Carleton carry thwarts?

[mccloud]

I've been working on a 1924 Carleton 16-footer. It had one carry thwart at the bows. Some pictures that Howie posted of a Carleton he finished show two carry thwarts, but maybe that was a 17-footer??
Would a 16 foot Carleton have left the factory with only one carry thwart at the bows, or did it have two? TM..

 

[Dan Miller]

Typically Carletons only had a bow carry thwart. If it had two, than it may have started life as a sponson canoe, which had carry thwarts at both ends.

 

[Howie]

Yup... I believe Dan's right. I've restored (or had my hands on) 3 Carleton's. The one that once had sponsons had 2 carry thwarts, the others had 2. Seems to me they're a good idea as you can lift the canoe by the front carry thwart and the rear seat. Saves the decks. Plus they make a handy place to tie a rope to.

 

[Benson Gray]

The 1924 Carleton catalog shows a bow carry thwart alone on canoes without sponsons along with two carry thwarts on canoes with sponsons as Dan and Howie mentioned and shown below. More details like this are available from http://www.wcha.org/store/historic-wood-canoe-and-boat-company-catalog-collection in the scanned Carleton catalogs.

Benson

 

[JClearwater]

One of the canoes Tom Whalen has for sale is a Carleton with sponsons and it has two short curved carry thwarts. http://wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/vintage-canoes-looking-for-new-homes.16501/

Jean and I were at his place last weekend and brought home one canoe. Should have brought home another.

Jim

 

[mccloud]

Thanks, Guys. One carry thwart it will be. With the rot to the inwales near the stern I wasn't sure there ever was a thwart there. And the deck had been re-positioned at some point. TM...