1875 Boston very narrow boat mystery

[Tom6531]

Thanks for letting me join. I think I am in the right place.
I am researching a boat for a book. The boat is described in multiple reports as very narrow- 17” wide and 17 ft long. Maybe a skiff or canoe? It was built in 1875 in Boston, as a personal steamboat. Probably for one person.

I assume this is custom made. It would make sense that it was built for speed, as he also built a 42” wide, 17ft long steamboat that same year.

Were there any other 17” wide, 17 ft long boats made in the 1870s, or at all?
i'm hoping to get an idea of what it looked like.

 

[John Sand]

Good morning!
Perhaps a single scull, which is a very narrow racing rowboat. I never heard of a canoe or kayak that narrow. You might ask on the WoodenBoat Forum.

 

[Dan Miller]

As John said. Probably along the lines of this:

 

[Benson Gray]

I have rowed boats similar to the one that Dan showed and John mentioned. It would not be easy to manage a steam engine in one and stay upright. The link below includes a short article from a Bangor, Maine newspaper on July 16th, 1886 indicating that Evan Gerrish had experimented with a steam powered canoe. Most of his canoes were much more than 17 inches wide.

Benson

Thread 'Newspaper Articles About Canoes: Gerrish, Molitor, And Others.'

Nov 2, 2018

I've recently been trolling through https://www.newspapers.com/ for information about old canoes and continue to be amazed at what shows up. The Bangor paper announced on July 16th, 1886 that Gerrish was experimenting with a steam powered canoe. I. F. West of East Orange, New Jersey shipped a canvas canoe to Gerrish's home town of Brownville on August 25th, 1879 yet this is very close to the time when Gerrish is thought to have invented the concept. It also appears that an early canoe builder named L. A. Levitt from Old Town may have invented the sectional canoe as described in...

• Benson Gray
• Replies: 14
• Forum: Research and History

• 

 

[Tom6531]

Thanks for the help.
The boat was built from 1/4" cedar. The boiler and engine were tiny. Smaller than the ones he used on his earlier motorcycles.
The reports do not mention an outrigger, but it seems like there would need to be one. The reports do say it was fast, 8-10 mph, and capable of 50 miles of range on one gallon of water.
A scull seems to be a good starting point.