Morris issues

[bnclark]

I have an 18' foot Morris, serial number 14955 that appears to be a model D95 or perhaps a B75, Type 1. It is very rough. 4-5 ribs, perhaps 25% of the planking, the gunwales and the tops of the stems will need to be replaced. It is hogged. I am currently removing gobs of epoxy resin from the interior. I have a few questions. How much rocker should this canoe have and where does it begin? Is the bottom flat longitudinally between the thwarts or seats and then rises towards the bow and stern or does the rocker begin in the center?

Also, does anyone have a picture of the intersection of the inner gunwales, stem and deck without the top gunwale in place?

Any advice is appreciated.

Bob

 

[Paul Scheuer]

Bob:

I can't speak for all Morris types, and I didn't get a lot of pics of the as-acquired construction. The pic that I attached to Divedog's thread, and attached below, shows the aft peak. The breasthook / structural inner deck goes to a point. The inwales are 19/32" for most of their length and taper to 3/8" at the ends to fit the 3/4" dimension at the top of the inner face of the outer stem. The tapered outwales that extend over the outer stem close that up tight. The ribs in that area were beveled at the tops and set into notches in the inwales. The planking at the peaks was thinned as it neared the peaks, so that there was no material at the top of the plank within the last 3". The total effect is that there is no gap between the inwales and the outwales. I can get a picture of what I ended up with in that area.

I couldn't see how the inner stem was attached. There wasn't enough left of the stem. I guessed that the planking was intended to do it. Others may know more. My illegitimate repair was to add a hanging knee under the breasthook at the intersection, shown below.

I can't speak for the rocker issue. What I have is flat all the way to where the inner stems start.

 

[bnclark]

Thanks Paul. It looks like you have an open gunwale construction but your inner deck looks identical to the finished short deck on my closed gunwale model. If I understand your description the top of the stem butts into the underside of the tapered inwales? I do like your method of adding some reinforcing where you scarfed on the new piece of stem.

 

[Paul Scheuer]

Bob:

There wasn't enough left of either inner stem tips for me to see how the original construction was done. I couldn't find any nail or screw holes. There must be others who have seen much better original constructions. I can imagine a rivet through the inwales holding the top of the stem, but it would have to be through a very deeply notched inner stem top. I didn't see holes in the inwales that would do that.