I got a call from a friend of 30 years ago, surprised I still had the same phone number, saying his brother was moving to a smaller home and had some large things he wanted to get rid of, a pool table (thanks, already have one) and a “1937 oak and canvas Old Town canoe”, intimating He just wants it gone.

I told him that I’m not a wood/canvas guy but have friends who are and could probably help his brother ID the canoe and find it a new home. Thinking it was likely a derelict, ratty/naked canvas OCTA or HW, I was ready to put the roof racks on and bring it home to pass along, envisioning an eventual “Dammit, someone come get this thing out of my shop”, threatening to make bookcases out of it. or feed it into the burn barel, before his brother called to give me the backstory and additional information.

The canoe was given to his uncle long ago by the original owner, an elderly friend. Said uncle gave it to him 20-ish years ago, along with some provenance paperwork from the original owner, I think including the original bill of sale. He paddled it once before hanging it in his garage and buying rec kayaks for him and the wife, mentioning that his uncle had it professionally recanvassed in the ‘90’s. The recanvassing turned up a serial number, 119465, and a probable model.

It appears to be an Atkinson Traveler. To the best of my scant wood/canvas knowledge Old Town never made an Atkinson Traveler - if anyone knows for certain I am curious. If it is 86 years old, which roughly fits the timeline, that rules out a Northwoods Canoe Atkinson Traveler or more modern version.

My best very-uneducated guess is he has a 1937 E. M. White Atkinson Traveler. He may have a scan of the build sheet; he has referenced something from Old Town among other pieces of paperwork, but his descriptions of what they are is confusing at best. With OT having bought White in the 1980’s what he has could be White build-record scans from Old Town’s archives; I have no idea if the old E. M. White records were scanned like the OT records (bless you for those Benson Gray).

I love a good canoe mystery, this is better than the missing-numbers-HIN Dreamboat Company canoe; an early Mohawk Whitewater/later Intrepid model hull, gunwales, seats & brightwork installed by pontoon boat maker Dreamboat.

Oh my, a cheap, already recanvased 1937 E. M. White. Some WC fanatics would fleece a blind widow for the wood remains a ’37 Atkinson Traveler. I couldn’t do it. OK, if it had been a Mad River Guide in Kevlar my ethics would have been severely tested.

I e-mailed him links to Wood Canoe Heritage Association, some E. M. White/Atkinson Traveler info and asked if he could send me scans in the Bill of Sale and other paperwork he has.

The canoe is only 30 minutes from my home; I may drive down this weekend and have a look, mostly out of curiosity, although he may need help getting it down to inspect and take photos. I’ve never seen an E. M. White, if that’s what it is; there are very few people hereabouts paddling wood canvas.

The challenge will be determining both which make/model/year it really is, and what it might be worth with consideration of rarity and condition. I am clueless about vintage wood canvas values, my usual rule of thumb with modern canoes is two-thirds MSRP, plus or minus depending. That doesn’t translate well to 1930’s dollars, even using an inflation calculator.

I’m thinking a 30’s E. M. White may hold more cache ca-ching than a similar vintage Old Town. No offense to Old Town; they were the first “modern” non-aluminum canoes I paddled, and I still paddle a soloized Penobscot as a big-boy sailing tripper, and occasionally a soloized Pathfinder as a day boat.

Curious, I looked. There are lots of Old Towns listed on the WCHA classifieds, not many E. M. Whites. Here’s one. Yowza!

https://www.woodencanoe.org/classifieds ... %99--canoe

Whatever he sells it for, after it is positively ID’ed, I hope he at least buys me a case of beer. I have more use for that than a 17 ½ foot 80lb wood canvas canoe. I’m done putting an 80lb canoe on and off the roof racks, even if I can park at the water’s edge.

Yowza, yowza, yowza! Did that ad say $10 000? It's a pretty boat but that's a lot of money.
Hope you friend's boat is worth close to that.
Good luck with your "finder's fee".

That 10K is of course the “asking price”; I’ve seen people asking crazy money for a hogged Coleman Ram-X. Or perhaps that 18’ White square stern is a unicorn survivor; I expect in the WC world rarity and vintage have status value.

