tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post6716171086409443821..comments2024-03-13T08:16:23.560-07:00Comments on Indigenous Boats: 1941 Old Town Guide, Never UsedBob Holtzmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05878339327766256094noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6466695305125791022.post-80329283497956888492012-12-28T08:54:13.414-08:002012-12-28T08:54:13.414-08:00I have had the pleasure of restoring some wood and...I have had the pleasure of restoring some wood and canvas canoes, an Old Town among them. Several points worth mentioning. What became apparent to me as I worked on these canoes was the amount of manual labor that had gone into their construction. Not surprisingly, they were superseded in the market place by the much more cheaply constructed aluminum and plastic canoes. <br />The wood and canvas canoes that were built were still quite close to their birch bark antecedents in both design and construction, the main difference being the replacement of the bark skin with painted canvas and the nailing of the planking to the ribs. Wood and canvas canoes were built ribs first on a plug followed by planking followed by skinning. Bark canoes were built skin first followed by planking followed by ribs.<br />One of the unique characteristics of canvas covered canoes was that the hull shape had to be such that it could be covered with a flat sheet of canvas without the need to cut and sew the canvas to conform to the hull. I think the same was true of the hulls of bark canoes although in most cases their bark skins were pieced when a single sheet of bark wasn't big enough to cover a boat.<br />Anyone interested in how to restore one of these boats can do no better than read Jerry Stelmok's book, The Wood & Canvas Caroe: a Complete Guide to Its History, Construction, Restoration.<br />Wolfgang Brinckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08314364206955412017noreply@blogger.com