's when I did a lot of rivers running and duck hunting. Both were wood canvas ventage and were great canoes.
You can get a new seat with a variety of options for less than $100. Boundary Waters Catalog has nylon and cane seats, different sizes.
I'm pretty well convinced that the Old Town Royalex are among the best solid performing, workhorse canoes out there. They are lighter and more stable than the newer versions.
You lose a little in weight over a Wenonah or something but you gain durability and affordability. I am looking for a 12-13' Royalex solo canoe, so if anyone sees one let me know.
After watching a few videos of guys putting nylon webbing on a seat, I think that's the way I will go. I have no doubt it will be more comfortable.
Otis, I will let you know if is see something like that.
Ok you Royalex experts, I'm looking at an Old Town Penobscot 17'. It looks to be (just looking at pics) in good shape, except for a few small nicks and a fractured area above water on the bow. Both of these flaws look like they are just on the outer layer, the nicks look smaller than quarters and you can see the different colored layer underneath. What can you use to seal those and smooth them back out?
The area I say is fractured looks more like a stress crack, an area where it must've hit a rock. Parallel cracks over a 6" or so area. Anyways, they're asking $450.
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Are the gunnels straight?. My guess is that has been in a couple of interesting wipeouts. That boat has been ridden hard and rarely put away be it wet or dry. There are various ABS repair compounds on the web. My guess is if the kevlar patches were removed, the outer layer would be worn through. It is not going to split in half and sink, but its going to be a "beater boat". Hull speed may be impacted due to the scratched up hull. Polishing compound and a coat of wax may help somewhat.
Every market is local but my guess is there will be better deals on nicer boats if you keep an eye out If you are just trying to get out cheap this may be one to negotiate on.
Thank you, and that's what I need to know! My only experience is with aluminum, it's a little easier to read their abuse😂
In my immediate area, canoes are mostly used for fishing, duck hunting and ricing. All pretty easy pursuits for a canoe, the most serious damage you often see is one that fell out of the back of a pickup😬 When I started searching for these Old Town canoes, they are mostly coming up in the areas surrounding the Boundary Waters where they get used more like you guys back east do, I think. Wrapping them around rocks and such😁
Old Town Royalex boats sold at a premium over regular construction boats so they tended to be bought by folks who wanted "indestructible" boats so many have been used for white water and suffer the scars. Sure some were bought by folks with flat water intent, but after a long winter, many folks want to get out in spring and do a bit of whitewater. This spring race is just up the road from the Old Town factory in Bangor Maine every year. LIVE I 2021 Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race in Bangor, Maine - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-wrZ5HT_b0) No skill needed but rescue folks are around to drag folks out.
I have paddled the Kenduskeag canoe race many times, only one time entering the race.
Mostly did just for fun where they have people at 6 mile falls (pictured above) to pull you out and help catch the canoe or kayak.
People watching would toss us beers from shore and we would pickup many beers out of the water below the falls. Water is very cold as is with spring run-off, beer only helps a little ;). Only when I raced did I have a wet suit -and never swamped in the falls that time ::).
Always few canoes left wrapped on rocks and in Bangor around bridge pilings, I had a float bag in my canoe to prevent this. Once I lost a paddle, then gained a better one back lower down ;D.
Brings back memories.
JJ
Quote from: barbender on October 13, 2022, 02:25:04 PM
these Old Town canoes, they are mostly coming up in the areas surrounding the Boundary Waters where they get used more like you guys back east do, I think. Wrapping them around rocks and such😁
:D :D My grandfather was quite proud of taking a 22' canvas back down the SouthWest Miramachi river without busting it up. The river is full of boulders. But in high water they are 'invisible'. ;D
G Flex epoxy is what I have read to use for repairs.
Barbender, that would have been a prime boat in our rental fleet. It has seen whitewater and rocks, it has not been wrapped from what I see. If you see a crease around the boat it has been wrapped and has a structural crease that will make it weak and pretty much a dog. That boat has wear, and the outer skin has been worn thru on the stem but it was not wrecked from what I see. It depends on use, ours see rivers so to me that would be a fine river boat.
