I believe that Great Canadian was founded in 1969 and hull identification numbers were not required until 1972. This may be a canoe from their early years.
Benson
Benson
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Identifying a Great Canadian Canoe
- Thread starter thatboatguy
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Your canoe isn't that big. It has an inside and outside. If you don't see a HIN plate there, then it doesn't have one. As Benson just said, HINs weren't required before 1972, so your canoe may be older than that. Or the plate may have been removed.
As to max beam width, that varies for every model of every canoe from every manufacturer. If you have identified your canoe as a Great Canadian 15' fiberglass model from the catalog that was pictured, you can figure out the max beam and buy or make a thwart of appropriate length. Without thwarts and seats, a fiberglass canoe hull would tend to widen somewhat from the factory specs.
One thing that is somewhat strange is the Great Canadian logo on your canoe. The GC logo traditionally had a big red maple leaf above the words "Great Canadian." Your leaf seems to have blown away somehow.
Good luck with your restoration, show us pictures of your progress, and don't be shy about asking more questions.
Your canoe isn't that big. It has an inside and outside. If you don't see a HIN plate there, then it doesn't have one. As Benson just said, HINs weren't required before 1972, so your canoe may be older than that. Or the plate may have been removed.
As to max beam width, that varies for every model of every canoe from every manufacturer. If you have identified your canoe as a Great Canadian 15' fiberglass model from the catalog that was pictured, you can figure out the max beam and buy or make a thwart of appropriate length. Without thwarts and seats, a fiberglass canoe hull would tend to widen somewhat from the factory specs.
One thing that is somewhat strange is the Great Canadian logo on your canoe. The GC logo traditionally had a big red maple leaf above the words "Great Canadian." Your leaf seems to have blown away somehow.
Good luck with your restoration, show us pictures of your progress, and don't be shy about asking more questions.
Thank you! I learned that the overall width of this craft is 37 1/8”, and is 15.5’. The maple leaf has indeed blown away, as it is so faded it’s nearly invisible. If I can get reproduction decals, that would be awesome.
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I see what might be the impression where the HIN may be in your pic. It may be possible to remove some of the paint and reveal the numbers beneath. While it might be interesting to know the actual manufacturer and date, the info is not required for you to do a successful restoration. I suspect replacement decals will be impossible to obtain, tho'.
My guess with this canoe is that it is pre-1972 like Glenn said, as it seems uncommon, with the padded seat. I am going to go ahead on a full restoration, I picked up some gel coat repair and some bronze hardware for the thwarts.
I would love to either have made or find some original decals, but I know that is far fetched. If someone has a jpeg or png of the original logo, I would love to see what it originally looked like!
Not to beat a dead horse or add to the mystery, but the USCG HIN database lists 1974 as the first year for Great Canadian. There are always a ton of Great Canadian canoes on Marketplace, perhaps you can get a screenshot of the decals to have replicants made or get someone to send you a pic. As a caution, I would not invest a ton of money unless this is a labor of love; you can get a good idea of average value from a web search.
I like restoring old, weird, unknown stuff so I’m happy with it. I want to get it as close to original as I can, minus the reg plate. Doesn’t affect me anyhow, not going to register it
