Detroit Boat co. #998

Denis M. Kallery

Passed Away July 3, 2012
In Memoriam
Well Kathryn and I are at it again. Just bought the Detroit "Hudson River" , 16 footer from Rachel Jones. Has the medallion. Gonna need a lot of work. Any info out there other than what is on Dan's web site would be appreciated. Rachel read the sn# as 993 but closer inspection shows it to be 998. Thanks, Denis
 
Detroit Boat Company falls into that class of company about which we know little. No records are known to survive, so the serial number doesn't help us. I've only seen a handful of catalogs and all are dated in the 1900's and early 1910s. I suspect they were out of business by 1920, if not sooner.

At one time they did make canoes for Sears, Roebuck and Co.
 
Detroit Pictures

Thought I'd add some pictures of 998-- not so that folks will feel sorry for Denis when they see the amount of work ahead for him, but so folks can get an idea of the lines and deck configuration of the 16 foot Hudson River model.

This canoe weighed a lot less once the lumber was removed from the bow-- along with the huge bolts that held it on.
 

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Sweet looking canoe.
That strip along the edge,just under the outer rail was that put on at a later date to stop peeling canvas?
Dan'l
 
Dan'l
There is a strip that seems to have gone under the outwale but this boat came with the outwales gone. The canvas was nailed a little shy of the top of the planking. The planks on the stern were to hold the thing together. One of the reasons I posted is I was hoping someone might be able to give me information on what the outwale cross section profile looks like. It seems this boat has quite a bit of tumble home but I'm not sure of that either. It could be that there was a cap rail that extended over that strip and that is what constituted the outwale. Just don't know from what I have. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your comment, Denis
 
From the 1911 catalog "Gunwales are 7/8 x 11/16 inch, made of best quality spruce, running full length. After decks are put in, finishing rails are also run full length, capping gunwales, and a neatly finished side rail gives the whole a very handsome effect."
 
Dan,
As I read your post it seems my guess that there was no outwale per se is correct. Is that how you read it? Thank -you! Denis
 
Yes, I would expect it to be similar as other closed gunwale canoes of the period. If you have the WCHA Morris catalog reprint, it would probably be similar to Figure 1 on page 7.
 
Here are a couple photos I found in an old email of a canoe that was (is?) for sale near here. They don't show the outside finish rail well, but you can see the rail cap.
 

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