Who Made Me?

[riverdrum]

Howdy!

I recently bought a boat I am so excited and blessed to have, that also played an important role in my wedding less than a week after I brought it home, and kept it a secret from my wife to be all the way til the end! It was fun and beautiful. I am now trying to see if anyone might know who made it? If I recall it's about 16' long, and a couple of things that seem less usual about it are one, it has a wood keel that runs up the stems to the decks in front and back, and two, it has what i think are called half ribs, which I don't see too often. Maybe both of these are more common than I know. I've attached a couple of photos to help yer eyes. I would be mucho grateful for any help anyone could offer. I'm half way through "The Wood and Canvas Canoe" and I'm hooked for life.
Thanks!
Peter in Minnesota.

I was just reading at Dragonfly's sight about Thompson's having metal straps under the decks, which mine has, so maybe it's a Thompson? The rib pattern looks very much like a Shell Lake model I saw there too, but he also said they borrowed much of their design from Thompson.

 

[Dan Miller]

Yep, sure does look like a Thompson. And a Hiawatha model to boot. Congrats on the canoe and the wedding!

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Pierre Girard]

I don't know much about wood canvas canoes, but I had a Thompson 17 footer and it sure looked a lot like your photos.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Peter,

Welcome.

Do you have any pics of the decks, seats, thwarts? And maybe one that shows the end profile better?

I do agree though, it looks a lot like a T Hiawatha.

Where in Mn are you, we have a Mn chapter that while we haven't got out much lately, we hope to do better in the future. I'm in the TC if you want to look at other canoes or need help.

Dan