I got this one in a trade probably 4 years ago. I've never had it in the water, and not sure I even have a paddle. It looks pretty sad from all that honeydew mold o
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n it.
Quote from: barbender on October 13, 2022, 02:25:04 PMIn my immediate area, canoes are mostly used for fishing, duck hunting and ricing
Didn't realize you grew rice up there in the glaciated north. :D
Wild rice is a native to our great lakes region, but I personally don't know where any grows.
There's rice'n a lot further north than in barbender's neighborhood. ;D
Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan grows some of the finest wild rice you can get.
Northern Manitoba and Kenora, Ontario are also rice harvest areas. They used to harvest some near here in Williamstown Lake. Mom's uncle talked about it years ago. He was duck hunting down there, but there were harvestors at the time. Most of it is traditional native harvesters.
Jeff, you've probably never went looking. But, I never have either. :D
I am guessing that's probably far better rice than the white stuff from the bag.
Well some white rice is excellent, but if it's processed a great deal, forget it. :D
Wild rice is quite common in this area, it grows in shallow lakes and slow rivers over a muck bottom. It is actually a grain, it has a somewhat nutty flavor. It is used a lot in casseroles, turkey stuffing, or eaten on its own. I like it with just some butter and salt and pepper.
Wikd rice's presence was a large draw to the area for Native tribes as a food source. It is still actively harvested by Natives as a link to tradition and as a means of seasonal income. Many non-natives enjoy harvesting rice for income and the opportunity to get their own rice to eat.
Harvesting is strictly regulated this is more of a leftover from a bygone era when jobs were scarce and ricing was a major source of income for people. A friend told me his parents made in 3 weeks of ricing, what they did the rest of the year with their contracting business😬
So here how it is done. You have 2 people in a canoe. Paddles are optional and will probably just get in the way. In the back you have the "poler" who has a long skinny pole about as long as the canoe. One end of the pole has a "duckbill" affixed to it, which has two jaws that spread apart to keep the pole from pushing down into the muck bottom. The poler, who is standing, sticks the pole to the bottom behind them and then uses his arms the propel the canoe forward through the rice bed. Now the rice itself is 4'-6' tall, and rice worth harvesting takes some strength to push the canoe through. I should add, if you try to propel a canoe in open water like this you will probably end up in the drink, as the rice stalks themselves give the canoe the stability to be able to stand up in it.
In the front of the canoe sits the "knocker". They have two, traditionally cedar sticks about 2' long. They are shaped with a knife so they have a handle on one end and then taper to a point on the other. These sticks are used in an alternating fashion with the left hand reaching over and pulling in a bunch of stalks into the canoe with the knocker, and then the knocker in the right hand gives a one, two, three backhand with the last stroke having a nice flow through. This causes the ripe heads to fall into the canoe. Without pause the right hand reaches up and pulls in a bunch, and the left hand knocks the rice. There is a nice, rhythmic sound to it, chick, chick, shick over and over.
The regulations I spoke of basically mandate traditional harvest methods. I don't remember the specifics, but you can only use a canoe, which has a maximum size. The knocking sticks have a regulation for length and weight. There are ricing hours. It used to be back in the heyday of ricing they actually had a game warden out to do a shotgun start on some of the popular rice beds, so saying it was competitive is a bit of an understatement.
Now if you go to Canada things are a bit different I guess. They have airboats they just drive through the beds at high speeds to collect the rice😂
Also, if any of you wanted to see what the knockers look like and do a Google search- just be careful how you word it, ok?😂
"So what are you in for? They got me for armed robbery"
"My rice knocker was too big".... :D
After all that, they take the harvest home and "dance the rice".
When we were working up there during the harvest we would buy broken rice that wasn't as pretty but otherwise was just fine.
Not many process the traditional way anymore, mostly just for an exhibition. I mean, just imagine a guy with feet that looked like @Magicman (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=10011) dancing barefoot in your meal to be. "That's chewy...wait that's a toenail!"😂
And Southside, you would've been the man to bring "Big Knockers" Larry in for justice 😂😂
Wait.....I can dance too?? ::) !!! ???
How to Harvest Wild Rice! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCQfVYiRpsA&t=1s)
The stuff is crazy expensive.
