Chestnut Cruiser 16'

[Jörg]

Very nice ! it appears to be a dead ringer for my early cruiser.

Yes Graham, that's exactly what I thought, when I saw the photos in your post from 2013. They could be sisters.
Does yours still have the original canvas on, and therefore you did not check for the stem top detail?

Obviously your boat has been repaired and re-canvassed at some point. If you remove the canvas and planking in that area, perhaps check to see if there is any evidence that the stem was altered.

To me all planks seem to be original. But maybe after so many years, you can't tell.
Don't know, if I want to remove the sheer plank only for this check.
I also don't know, if it was re-canvassed. There was a repair done with glass/resin on one end.
Like the glass was glued on the canvas. Maybe to cover a crack in the canvas...

So, is the stem detail the killer criteria for pre/postfire?
I understood, that it was seen on all known prefire boats when the canvas was off.
But is the new stem design technically linked to the change of the forms?
Or could it have been introduced by the boat builder independent from the new forms?

 

[Jörg]

Meanwhile I had a look a the number of holes from the tacks at the stems and for sure this boat was canvassed only one time.
So planks and stem must be original.

I also found this writing on one plank.
Or the boat builder signed this boat personally or (more likely) he just tried out his pencil.

Note the tacks between the planks.

 

[Jörg]

After 2 months there is some progress:

I've stripped the interior, repaired the broken blanks, varnished the inside with Epifanes rapid coat and oiled the exterior with Owatrol decks olje #1.

Last weekend was canvasing with #10 duck.
We did it with 12mm stainless steel staples. But after it was done, I didn't trust in the staples, so added 1 copper nail each rib.
Like belt and suspenders.

The day after I've filled it with Clements filler:

Now I'm happy to have a break for some weeks.

 

[Jörg]

The Cruiser is finished and ready for new adventures!
It was my first restoration project.
The rear seat is a rebuild made from birdseye maple, in order to match with the front seat.
Except from some small parts of blanks, the canvas, stem bands and painter ring, all other parts are original.
I've removed the keel (but left the screws as André suggested).
I could reduce the weight from 34.4kg to 29.8kg.

She's a joy to paddle, especially solo (reverse from the bow seat).
Easy to do cross strokes due to the narrow width..

Jörg

 

[Graham]

Beautiful work ! Great colour, as far as I can tell, it's the same as my repaint. So nice to see what mine could look like
I wonder when the cruisers dropped the stem notch (if they had them) as they didn't have the deck lift of the pleasure boats. Pretty sure mine doesn't have them either.

 

[geolang]

Beauty! You are so lucky! Thanks for posting the measurements. Those are actually useful to understand! Recently I posted that the Carrying Place "Jack's Special" canoe resembles most the old Chestnut Cruisers like yours, from that age period. Understood it is not the same vintage / pedigree as Chestnut, but they are reminiscent of one another...in lines and measurements.

 

[patrick corry]

Well done Jorg. You've got a great looking canoe, and I have a particularly soft spot for Chestnuts ( I own two!). Great color.