While I am not a WC guy I have followed queries in which people asked the “What is it worth?” question about old wood & canvas canoes. Beyond the usual platitudes “It’s worth what someone will pay” even a range of values seems hard to pin down. Ask that question about a Royalex or composite canoe and you will get opinions, maybe divergent opinions, but at least some ideas.

The owner doesn’t need it gone ‘til next year, and doesn’t desperately need the money, but, if it is a ’37 White Adkinson Traveler, how do you advertise a canoe for sale that could be worth $1000, or worth $5000? The difference is important, it could determine whether I get a case of Bud Light or a case of IPA.

I am kind of glad it isn’t the canvas-less “oak” OCTA I had first envisioned. I was racks-ready prepared to bring it home into the shop in hopes I could find someone to savage it, and already had forebodings


If most of the parts and pieces are there I can repair RX or composite canoes. I wouldn’t know where to start with a derelict wood canvas canoe. Or want to.

A local paddling pal took in a freebie OCTA years ago, no canvas but all the planks and ribs were intact and seemingly solid. I should say “accepted”; he had no room to bring it inside, or even under cover, so he stored it on his outside racks.

Visiting his place a couple times a year I watched it slowly turn into a canoe-shaped pile of mulch. I don’t think he tried very hard to find a taker, but given that eventual result I would have cut it in half and made bookcases.

Uh oh, I’ve done it now. An angry mob of wood canvas aficionados is approaching my shop, ready to tar me with bedding compound and ride me out of town on a cedar rail.

I've been worried about your well-being since I read this.
I know that cedar splinters can cause considerable inflammation and irritation in one's hands. I shudder to think of the havoc that could be wrought on your nether regions let alone the "job" of removing those splinters.

Hoping that all is well with you.

Ralph, I haven’t been ridden out of town on a cedar rail by wood canvas aficionados yet, but my wildly uneducated guesses about the make & model may have made it a near thing.

The owner has vaguely and confusingly mentioned a variety of paperwork, including something Old Town, something E. M. White, a “Bill of Sale” and something about Atkinson Traveler. Sorting through his various mentions I am (for now) convinced that he has a 1937 Old Town; the 119465 serial number seems to fit sequentially for Old Town in 1937, as does the $75 original price he mentioned.

My usual valuation of used canoes is 2/3 the cost. If I offered him $50, I wonder. . . . .

I have no interest in owning a wood canvas canoe, least of all one I can’t lift, but I am hoping to see it in person this weekend. Not that that will tell me anything; I could probably ID most Royalex or composite canoes made in the last 40 years, but I wouldn’t know an Old Town from a Chestnut from a Gerrish.

Garish canoes I know, sheerline bands with hearts and diamonds and hand painted stem Gogetch. Of course, the owner wouldn’t know a Pelican from a Placid, so we’re even there.

Mostly I want to see the paperwork he has and take some hull measurements. I’m still doubting the “oak” part.

Have someone run it to Assembly.. Al Bratton isn't far from you.
If it were oak it would be 150 lbs..You don't want a hernia.


https://www.woodencanoe.org/builders-su ... ft-company

LRC, this “ID the old wood canvas sight unseen” has been a trip. The current bestowed owner mentioned a variety of paperwork he received with the canoe, and I asked him, more than once, to please send me a scan or even transposed text of what he has. He finally did, and the conflated confusion was finally made clear.

He has a “Thank you” note his uncle wrote the widow of the original owner on receiving the canoe, and on that back of that note her handwritten “I am delighted it will have a happy home” graciousness.

He has a ‘30’s catalog page describing A.A and C.S grades of Old Towns wood canvas construction, a diagram page of the parts and pieces in OT’s wood/canvas work, and a three page 1988 letter from Rollin Thurlow describing how to make repairs, with charming pen and ink paddling and poling sketches between paragraphs.

Thurlow’s description of the time and labor involved may have been the impetuous for his uncle later taking it to a professional be recanvassed. Thurlow’s multi-page letter also references his Atkinson Traveler canoe, so that false lead is now explained.

But wait, there was one more piece of paperwork, the “invoice”.

