seat material

[JPembleton]

I picked up a beautiful ogilvy recently. Everything about it is great except the seats.....
http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/63/663/4/56/97/2991456970095722943BFhlvF_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2991456970095722943BFhlvF)

Instead of cane, there is what looks like rawhide (similar to wooden showshoes) use as lacing. Would this have possiblycome from the factory like this (Oromocto vintage Chestnut... so I figure they were trying to save $).

All the wood matches, the seat frames look original to the canoe. There are no holes in the frame to suggest previous caneing.

thanks

jamie

[Rob Stevens]

My canoe has babiche (moose rawhide) seats, but with a much tighter weave than your photo shows. That looks like an amateurish retrofit to me.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Agreed. Normally rawhide seats use a more star-shaped weave with a lot more strands. You'll see the need for this after you sit on those for a couple of hours and they start to sag.

Chestnut did offer a rawhide seat option, but they looked like #5 in this old catalog photo.

[JPembleton]

maybe the uncomfortable seats were installed to promote the use of a pole and standing up :).

That's my plan if I get the some time to take it out.

Anyone up for running a few canvas canoes down the St. Croix sunday / Monday?

Jamie

[davelanthier]

Jamie, those are DEFINATELY the original factory Chestnut seats. They were on many Chestnut canoes sold through the Hudson Bay Company in Canada. Pick up a rawhide doggy chew from your pet store, soak it in water, cut it into strips as required. If you soak the seat in water until the babiche softens it can be either repaired or replaced as need be. I have pictures available of 14' and 15' Chestnuts with the same seats.

[Douglas Ingram]

And yet I've never seen a Chestnut with babiche seats. I've seen a lot of Cestnuts.

[davelanthier]

Of the over 30 Chestnut canoes I have restored only 2 had the ORIGINAL same seats as in Jamies' photos. They were both low grade models sold through HBC. I replaced one set with a set of Chestnut hand caned seats. The babiche seats are in excellent condition if anyone is interested. By the way, Chestnut offered babiche seats as an option in their brochures.