Chestnut Canoes

Blue Viking

Wooden Canoe Maniac
Can anyome post any information on where to look at pictures of Chestnut canoes, their history, location, etc.
just purchased a 16' in like new conditon except for peeling paint...Kind of like an orange color...Still has most of the original decal on the bow and the stems are in like new condition also... This one has a wide (3-4") blade keel tapered at both ends to the stems. Trying to find this one's model
Thanks
 
You can get specifications at http://dragonflycanoe.com/id/ - you can also post dimensions here (LOA, max. beam, depth (top of gunwales to bottom inside of planking). Also indicate if it has wide ribs or narrow ribs, cane or slat seats, shape of deck cut-out, number and location of thwarts, etc.... Couple of photos won't hurt either.

At the risk of being accused of self promotion, I'll also mention that the Canadian Catalog CD-Rom that Benson and I publish contains 23 Chestnut canoe catalogs ranging from 1904 through 1978. It is available from WCHA store and the Dragonfly website. Lots of specs and pictures in that old ephemera.

For books, Roger MacGregor's "When the Chestnut was in Flower" and Ken Solway's "The Story of the Chestnut Canoe" are your two options.

Your wide keel is called a shoe keel, and is the norm rather than the exception in Canadian-built canvas canoes.
 
Dan,

I do not believe so. I went to the homepage and it referred to photos by Jock Ogilvy. I then went to the guestbook and it also referenced Jock Ogilvy. So possibly this is his site. It is a great info source for many other old canoe brochures other than Chestnut i.e Kennebec, Mullins, Old Town, Peterborough etc. You can access them by going to the home page.
I came across the link for the site some time ago in a search for Chestnut model information.

Ed
 
Dan,


Kettle River Canoes: Wood-Canvas Canoe Repairs and Restorations

Has a site on Facebook become a fan. They are located at
Location:
695 Central Avenue
Grand Forks, BC, V0H 1H0Phone:
250-442-0312

they have lots of pics of Chestnuts in many phases of restoration they can possibly answer many of your queations

Tom
 
Tom,

Little did you know. :)

I just bought a Peterborough Champlain (asssumed) from Gil, and so i'm also going to be looking for "year built" info.

Ed,
Ya, maybe not, though I was pointed to that site in the past by somebody, great site, lots of interesting stuff.

Dan
 
I had to re-look, I am about 99% certain that this is Jack Wagner's old site.
Maybe one of the Mich folks can confirm? Here are 3 images from the site,
2 showing the author, who I believe is Jack,
and the 3rd with the reference of going to Swartz Creek, (MI), which is where Jack lived.
A few years ago I got some items from Jack and he stated that he was parting with most of his stuff.

Dan
 

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