Howdy all! I was given a fiberglass canoe and am not sure who the manufacturer is. It is a green, almost 14’ tandem, ash seats and yoke with vinyl/aluminum gunwales, v hull and easily 40" wide. It had explorer stickers on it but I only know the Mad River and it is not like the ones I know. Small sticker on bow says “made in New Hampshire”. Thanks
That will be interesting
That will be interesting to find out who made it. I’m in NH and cant begin to guess, I know a shop that makes wood canoes, real pretty strip design. The closest maker of fiberglass that I personally know of would be Old Town, a few hours from here in Maine. I bet someone on here will know who made it.
Update
The canoe measures 14’ long, 39-40" wide at the gunwales. The gunwales are black vinyl and it also has ash grab handles and abs decks. The gel coat is blue. Same specs as the Old Town Stillwater except for the v- hull. Can I post pics on here?
ranger canoes?
I think they still make fiberglass canoes out of NH
16’ Otter…
is the only hull Ranger has made.
Cross Millbrook off the list.
I don’t think Kaz would make a canoe wider than 35", on principle.
Paddling such a beast
Just got it last night. Want to paddle it but probably will not have a chance for a few days. Never paddled such a wide beast. I guess I should not expect too much. May be a good canoe for the pond down the block with the kids or dogs. Seems well built. Some yoyo put bottom paint on it. I guess someone had it in the salt.
Does it have a HIN
on it? That might be a big clue
Ranger Canoe vs. ?
Ranger is now just a one person, one hull design only operation in Ashland, but it originally was a multiple hull designs an multiple workers operation located in Plymouth. If your canoe is one of the other hulls that they once produced is hard to say, but the owner of today’s Ranger canoe company I believe still has some of the old Ranger catalogs.
Besides Ranger, in the 70’s early 80’s there were other canoe companies operating in New Hampshire. On Rt.125 in Brentwood there use to be a company that produced fiberglass canoes and truck caps. Don’t remember their name. If memory serves me well they blew chopped glass and resin into their hulls and if yours is of that construction rather then a cloth layup hull then I think there is a good chance that it most likely is not a Ranger as I don’t recall them using chopped glass.
Ranger Canoe
Had a 13 footer that was in the range of 37-38" wide in their line up when they moved up to Plymouth from Clinton Ma. back in the late 70’s. I don’t remember seeing many of them though. At that time Ranger was making a line of WW downriver race boats. There was also a Allagash Canoe Co. over in Francestown that made a 13 footer that was 37" wide. It was called the Guide. An interesting bit of triva Ranger also made fiberglass reptile cages.
Interesting
Well the inside is certainly chopped glass. Yesterday I decided to start removing the bottom paint. I’m not done and the boat already feels 10 pounds lighter. Anyway there is a crack in the gel coat and there is cloth inside. Why would a company go through the trouble of laying cloth and then shoot chopped glass over it? Or is that normal practice? I use to work with glass and am somewhat familiar with cloth lay-up. I have never worked with chopped glass extensively but have used it from the can. I have never had a glass boat either, though I paddled a 30 year old Old Town in WV last year and enjoyed it.
I took the canoe down the block to the lake last night and while it is certainly slow it was not as bad as I expected. It tracked pretty good for a short boat and even did ok in the 18mph gusts. Now I am not saying I would purchase the boat, but for free I cant complain. It is super stable which is perfect as my wife is nervous otherwise. Both initial and secondary stability is great. By far the most I have ever experienced. So I guess it will remain the family cruiser for the lake and flat river down the road. I would still like to know who made it just out of curiosity. I do not think it is that old though but I do not know very much about canoes. The HIN is BB14037F797. Thanks again.
Mohawk FG canoes used to be made
with some cloth for the outer layer and chopped glass for the rest. It was a good compromise. A pure chopper gun canoe won’t last long in any serious use, but I borrowed one of the cloth/chopped Mohawks from a friend to run section 2 of the Chattooga, and it stood up well to normal abuse.
Really
Never knew that. I guess it cuts cost? It seems like a pretty solid boat, I will have my brother check it out next time he visits. While I would not use it for serious use, as number one I don’t get to do much of that and two I have others. But I bet once my wife gets in it she will insist we take it to the Adirondacks next trip.
The closest HIN I could come up
with from New Hampshire is Brentwood Boat Works which was in business from 1993 til 2001.
There ought to be three letters…BBF is Brentwood.
http://www.uscgboating.org/recalls/mic_detail.aspx?id=BBF