16' Rushton Indian Girl Long Deck Completed

[Howie]

Rushton Indian Girl, 16', #5213, circa 1915. Its bones were gifted to me a year ago by my buddy and WCHA guru Mike/MGC. Hope I did you proud!

As you can see this IG has long decks, half ribs, and external stems. It's mostly original except for: new seats, 1 new thwart, several replaced ribs (and all the rib tips), and long decks and coping (which are near exact copies of the originals). The external stems are interesting as they are oval shaped in profile but with the inner & outer ends flattened to 3/8" to fit against the canoe's stem on the inner side and stem band on the outer side.

Purists will quibble that the woven seat cane pattern I used is not the type used by Rushton. Ah well... I believe my weave and hole pattern arrangement is superior(!).

Interestingly, beneath the canoe's long decks are the standard Rushton double-lobed decks. Thus when when a customer requested long decks the needed material was simply screwed onto a stock Indian Girl. Same thing with external stems: the external stem is designed to screw into the space normally taken by the 3/8" wide stem bands.

 

[MGC]

Nicely done. Yes, I am said quibbler. So it goes. I knew that the Howie weave was coming when I gave the canoe to you.
Did you buy a drone or have you been taking pictures from the top of a tall ladder?

 

[Howie]

The latter. Pardon the pun.

 

[MGC]

I stepped right into that..

 

[JClearwater]

Nicely done Howie. Great job.
The cane pattern is the Diamond Pattern with double diagonals. I just finished the same pattern on a Charles River courting canoe I've been working on. I will not quibble on changing the pattern from what Rushton used. The seat cane could have been changed out a couple times in the life of the canoe and the pattern changed every time at the whim of the owner. Same with the paint color actually.

 

[Howie]

Thanks JC. Now that you mention it I remember I saw this weave pattern maybe 10 years ago on either an Old Town or Carleton. I like it because its fuller - you get more cane than open spaces.