That's a well done video. I will say this, though- while I am not an experienced ricer the guy that taught me would've smacked me in the back of the head if I was tapping the rice like a fairy like in the video. If it is ripe enough to harvest a lot of it will start to fall off just from hooking it with your knocker.
It looked like ricer had the canoe everyone says is the good one, the Old Town Penobscot.
With the hot market that existed for wild rice back in the day, it didn't take long for it to be cultivated. We have a lot of rice paddies in the area, most of them defunct. My town of Deer River had 2 of the larger wild rice processing plants in MN, that recieved a large amount of that rice. I worked and sweated in both of them when I was younger.
Some processors run the rice through post-haste. This is the good stuff, it will have an olive green or light brown color to it. The more commercial outfits went to letting the rice sit for a number of days in bug piles. It actually starts to ferment, and gives off a large amount of heat. The fermenting sours it a bit and turns the outside of the kernel black. While I find this rice still edible, it isn't nearly as good as the lighter colored stuff that is processed prior to any fermentation. The black stuff also cooks very slowly, the green colored rice cooks in ΒΌ the time.
If you are able to find wild rice in a local grocery store, it will likely be the black colored, "sour" rice. If you want good rice you will likely have to order it, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has a rice program and they sell first quality rice. It is expensive, I think it is $16/pound this year, although a little goes a long way. I just picked up 15 pounds the other day😁
Yep, Jeff- it is really expensive. The black stuff is about ⅓ the cost of the good stuff though. If I was making a huge wild rice hot dish or something I might use the cheaper stuff. Like I said, it isn't bad. Just not quite as good😊
A lot of wild rice is now harvested with a specially equipped airboat/fanboat. It gets dried so it stores better.
Here's a handful of the top quality stuff. It's going in the slow cooker with a pork roast, some potatoes, and whatever else comes to mind through the day😊
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Wild rice has a truly unique flavor, if you've never tried it I'd say you owe it to yourself. While as I've said, I enjoy a heap of it with just butter and salt and pepper, for most people it is better as an accent in a dish. It mixes with regular rice to make a tasty pilaf, added to a turkey bread stuffing it is excellent.
"pilaf", "turkey bread stuffing", cooking a whole meal during the middle of the day.....
What happened to the Barbender we all know?
Tell me your not using "soft, creamy, lotion" now too. :D
I don't know what's happening to me!?😂😂 I am the semi-stay at home dad now😊
My lotion choices are none of your business, Southside!😂
You can't grip a tackle box that way. :D
you know I have heard, that skin so soft will repel bugs! :snowball: smiley_gorgeous
I would like to dispel the Skin So Soft bug repellent myth. My Mom used to have us use that stuff when I was a kid. While it didn't repel the skeeters, you did eventually build up something of a protective sludge of Skin So Soft and squished mosquitoes and gnats. Plus you smelled nice😁 Personally I'll take whatever is on hand that has the highest DEET concentration available.
marketing by the wicked women at Avon. 8)
How much have you purchased off QVC this month? :D
Well, I don't even know what QVC is, but I hit Amazon pretty hard😂
They sell it at the farm market in the soo, or at least use too. Ill have to check next time im up there. I'm trying to scab a tractor shelter together, and they have a habitat for humanity restore up there I may want to visit yet this fall.
I've used it, but my go to now is long sleeves, a good gator to wick off the sweat from my scalp and a good bug net especially since a hard hat is a gathering place for deer flies and black flies. Gotta protect a bald head or lose your scalp. But this time of year for cutting wood is great, no bugs and no heat. Even with the warm fall, I've never seen a mosquito in 2 months. Deer flies were gone in August. :D :D
saw this on craigs list 1930 old town wood and canvas. new canvas and paint a little wear but over all its looks pretty good
Be careful, old wood canvas canoes can be the exact opposite of a Royalex canoe. Everything can be fixed for price, if you have the serial number Old Town sold the rights for their hand made canoes to a firm in Maine and I think they can still make new ribs off the original forms.
