canoe ID

[kmartin]

Hi
I have not been able to ID this canoe. Can anyone help. It is 17' with a 32" or 33" beam. Seat wood is narrow and just have the edges beveled. Thwarts
are well rounded and very narrow except the small one in photo. The seats and thwarts are all riveted to the gunwales, which are deep about 1 1/4".
Copper fastened with the ribs beveled to the inside edge at the top to meet the gunwales. Closed gunwales. Some caning left wrapped around the outside tips past the decks. Also has wood supports notched out to hold the seats under the gunwales ( not sure if original)
Kevin Martin

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Kevin--

Could be a Carleton-- check the stems for a serial number... a Carleton would have a serial number on the stem on the floor of the canoe below the decks. You may have to clean up the wood-- wet it-- do whatever to uncover and bring out the numbers and sometimes one end is better than the other. If you can find a serial number, we can check the Carleton records to see if it matches your boat.

You may want to check the dragonfly canoe i.d. site-- scroll to Carleton and see if that looks right to you. And when the deck is heart-shaped, it always pays to look at the stem and see if it matches the Morris (look at Morris on dragonfly, too).

More pictures-- of seats and thwarts-- may provide clues as well.

http://dragonflycanoe.com/id/index.html

Kathy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a Morris but that may be because my brains have turned to Morris-jelly-- and I don't want to make every canoe I see into a Morris! But that deck... those ribs...

Does it look like the keel was attached at every rib?

Is the stem a narrow piece of wood or something that gets fat... looks sort of like a beaver's tail and bites the first full rib?

 

[kmartin]

The canoe does remind me of a Morris and has thinner planking at the sheer and the planks are shellacked. Ribs are thicker like Morris but no wide stem. No numbers on the stem either No Keel screws. The thwarts and seats are original and nothing like Morris canoes I have seen. Front seat support is riveted with no other holes to hang the seat from so it is original too.
More photos of seating attached.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Very unusual seat-frame, isn't it. This looks like an i.d. job for Dan!

Are you the Kevin Martin who builds the gorgeous courting canoes using Kingsbury molds?

 

[kmartin]

Yes, I am the same guy. Just finished a nice Rushton Row and Sail Boat and ALMA-D.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Works of Art!

I always get a kick out of eBay sellers who have a "project boat" for sale, and in their ad they say, "nobody makes these anymore"... not true! Your boats are remarkable, Kevin.

I hope somebody steps in here with opinions re your U.F.O. (unidentified floating object)...

Kathy

 

[chris pearson]

I thought Racine too, they had that seat batten for the front seats. Do the thwarts have wing nuts on them by any chance? Racine did the seat batten so you could take the bow thwart out and the canoe would still maintain its shape. Only thing is, Racine seats are typically alot beefier than these.

 

[Fitz]

Fwiw

I have an old Carleton Penobscot (1910) with heart shaped deck and yours is very similar, but yours is more refined. The thwarts and seats in the Carleton hang and don't match yours at all.

I saw a photo yesterday of a Gerrish deck with lashed ends and a narrow heart shaped deck - but alas narrower than yours and your hull doesn't scream "GERRISH"!

I also wondered if it wasn't an early White, but that was just wondering.

Cheers,

Fitz

 

[john hupfield]

Early Chestnuts were cloned from Morris and had heart shaped decks and closed inwales.Seats were seldom much below the thwarts.Planks are tapered.No wide stems.This building form burned in 1915.
Dick Perrson is the athority on these if they are Chestnut.
I saw a Courting Canoe you redid at Assembly.Wish it was mine.
John

 

[john hupfield]

I meant ribs are tapered.Beg Pardon.
John