Which is actually . . . . wait for it . . . . a scan of the build-record from Old Town, with the hull matching serial number, dates from “Half finished” Oct 1936 to planking, gunwales, thwart, seats, ribs, etc, concluding with 2nd varnished March 1937 and shipped Sept 1937. I love that guys in the factory signed or initialed their work. And no wonder the OT factory was massive; it took a year of setting aside a canoe awaiting cure time to finally finish a build..

What he has, per the build sheet, is identified as a 1937 (recanvassed) CS grade 17’ HW (Heavy Water), originally dark green with a floor rack. The “oak and canvas” confusion was that the build sheet lists “oak decks”.

Not the rarest of WC canoes, in fact maybe the most common; Old Town built nearly 16,000 HW’s from 1905 to 1956 in 17’ foot lengths.

https://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/models.html

I’m going to see it tomorrow, but since we now know exactly what it is I’m not sure why. I do enjoy seeing vintage rack queen canoes put back on the water, and have/will continue to encourage him to join the WCHA and post the HW for sale.

I went, I saw, I came back empty handed. As planned, I did not put my roof racks on. I did take some photos of the ’37 HW.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153467243 ... 0307738474

It is in serviceable condition; the years ago recanvassing looks good, although it could use a fresh coat of paint. The biggest flaws are one loosely attached brass stem band and a couple of short pieces of wood incorrectly scarfed into the gunwales. We didn’t weight it, but it is too heavy for this old man. And it has a keel. Nope & nope.

Out of curiosity I asked if any paddles came with it. And how; two Indian Head paddles, which appear identical to Feather Brand blister makers.

None of those are exactly collector’s items. I suggested giving it to some strong son or in-law just to keep it in the family, but they have none. It may go to 80-some year old “Cousin Roger”, who owns a seafood restaurant on the eastern shore as wall decoration. That would complete the circle, the HW was originally shipped to Queenstown MD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenstown,_Maryland

That would be a suitable place for the awful Indian Head paddles as well.

I went back, with my roof racks on. I did not come back empty handed. His house sold, the move is imminent, and he wanted stuff gone. Did I need a 1937 Old Town HW? No. Did I want a 1937 Old Town HW? Not really. Do I now own a 1937 Old Town HW? Yes I do.



Did I want two Indian Head paddles. No, but I now own them, a 53” and a 59”. Always Demand Indian Brand.

P7300004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Someday when I have nothing better to do I’ll reshape gawd awful grips, sand and vanish them. You’ll know that’s when I really have nothing better to do.

And a higher quality 60” paddle, possibly a Shaw & Tenney Penobscot in ash.

P7300007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

https://www.shawandtenney.com/engravabl ... /penobscot

That paddle is nearly pristine. I’m tempted to keep it, but it only has a blade on one end; it should go with the HW.

While figuring out how to attach bow and stern lines to a canoe with no stem loops or carry thwarts I hear “Hey, do you want this rack?”

New-in-box Thule Hull-a-Port J cradles with cam straps and those ridiculous rope ratchet doohickies. I’m a Thule roof rack guy, but also a trucker’s hitch rope guy, I don’t use cam straps or rope ratchets. Or J-cradles. But I’ll find someone who does.

P7300008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

More stuff was offered as I tied the HW on the racks. A 1987 edition of Stelmok & Thurlow’s The Wood & Canvas Canoe. Bedside reading. Or maybe not, that book may be the gateway drug to WC addiction. I have enough problems as it is.

P7310011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Genesis paper, the Old Town Build Record, which, had the owner known what it was, would have cleared up any confusion about make/model from the start.

P7310015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The assortment of misunderstood paperwork that caused the initial confusion. Gotta love the sketches in the Northwoods Canoe pages.

P7310014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And most charmingly, and read immediately, letters from the widow of the original owner (Thorpe Nesbit), and the subsequent owner (Tut Tuttle, loving these names, any relation to Merlin Tuttle?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_Tuttle

To the third owner (Austin Taliaferro). Who gave it to his kin JT, who paddled it once in 15 years.

P7310013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Kinda cool that the history of ownership from 1937 to present is documented.

