Pre-fire Chestnut Pleasure canoe Identification

[mschaller]

I'm going to look at this Monday and would appreciate some input. Seller says it has Heart Shaped Decks, closed gunnels. Looks like an early Chestnut to me converted to a sailing canoe. He also says its been fiberglassed which sucks.

Thoughts.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

its a prefire pleasure. took a run at it but owner was quite stuck in his price, which i considered far too much based on the condition and modifications.
good luck with it,
cheers.

 

[mschaller]

Are you from the Ottawa area?

 

[mschaller]

I haven't taken a look yet, how bad of condition is it in? By modifications I assume you mead the sailing rig. What would you consider a fair price? Thanks for the help.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

no not in ottawa area. from photos rail caps are done wrong, keelson put in, old town style seats and glassed. to say nothing of what cant be seen. sail kit is of no real value and likely will destroy the boat if used hard. spoke to seller has had it a for many years and is very sentimental. for everything it would need to properly restore it i wouldnt go anywhere near his price, but they dont turn up often so if someone really wanted it i guess whatever they paid could be justified.

 

[mschaller]

Interesting, how are the rail caps done wrong?

 

[JClearwater]

Rail caps are supposed to be one long piece, not done the short sections as shown in the pictures and should be installed with nails, certainly not the screws that are visible. That can be rectified, of course, but it's just another thing to fix.
Jim

 

[mschaller]

$1100 CDN a good price?

 

[pklonowski]

1100 pennies for a fiberglassed wooden boat is ridiculous, given the time needed to peel off the 'glass work. Like Dave Osborn said (paraphrased here), "I wouldn't walk away from a fiberglassed boat... I'd run..."

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Dollars, not pennies. Resin glass not so bad, epoxy glass is death for the boat. Decide how much you want it, what standard of accuracy you want to restore it to (if you do) and pay accordingly. No wrong answer for this scenario

 

[MGC]

It needs a couple of these run through those old decks to bring top dollar.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Those look best on Rushtons.

 

[mschaller]

Ok, I’m hoping for some help on this. I think he’s more flexible then he said. The canoe has a few noticeable problems. About 6 cracked ribs, some split planking, one of the inwales is broken and held together with all round, rail caps are wrong as stated, outwales need replacing, one deck is cracked. The biggest thing though is the canoe is hogged. How much rocker should it have? It appears someone put in a very heavy (1.5” wide) keel and possible created the hogging for better sailing?
Is this able to be corrected, or is the shape lost?

 

[MGC]

Andre has looked it over and it sounds like he would have been willing to do the work if the price was right...so that should tell you that it's restorable since Andre would not waste his time on a boat if it was hopeless..
Taking the hog out of a hull is not usually attempted and not always successful. A hogged hull is right up there on the run, don't walk away list...It's right up there with it's been glassed, at least for me.
I recently worked on a hull that was badly hogged and I was able to pull the hog back out of it. What I did was I built a two by six strongback that I attached to the outside of the boat. I spaced it away from the planking roughly twice the amount I needed to pull the hog. I put hot wet towels inside the boat and kept it wet for a few days before flipping it over on my horses and covering it with a plastic sheet and a couple more towels. With the prep out of the way I put my steamer under the boat and ran steam inside it. I did that for quite a while. When I thought it was a ready as it might get I started putting screws into the strongback from inside the hull to pull the hog out. I used the holes where the keel had been attached to run the screws through and I used washers to keep the screws from pulling through the hull. After installing lots of screws and slowly working back and forth between them the hull filled the gap I made to the strongback. At that point I let it sit for about a week. When I pulled the strongback off the hog was gone. Liberal varnish and boat soup applied, time will tell if it stays that way.
With today's lumber prices the cost of the strongback is probably more than the cash value of the canoe

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Mike you are mostly right - i have thing for closed rail Chestnuts, but i already have a restored pleasure so i wasnt too anxious to tear into another wreck. I politely suggested i wouldnt go near a grand, but much under, and we ended our negotiations pleasantly. Its a 100+ year old wreck, if i wanted one bad or it was abandoned on my doorstep i'd go for it, but as you well know what you see is only the tip of the iceberg as far as problems go. Sentimentality and memories are a bitch for prospective purchasers....

 

[MGC]

I have memories of a Healey BN that taught me to start with a rust free car. Much easier restoration if the car is not crumbling on your driveway.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Ask me if i would ever do another Willys Jeep, military or other. Rust everywhere metal touches metal. One giant sacrificial anode, it seems.

 

[MGC]

Ask me if i would ever do another Willys Jeep, military or other. Rust everywhere metal touches metal. One giant sacrificial anode, it seems.

Ahhhh...would a Willys FC 170 with a super hurricane be tempting? That would haul some canoes.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Not even one of those barn find Brough Superiors ...

 

[chris pearson]

Pulling hog out of an old Gerrish.......not fun at all.