Then again a friend of mine and his wife used to help an elderly lady down the road who eventually had to move out of her farm to go live with someone in her family. My friends helped out in the process of helping her move. One day my friend's wife notices a canoe in the barn had not been moved so she asked where it was going. The owner said its yours if she wanted it. She had gotten it as retirement gift in 1951. It was an Old Town guide special with special trim, custom seats and a slat deck on the floor to keep the sports feet dry, basically the most deluxe Old Town Canoe that could be ordered at the time. They do not know if the owner had ever used it and they have only had it out once or twice as its too mint to use.
I'd like to have an old Chestnut canvas back/cedar rib like the 'Ogilvy Special' in mint condition. Built for poling in shallow water and fast water canoeing and could carry a good sized cargo up the rivers to the salmon fishing camps. Wide bottom and very stable. The Ogilvy's were world famous salmon fishing guides and hunting outfitters from the Tobique River. Some models were 26 footers with a 40'ish beam.
Paddling into the future: Restoring the legendary Chestnut canoe for a new generation | CBC News (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/chestnut-canoe-restoring-1.6474186)
I tried to buy another canoe. I came across an ad for a Wenonah canoe for $400. I responded to the ad which had 2 canoes and 5 kayaks. I messaged that I was interested in the Wenonah and didn't hear anything for a week. Then the other night the guy messages to ask if I was still interested. I said yes and sent a pic where I marked the canoe I was interested in. He said it was $400 and said he could meet me on Saturday. Last night I sent a message to confirm that he had the Wenonah. 2 hours later I got a message that said, sorry no. It was going to be a 90 min drive, so I'm glad I confirmed again. I don't think he was trying to mess with me. I think he was completely in-attentive. I was pretty mad. I didn't' need it and wasn't out looking for it, but a Wenonah for $400 was a great deal. I'm bummed, but I still have my Old Town. I need to work on the seats to get it ready for some canoeing this spring. Not right now though, the river I live by is out of its banks and a raging torrent from all the rain we had the last few days.
I bought another Old Town Penobscot, but this one is 17'. I have to go to Indiana to pick it up. It needs a new thwart and possibly new seats made. I know a guy who has a bunch of ash lumber to make all of that. Plus I know a guy who just re-did his seats with poly webbing to replace the broken cane webbing. I paid $700 for my first one and it came with 2 really nice paddles and a third seat. I paid $300 for this one, due to the issues it has. I wasn't looking for a second one, but couldn't pass this up. As for the trip to get it, I've been needing to go to Indianapolis to visit my buddy whose wife passed away recently, so its not really an extra trip. With respect to the thread about how expensive it is to drive diesels these days, I am going to strap it to the top of my Subaru Forester to bring it home.
No. wont the canoe be longer than the car?
The canoe will be longer than the car. That's fine. Put it on the rack with it just a little off center of the rack with more hanging off the back than the front. Strap it to the rack and run some ropes from the front to the front bumber and same to the back bumper. Drive home.
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I used to haul a 19' kayak on my honda civic hatchback. It hung out a couple of feet on both ends. I just ran ropes from the bow and stern to tow points front and rear. My gas mileage dropped about 5 MPH but even in winds it was rock steady. The only time I was worried was when a moose stepped up over a guard rail in front of me. With a civic the moose's legs break and the body hit the wind shield pillar and breaks it just below the roof. The roof tears back and looks like a sardine can. Luckily I swerved and the moose decided to move instead of stop and kick the "predator".
Yeah, I've seen the damage moose can do to a vehicle. After I saw that I became much more cognitive of looking for them while driving.
Back when I moved into northern New Hampshire, moose were very rare. They had been pretty well wiped out by hunting in the early 1900s. For various reasons they moved back into the region big time. Many cow moose would have 2 or 3 calf's and the density of them went up so high that they were hanging out in every mud puddle on the sides of the road. I could go out for a drive in the evening and see 20 or 30 of them. In my development they were almost household pests;). In a one month stretch in the spring, there would be 20 or 30 moose strikes a week in my area. At the end of my road at the intersection with a state highway with a wetland nearby there were 9 moose killed two years in row and couple of drivers. Eventually the winter tick which lives on moose followed the moose to the area and got re-established helped by warming winters that were not cold enough to knock them back. The ticks are decimating the population, most moose calves dont make it to spring. I still see them on occasion and a few moose strikes every spring but the population has dropped way down.