And, at least to me, a peculiar treasure; a 1988 Old Town catalog with price list. 1988 pre-dates my collection of OT catalogs by several years and has the Kennebec, Otter, Canadienne and Columbia. All boats I know or have history with. I know I can find them on-line, it’s just not the same as holding an old catalog in hand.

P7310012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The ’88 price list alone is a way back machine. Glass Columbia $695, in Kevlar $1155. Glass Canadienne 16, $695, in Kevlar, $1095. Two of my favorite OT composite canoes.

The HW is in the shop. The ribs and interior are in good condition, any work there appears to have been done properly when it was recanvassed, although the floor rack listed on the build sheet is absent.

The exterior has a few issues, the brass stem bands are not seated flush in spots. The bands are intact and undamaged, not something I want to screw up trying to remove and reattach. The assorted paperwork again is fun; the new/replacement stem bands were ordered from Northwoods Canoe by the 1988 owner. “Two six foot lengths 3/8” brass stem bands @ $8, $16”

The gunwales have a couple pieces of (nicely matching) wood with poorly executed scarf joints. Really and truly not something I want to mess with fixing. I need to find a task within my skill set, I don’t-know-nothin-bout re-birthin no WC canoes”.

https://www.google.com/search?q=don%27t ... K75hhrc1mU

Not a foot brace, back bands, minicel knee bumpers or Dynel skid plates.

The HW was repainted the original green after it was recanvassed. That paint is dull, in part because the last owner scrubbed it with a hard bristle brush. Rolling and tipping marine paint is something I can do, and I have a can of green topside paint.

And half a can of leftover topside white. I really like how a broad white sheerline stripe has looked on various rebuilds.

P1230043 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P2130015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The two-tone canoe at the top of this WCHA page is equally appealing.

https://forums.wcha.org/threads/how-muc ... -worth.57/

Although . . . . I like the versions where the sheerline stripe stays equidistant under the outwales, curling up the recurved stems. Straight or curved sheerline strip? That decision is a ways off.

I guess I had nothing better to do. Watching paint dry was entertaining given the right smokables, but eventually I needed to do something more active. What the hell, I 220 sanded the Indian Head paddles, lightly 400 sanding over the “Always Demand” logos, then hit them a lick with spar urethane, taping off the painted grips first.

P8040008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I did not attempt to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear by reshaping the grips; those paddles are Featherbrands by any other name, and always will be. I repainted the diagonally striped heads red and green for “historic” accuracy.

P8050019 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I don’t want them as house or shop decoration. Maybe wall hanger decorations for a nautical-themed restaurant or rustic camp. Googling “Indian Head Lodge” there are quite a few, in Lincoln NH, Balsam Lake WI, Saskatchewan, Sioux Narrows, etc.

P8040009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8EnslW6Uao

Maybe this should be in the Paint Options thread, or in Boat Design and Construction, but I started the mystery HW here, might as well keep going.

The existing paint job on the HW, up close and personal, could have been better done. There are some slight drips and sags, and a few areas are not especially smooth to the touch. Nothing a light touch 220 RO sanding with a foam interface pad won’t cure before repainting.

P8020002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That RO touch took off the raised/rough spots, good enough for a first coat of green topside paint.

The old paint dust was enough to leaf-blower out the open garage doors before cleaning the hull with a damp sponge, then 91% isopropyl alcohol wiped. 91% isopropyl in an old flea and tick spray bottle has been a shop boon; going on 7-8 years of refills now, the pump spray gaskets are still functional (not the case with past plant sprayer water bottles), and there is far less waste spraying just the right amount in just the right place, rather than glug-glug-glugging from the bottle onto a rag.

P8020003 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Taped for rolling and tipping. The brass stem bands, intact and unbroken, left attached for someone else to seat properly, taped quickly and easily using ½” wide tape. The outwales were faster and easier to tape than vinyl or aluminum, 2” wide painters tape covered the bottom edge and side.

P8020005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A coat of green topside paint rolled and tipped with familiar ease and speed. The HW was less thirsty than many sun-baked composite canoes, using less than the usual half quart. Not bad drinkage for a 17’ hull.

P8020006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

With the first coat of green rolled and tipped the HW already looks much better. It will need a light sanding and a second coat after that paint cures, boats always do, but I should have a few ounces of Topside remaining, and need to find something to paint dark green rather than let the remains crust over in the can.

