Can anyone help me ID this boat???

[Nick Bailey]

I just bought a guys 30 year old restoration project this morning. He started recanvassing this thing in the 80's, hung it up, and there it stayed. He thinks it might be a Seliga, but I'm not optimistic about that. I have no idea how old it is or who made it.

I've attached a picture of the serial numbers (17 on top, 7542 below), the bow profile (I think its symmetrical), and the planking scheme at the center of the boat. If there is anything else you think may help ID it I'll gladly get the info.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

-Nick

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Are the decks intact? It has "torpedo" like a courting canoe and appears to have un-tapered ribs. Maybe by a Charles River builder?

 

[Nick Bailey]

Thanks for the quick response!

Sadly, the decks are gone and have been replaced by these:

 

[Dave Osborn]

Nick,
The structure that is in the photo is not a replacement. It is the support structure for the deck.
Definiely NOT a Seliga. I dunno what it is, but it looks cool!

 

[Kathryn Klos]

It's the structure below the long deck of what was possibly a Charles River courting canoe... certainly not the type of boat Joe built! It's good that the structure is there because it provides clues to the length of the original decks, which may have been mahogany or other fancy hardwood.

 

[Nick Bailey]

Thanks again. My Seliga hopes were pretty well dashed when I saw those giant stems. Either way...it will be a nice one to start out with.

I've been looking around the site for something similar, and I kind of thought the big stems and the way the keel attaches at alternating ribs kind of looked like this Kennebec from a different thread: http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?7507-1939-Kennebec-17-type-B

I didn't notice any marks left from a metal serial # plate, but I'll look a little closer.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Kennebec built canoes with torpedo stems (the torpedo and Ketahdin models), so this profile makes Kennebec a possibility if the canoe has tapered ribs, which it doesn't appear to in the pictures. Several Charles River builders didn't taper the ribs on their canoes. The serial number pattern and number-type don't look Kennebec to me either. Someone here may recognize the "font" of those letters.

 

[Gil Cramer]

Racine is one manufacturer that stamped serial numbers into the ribs. They also riveted their rails. The stem profile does not look like a Racine, but there were 4 or 5 different Racine canoe manufacturers so who knows.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Racine is a good thought-- I pulled out a video I made a while back on a Racine Seneca we helped transport. (Sorry about the irritating sound on this-- my old ripping-program cut the sound in and out and I should re-make all my early videos.)

The decks on this canoe are not original-- they were re-made in cherry-- but are the original length. It seems to me that the canoe which is the subject of this thread has greater recurve in the stems than the Seneca has. Can't remember for certain if RacineWis have tapered ribs... my recollection is that they do, however. Can't see the ribs well enough in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mPh68GcI4

 

[Nick Bailey]

Those "7"s sure do look like the ones on my boat. The serial number scheme also seems pretty similar. The "17" is on the botton instead of the top in the video, but overall it seems pretty close.

Thanks again! You've all been extremely helpful...especially to a newb!

-Nick

 

[Gil Cramer]

The rivet holes in the inwales @ every 3rd rib and the "clipped" rib top edges are both Racine indicators. The planking width appears to be uniform, unlike some models. My guess is that the canoe was made in Wisconsin and not in Muskegon or St. Joe. Michigan. Hopefully, somebody will have some more info about your canoe.

 

[Dan Miller]

What Gil said... all features lead to RacineWis, except the stem profile. It could be their Seneca or Navaho model, the former having cedar decks with oak covering board, and hardwood thwarts and seats, and the latter with mahogany decks and mahogany thwarts and trim.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Dave is right, that is NOT a Seliga, wrong end shape and the S/N neither matches any of Joe's "patterns" and isn't on the top of the stem, which is where he put them.

Check the end of the ribs for a chamfer, and the planking to see if it's straight. The end shape and S/N and deck looks a bit like a canoe we believe is a Thompson Ranger.

Dan