Pickups are high enough that the moose's body bounces off and totals the front end but smaller cars take the roofs off. On pickups, the air bag crash sensors frequently do not register a crash when the moose's legs break and the air bags do not go off.
This vintage Old Town canoe served many years in service to the USFS in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area in Minnesota. It was purchased by the wife of a forester friend of mine when it was taken out of service some years ago. They in turn donated it to the National Museum of Forest Service History now being built in Missoula Montana where the canoe will be displayed in the Museum's lobby.
The canoe was restored by donations from the Region 9 USFS retirees and the WI Canoe Heritages Museum.
This photo of the canoe was at the Canoecopia Show in Madison, WI recently. Canoecopia is the largest Paddlesports consumer event in the world.
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The Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner is worth the stop if anyone is interested in canoes or anything made out of wood. I asked enough questions that they invited me into the shop to show me some restoration projects they were working on. Good folks.
I didn't take enough time or pictures to fully appreciate the skills that go into making a wooden boat, but I will be back.
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I love the story about the BWCAW canoe and I would love to see that museum and the boats being restored.
A History of Innovation | Historic Old Town Canoes & Penobscot Birch Bark - YouTube (https://youtu.be/Fq_Xktrg4Gg)
Here is the online Wooden Canoe Museum, this page is about Old Town Canoe. Lots of other canoe makers there including Chestnut of Fredericton,N.B. , established in the 1890's. :)
Old Town Canoe Company | Wooden Canoe Museum (https://woodencanoemuseum.org/index.php/builder-history/old-town-canoe-company)
I have a line on an Old Town Canadienne in Kevlar. This canoe is close to 40 years old, but one of the nicest canoes Old Town ever made. It should be similar to my Penobscot, but I've wanted one for 30 years, ever since I saw one in the boundary waters. I'm going to sell my Penobscot 17 that I bought a few months ago and did some work to. I bought it for 300 and will sell it for 750. I put maybe $50 into it. This will be my canoe that I will plan to take to Quetico when I eventually go again. The only problem is that I have to drive to White Hall MI to get it. It's about an 8 hour drive. My wife thinks I'm crazy.
Quote from: firefighter ontheside on July 02, 2023, 07:58:39 PMMy wife thinks I'm crazy.
I'll bet that applies to many of us 8).
No doubt about that.
We all need something to keep us busy.
Better then collecting beer cans, as my mother use to say.
Made the drive to Michigan today and paid for the Canadienne. I left my trailer and the canoe at the seller's house so we can do a little fishing tomorrow. Will pick it up Sunday morning and head home. This thing is in amazing shape for almost 40 years old.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/IMG_0328.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1689383823)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/IMG_0327.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1689383822)
Looks pretty nice! Was raging through Des Moines Iowa today and quit a few people on the big river there tubing and kayaks. Should be fun for you! You have to be crazy about some stuff! That's what makes life fun!
Not bad.
If the wife or yourself (or both) was a weaver, there have been several occasions where folks made marathon trips to retrieve old used looms they wanted. Not to mention huge bags of material for rag rugs. :D :D
Nice!
I'm going to pick up another Old Town canoe this morning. It's a 1979 Tripper 17 royalex. I've never had a yellow one. I'm going to take out the plastic seats and make new ash webbed seats. I will also make a carry yoke for it. It has a little wrinkle on the side. I will see if I can do any repair work to that.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36921/396893647_24486230230975494_663298296247945601_n.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1699879327)
Haven't seen many yellow ones.
banana boat!
Mustard bucket! 😊
I like banana boat better than mustard bucket, but that's just me. The color was one of the reasons I wanted it. It will likely sit under my deck until the spring when I can work on it. I'm trying to schedule elbow surgery for January.
Mustard Bucket was the name my Artic Cat riding buddy called my yellow Ski Doo snowmobile years back. I told him he should call it "Taxi" instead for when he needed a ride home when the Cat let him down😊
If you had to save him often, mustard bucket must have been a term of endearment.
Nah, just a couple of times. But then, I never had to get towed home on the Mustard Bucket😊