Partial Decal ID?

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Hi,

This is the deck decal from a 16' wood/canvas square stern sent in by the owner. Can anyone identify the maker?

Dan
 

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My guess would be a Sebago boat after they moved to Methuen, Mass. as shown in the undated catalog cover below.

Benson
 

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Thanks Benson,

I thought that the decal had '..ien, Mass' but could find no city nor town in MA that ended in '..ien' so the '..uen' now makes sense. Do you know when Sebago Boat & Canoe moved to Methuen?

We did a boat with similar trim a few years ago which the owner said was a Corson. He said that it had had the label on the transom that was lost when the transom was replaced. Corson's were made in Madison, ME at least from the 1970's but I could find no hint that they ever made wood/canvas boats. Sebago Boat and Canoe also made their boats in Madison. Do you know of any connection there?

Dan
 
The Sebago catalog with the Methuen address has no obvious date but it appears to be from the late 1950s. There may have been several Sebago companies but the connections between them are all a bit vague. The earliest reference is probably page 413 of the Maine Register from 1896 which lists L. M. Sanborn as a carpenter and boat builder in East Sebago. There are several dated catalogs in the Historic Collection from the mid-1950s that list the main office as being on Congress Street in Portland with the factory in Madison. The Methuen catalog lists "All Prices F. O. B. Methuen" with no mention of Madison. There have been several builders in the Madison and Solon area over the years so they may have been subcontracting with multiple outside distributers in addition to selling under their own names. Paul McGuire, Norm Sims, Alan Dunn, and others have been casually researching this topic over the past few years but I don't think that anyone has put all of the pieces together yet. Please let me know if you find any new parts to the puzzle. Thanks,

Benson
 
Thanks, more good information. The East Sebago connection is probably the "Sebago Boat" http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/18171 . We ran into 2 of these two years ago and learned that Norm Sims has one which he got from Kevin Martin.

Here's an article that says that Sebago Boat & Canoe is moving from Madison to the shore of Sebago Lake: http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...ecZGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8PMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=989,3122548 (I wonder what those students are looking at.)


Charles Arthur Kalil listed on the Methuen catalog was listed in the 1954 Portland Directory as: Kalil, Charles A. (Sebago Boat and Canoe Company) 477 Congress St. room 1008 with residence in Standish.
He died Feb 4 1979 in Methuen. Ancestry.com lists many Kalils in Lawrence and Methuen some being born in Syria.
 
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That is a very interesting article, especially since the last dated catalog is from 1954. The Boston Globe from February 3rd, 1957 had an article titled "A Boat for Every Budget Shown Here Now" on page A 17. It was probably related to the Boston Boat Show and said "The Sebago Boat Co. with nine new 'standard' models which are expected to be one of the outstanding values of the year. The Sebago Lake, Me." but you have to pay to read the rest. The Maine Registers from 1955 and 1959 list a Sebago Boat Co. in the town of Sebago Lake but I wonder if they ever built that 40,000 square foot building. A factory that size would have been one of the largest in the state for a maker of small boats. More questions,

Benson
 
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