Major milestone!  Finished stripping inside.  Next to strip decks and gunnels.  Need to get back to reading up on removing, shaping and installing new ribs.  Before that, I guess I need to decide how to wash and if I should bleach or use teak cleaner.

You can see the ribs that are cracked to distortion I left unstripped.

Oh, in the mean time, Dave took one of the white cedar boards and cut it into 4 ribs.  Also need to decide if I want to stain the new ribs.

I have some ponderin to do I guess. ..

Another no-progress report.  Still stripping the interior varnish.  Now about 5/8 done.  Slow going...

Well, 3 weeks later and I'm almost (or only depending on my mood) 3/8 of the way through stripping.  Slow going when only work about an hour a day...  Started skipping the ribs that are cracked out of shape.  May try to save ones that are cracked - perhaps try edge gluing with West Systems and a hair drier?

Last weekend Dave and I went to Parkerville lumber in Manchester.  Cool store - lots of different woods available.  Picked up 4 5/4x6x6' northern white cedar boards.  Dave took one to the Cape to make a few trial ribs.  The ribs are a bit more complex than I thought.  In addition to the width varying from 9/4" to 6/4", the thickness appears to vary from 3/8" on the floor to 5/16" at the gunnels.  Sides are tapered on both sides from full measured width.

Snapped a couple of pics I will post next time I download from the camera.

Got a reply from OldTown to my early e-mail.  They sent another copy of the build sheet, and offered some encouragement and to be a source of materials.  Nice reply.

Costs keep accumulating - another $60 for stripping supplies and $140 for rib stock last weekend.

I'll send Bob and Nancy an update on where I am with a Christmas card...

2:30 pm.  Did 6 more half ribs under the stern seat, another hour.  No good system yet.  6 is too many, the goo dried before I got it all scraped.  A flakey mess, and did not strip as well.  Next time, I'll try 1 or 2 at a time.

11:30 am. One layer of remover, 9 half ribs under the stern Deck.  1 hour.  Wipe with paper towels when done scraping.  Most gunk gone, will definitely need another coat. I think I'll  do the whole inside first.

Bought stripping equipment (gloves, brush, quart strypeez, 3M sanding pads: $40).

Tried one half rib near stern.  New plan, put canoe on side again, coat an area, scrape with pot plastic scraper, wipe with paint thinner.  Do 2nd time after do whole inside.  Then clean with TSP.  Step 1 teak cleaner (to remove stains near splits and nail rust?)  We'll see how that goes...

Tomorrow see how much of 1st remover coat I can get through...

Sunday, 22 nov 14

Found the folks at Wooden Canoe Heritage Association WCHA.  Created a profile and signed in.  They have a forum for serial number searches.  I posted and within a few hours they posted back with a copy of the original sales info for serial number 141110!

Cool.  All of the description seems to match this boat, except for the color.  I have not found any evidence of green, but only have the sponsons, and perhaps they were repainted?  But, it is 18 feet, and has all ash trim.  E-mail from the forum indicated that the aa (top) grade usually had mahogony trim, 1944 war shortages is likely why this one has ash. Overall interesting info to know... 1945, 18 ft Otca Old Town.

Talked with Dave and commiserated about the number of cracked ribs.  He floated the idea of edge epoxying some of them in place.  He also found a WCHA forum post that suggests ribs with cracks that do not distort the shape may be plenty strong with no fixing.  Re-inspection found about 15 with severe (distorted or completely broken in 2 places) problems.  Much better than 40.  Perhaps I'll try a post and see if anyone has opinions...