Found in UK help needed to ID year and maker

[Barry Greene]

Help needed identifying year and maker if possible

I like taking on woodworking projects always wanted a canoe so jumped at this when I saw it advertised recently for eye watering amount of £30, I’ve had some really detailed advice about the restoration and priority of the jobs needed to be completed from a restorer in the UK. However I’ve been reading lots of threads on this forum trying to find a canoe that resembles mine, the nearest I’ve come up with is a Thomas Gordon that looks similar, any help would be appreciated see pictures and description below, the canoe was reported by the previous owner to have been in the family for the last 60 years but they have no previous history, it was covered in fibreglass outside and inside over the keelson, the keel had been removed prior to glassing, it’s now been stripped and rough sanded but needs going over to smooth, all the cracks have been raked out and im just in the process of assessing how many ribs need replacing, the keelson is also broken in two places not sure if this is due to the metal braces added at a later date as they have cut into the keelson to fit them.

Dimensions: 16foot long, 31inches beam, 12 inches deep, batons 20x15mm, ribs=21 12x6mm, Keelson 20x25mm,

Construction 3 planks per side widest plank being on the bottom 290mm, internally the keelson appears strait and is attached to the stems via screws, there are 2 batons it looks like three however the closest to the keelson sits on the ribs it does look original as it has the decretive edging on that all the other batons and keelson have including the inwales which is something I can’t find on any other canoes on your forum, others I have seen finish in a chamfered edge to the outer boards. There are some other spacers carrying the same decorative edge running between the two batons just after the centre thwart. The end ribs are 6.5 inches apart but the centre ribs are 6 inches apart 21 ribs in total. The decks are solid thick material no joins 24 inches long and they don’t appear to have any screw hols for a deck plate, on one of the photos you can see where some sort of nose bracket would have been and what appears to be a brass ring presumably a hole for some sort of mast however there isn’t anything under this on the keelson to secure it so not sure about that, there is a hole on the rear deck however that is closer to the rear and is smaller no brass ring on this unfortunately, I’m thinking flag hole possibly. The combing is missing on the rear deck however the front appears original and is secured by 4 brass/copper nails there are remnants of 2 screw hole where a plate may have been attached, I don’t know if I’m imagining it but I can see a faint outline of a long thin sausage like shape, don’t think it matches any makers stickers may be a trick of the varnish. The canoe has tree thwarts there are no thwart plates on the outside these are secured with brass screws and are reinforces with flat iron bars and carriage bolts. Not sure if this is normal or not but the centre thwart is set back and dead centre is 4 holes could this be for some sort of carrying support or some sort of outrigger contraption (or is it likely to be a later addition)

If you spot something on any of the pictures and need more detail just ask

Could anybody give me any indication of what species of wood I’m looking at also, thanks for your help in advance.


Barry