Lightly (very) RO sanded and alcohol wiped, ready for a second coat of green topside.

P8040011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Rolled and tipped a second time.

P8040013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Better. Not perfect, a third coat might help. Or might not; it doesn’t matter, I do not have enough green topside left.

The moment of truth was in removing the tape on the outwale. Left in place for two coats of paint the tape will usually (not always) release cleanly if pulled when the second coat is still wet. Three coats on the tape, or letting a second coat dry too fully, often results in bits and pieces of tape remaining stubbornly adhered.

Yay, the tape came off cleanly in full length strips with no cling-ons. There wasn’t enough green Topside left to be useful for much other than to squeeze out the pan dregs and roller sleeve on a set of sawhorse legs.

P8040015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And to prep another paint panel for UV and weather test panel. One test patch in green, and I wanted to see what the mix of Battleship Grey, Red and White topside paint dregs looked like painted on something.

P8040017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Yeah, I’m colorblind, but that sure looks pink to me. It’ll need a special friend, with a special canoe. Maybe when they are not around to watch me paint.

I had some leftover white topside paint, hopefully enough for the stripes. And I had a stripe plan, or stripes plural plan; a 2” white stripe immediately below the outwales, an inch of already-there green and a 1” white stripe below that.

To make this a little more challenging the stripes follow the arc of the sheerline and curve up the recurved stems. The challenge being the taping. A lot of taping, first the outwales again, although I maybe coulda left the outwale tape in place.

I had serious doubts about my ability to evenly scribe spaced lines for the stripes; the solution was to use a lot of tape and immediately waste half of it. First the outwales again, then a sacrificial length of 2” tape following the sheerline and recurved stems. Then a length of 1” tape.

P8050001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Then a sacrificial length of 1” tape, followed by another length of 1” tape.

P8050004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Pull tape #1, the two inch stripe, and tape #3, the one inch stripe, lightly sand the green between the tapes and get ready to roll and tip a first coat of white for the stripes.

P8050006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Once again I could scoot along in a wheeled chair, facing my work at eye level, and pull the shop cart with pan, roller and brushes alongside me.

P8060009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

White on dark green was guaranteed to need a second coat, maybe even a third if I have enough white left.

P8100001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Dregs of the pan and sleeve on a paint test panel and sawhorse legs again. Both will need a second waste coat when I recoat the stripes.

P8060014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The dual striped HW came out well. I have advertised it on the WCHA classifieds, in the medium range of their value estimations, not the “are-you-serious?” crazy money some folks are asking. Per the WCHA:

“Any wooden or wood/canvas canoe in usable condition is worth $1000 - $1500. A canoe that is documentable will go on the high end”.

Or, an alternative estimate range:
Basket case canoe: $Free- $200.
Restorable, not too bad: $200 - $500
Needs help but Floats: $500-$700
Useable as is more or less: $700 - $1,000
Needs nothing, daily driver, good shape or better: $1,000 - $2,000
Original/Well known maker/ and very nice/no flaws: $2,000 - $3,500
Special/rare: $3,500 and up

The HW is documented via the build sheet, and correspondence from the original 1937 and subsequent owners.*

https://www.woodencanoe.org/classifieds ... own-hw--17
(Scroll down the ad for additional photos)

I received a response to the WCHA ad in less than 24 hours, an obvious scam cashier’s check response from sender “Lone Mark@etcetc”. I somehow doubt I was his lone (scam) mark. Not falling for it, not responding, but it still pisses me off.

Before I resort to Craigslist (and no doubt more scam replies) I am pursuing a different avenue.

*The obits for Thorpe Nesbit and second owner Washing Irving “Tut” Tuttle (Tut worked for a boat builder) list their offspring; a little digging showed that some grandchildren and great grandchildren still live on the eastern shore.

I’ll try to contact one of them and see if they have any interest in Grandpa’s WC Old Town. I’d enjoy seeing the canoe go full circle, back to family along the Chesapeake. In return for the promise of a photo of the HW being paddled by grand or great-grandchildren I’d knock a few bucks off and throw in some paddles.