Been sort of looking for a second canoe for me and my wife to paddle around home. I have a kevlar tripping canoe but that lives at the cabin.

Anyway, I scored this off of our neighborhood email list. Bought it on impulse...seemed like a pretty good deal. 16' Old Town Penobscot. Excellent condition. It's pretty old, with nice wood trim. 500 bucks. Not sure if its age adds or subtracts to the value. I believe it's Royalex, though I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, what do you think? Score? Fair Price?

That is one ugly canoe. For one thing, it's a foot too short. And it's an ugly color.

Tell ya what, I'll be happy to resell it for you, and you can keep the first $500 to ease your pain. Just don't look at any ads I post, OK?

(BTW, you scored a big time coup with that purchase.)

Very nice boat well worth the price

Want to sell it? I will give you $550.00. You did very well, enjoy!

Contact Old Town with the hull number, they should be able to tell you when it was made and of what material.

Thanks. I guessed it was a good deal and bought it on impulse. When my wife first told me about it I was picturing a beat up Coleman or something. Then we looked at and see this old town hanging in their garage and bought it on the spot.

Good score!

Perfect.

A fair price .

A good deal would have been 300.00

A great deal would have been 200.00 I score one for that a couple years back still had all the factory stickers on it.

It looks to me like it could use a little loving care.............
I'd lightly sand and re stain the wood trim, which appears to be in decent conditon.
Do a little hull cleanup; a good wash job, and a coat of 303.

But, bottom line without seeing a clear photo of the hull's condition; I would say you scored a nice canoe, and very cheaply.
I would not be surprised to hear that it originally sold for in excess of $1,000.00

BOB

P.S. I remember scoring an Old Town Discovery 17 footer (in Royalex), with 2 paddles and 2 pfds, all like new condition for $200.00. Original buyer found it to be to much boat to use for fishing. Motorboat wakes on lake made for tourism kept flipping him over. It was advertised in local newspaper for $400.00; nobody but me even went to look at it. Pregnant wife was at home with toddler when I came by to see the boat. I asked if she'd take less than 4 hundred?
She said, "my husband wants it out of the garage, and would sell it for 2 hundred, but not a penny less"!
I told her I'd pay 2 hundred. She said, "I can't help you load it; I'm pregnant".
That was very obvious. I told her, "Don't worry lady; I can load it by myself"!
Paddled it for about 5 years with my wife & sold it for double what I'd paid.

Nice boat and find. I've had two. Looks to be maybe early 80s, definitely Royalex (or "Oltonar", which is their Royalex). OT made a wood-trimmed Tripper they called a Ranger. Never saw a wood Penobscot.

question i have the same topper do you secure the front of canoe to truck when hauling?

smoke11: "question i have the same topper do you secure the front of canoe to truck when hauling? "

I always secure the front to the front of our suburban. I figure that is one extra line of safety. btw...you done good on the canoe.
we got a superdeal on a Wenonah sprit 2 in fiberglass with 2 pfd and 2 paddles for $300 a few years ago. It is in a storage garage, they were moving in a week and the lady wanted it gone $300.... no problem ...

I wanted to say that you got robbed that pos of a boat..
But its a fine river boat.. The HIN is on the stern of it outside. The last two numbers will tell you just how old the boat is and how much more you must pay the seller.

smoke11: "question i have the same topper do you secure the front of canoe to truck when hauling? "

Haven't gotten to it because the truck is new but I'll put these under the hood: hood loops

I have made my own from strapping bought from a hardware store--but the idea is the same. Main thing is to keep the front from swinging around.

Home run. It's Royalex. The wood trim may well be mahogany. I had the same boat years ago (Royalex Penobscot with mahogany trim) and I bought it for $500 and later sold it for same (to a good home). Personally I'd never expect to find another one for $500.

I suggest that you:

1) oil the cane on the seats immediately with Watco teak oil or boiled linseed oil or something similar or they may well tear the first time you sit on them
2) scrub the snots out of the whole boat with nonabrasive cleanser like Bon Ami...I use a stiff brush
3) give it a bubble bath with soapy water and then rinse it off. I like using Dawn dishwashing soap
4) give it a coating of 303 on both outside and inside (careful cause inside gonna be slippery)
5) oil the cane on the seats again

Ed's Canoe sells kits to refinish cane seats if your cane does fail and it's an easy DIY project. I'd say it's worth an easy $800 cleaned up and you might get more.

The previous owner varnished the wood and the wood does look to be in good shape. I love an oil finish so I'd remove the varnish and oil it but that's personal preference. I think you might be amazed at how that mahogany would look when refinished. The thwarts and seat frames are ash.

It's already worth more than you paid and if you clean it up the value will increase.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to take a closer look at the cane seats. Figured out that it was built in September `1981. I remember those days when Royalex or Oltanar was THE thing for canoes, though it was well out of my price range. I did covet them though. One thing I like about Royalex is that it hides the scratches. I love my Kevlar SR, but lordy those scratches look hideous.

Good idea on refinishing those gunnels with oil. Though I really didn't need another canoe project. Looking forward to trying it out.

We have a 16 ft Penobscot in Royalex. My son bought it about 20 years ago. It's a good all purpose canoe, although it hasn't been to the BW since we got the the Kevlars. Seems to me he paid about a thousand for it then.

Awesome deal, congrats!

Came across a deal as well,...don't have a tandem canoe and would like to do some local stuff with my 11 yr old daughter. Was at a family event, and someone wants to get rid of his old Grumman. Looks like it will cost me a case of beer. :)

Beauty. I'd love to have a canoe like that, and I don't need another royalex one!

justpaddlin's #1 piece of advice is a must. I just picked up a slightly newer OT Penobscot with aluminum rails, and cracked the cane right away. Oh well. I would add that you should check for cold cracks going straight down from the rivets thru the rails. Mine had two (which the seller hadn't noticed), and sent the price down to $450. Easy patch work.

Great score!