Gerrish or not?

[kayamedic]

Our neighbor had this canoe deposited on his property. Apparently it came from across the lake from an old timers barn. We have succeeded in getting him to store it gunwale down. (It spent the winter covered but till last Saturday was gunwale up and it does now have two 3/4 inch deep hogs. We plan to offer him something to transfer custody of the boat to us( we think we can handle the boil and sandbag chore) So far we have succeeded in persuading him not to make bookcases and not to glass and epoxy it. He did remove most of the old canvas. I am not sure if the seats and thwarts are original.

But the rush seats and high stems and capped gunwales make me think Gerrish.. There is no number anywhere but some scribbling on the stems. There seems to be a shadow of lashing on the end of the one stem rake that exists. There is no evidence of a makers plate. The decks don't quite seem to be the right heart shape.

I was at Assembly and saw Renco and Williams boats.. offshoots of Gerrish as their corresponding makers went to Kennebunkport. None quite correspond.We are in Maine though and any of those builders and probably other independents are possible.

I don't have LOA measurements now.We will go back tomorrow with tape measure. What other makers should we be researching? And does anyone have data on models of Gerrish?





Sorry all the photos are out of line..I don't know what I did.

 

[1905Gerrish]

Not a Gerrish, but interesting canoe. Looks like a early mass canoe with the ribs not being tapered. Serial number on the stems? It would looks very nice restored. Where in Maine are you?

 

[kayamedic]

No serial number anywhere. What is an early mass canoe...just a boat that was built early in the mass production years?

 

[1905Gerrish]

Mass the state. How about more pictures ( thwart,seat,stem). Does the seats have holes drilled in them under the caning? No tiny holes in the deck for an old tag or evidence of a decal?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Looks like a Robertson

This looks like something from Robertson. Deck shape, un-tapered ribs, the relief under the inside edge of the gunwale except where seat frames and thwarts meet the gunwale (Nutting did this too), and it also looks like the planking is let into the ends of the gunwales where everything comes together at the peaks. All indicators point to this being from J.R. Robertson.

 

[kayamedic]

I will do some measurements and more pics of detail. The stems are very high and though the stem band has pulled away fooling the eye they look to have less recurve than the Robertson pics I have seen, though those are few!

 

[1905Gerrish]

A good percentage of Robertsons have the name stamped on the thwarts close to the gunnel. Most are tough to see and are not stamped very deep. I personally have never seen a Robertson with the high ends like the canoe has but some other features I do agree with. How about the other questions I asked in post # 4?

 

[kayamedic]

The current owner/storer is away and will be back today.. I find interesting the external stems. The seats are interesting and a thwart seems to be lacking. Not broken. There is some sort of metal fitting on each inwale where the thwart ends would be.

 

[dtdcanoes]

KIM, I suspect you have an earlier example of a Boston boat and go get it, now. The wales are typically turned wide, and they are chamfered between the seat rails. Note too, the wide last plank at the stem tips and in general on the hull. Most importantly are the cast receptacles on the inside of the wales into which the spring metal flat bars fit. A simple draping of some N0-Seeum screen would keep the bugs away " as we play ". The wide ribs at the wales are typical as well.

Have fun.and think hard on the hog fix.

 

[kayamedic]

I don't think I know what spring metal flat bars are but am envisioning something that when bent in an arc forms a canopy over which a shelter could be draped. The one thwart never seems to have had a second companion. Are there any pictures of spring metal bars?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I don't think I know what spring metal flat bars are but am envisioning something that when bent in an arc forms a canopy over which a shelter could be draped. The one thwart never seems to have had a second companion. Are there any pictures of spring metal bars?

Yes, that's what the clips are for - flat spring steel pieces that bend from gunwale to gunwale to hold a canopy. But these were readily available aftermarket, and could be bought for any canoe. They are most common on Boston-area canoes.

 

[kayamedic]

I have had a second opinion from the current owner that it might be a Huron Canoe. I have never seen a HC with high stems. We can't take more measurements cause the owner is preparing his yard for a big outdoor wedding this weekend and we will be out of town for a while after that.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

I have had a second opinion from the current owner that it might be a Huron Canoe.

If he means the group of builders from Quebec, let me be the first to state emphatically that it is about as far from a Huron canoe as one could get. Rather it is a very nice looking closed gunwale model and as Dave said, `go get it now`. If they want to price it accordingly, then by all means its a Huron for the purposes of value...

 

[kayamedic]

I have had a second opinion from the current owner that it might be a Huron Canoe.

If he means the group of builders from Quebec, let me be the first to state emphatically that it is about as far from a Huron canoe as one could get. Rather it is a very nice looking closed gunwale model and as Dave said, `go get it now`. If they want to price it accordingly, then by all means its a Huron for the purposes of value...

Thanks Andre! Good advice!!

 

[kayamedic]

Now that we started scrubbing the hull prior to stripping we found a wavy and faint stamp on each end of the only thwart. Its hard to read but appears to say Robertson (not sure of the JR) Auburndale Mass. The second line is straight. The first wavy.
Also stamped on the inside of the top right plank is the number R5. Not sure what that means at all.

Canoe is 16 feet long, 13 inches deep and 35 inches wide.

 

[MackyM]

Perhaps the fifth canoe Robertson built? Would kind of explain the canopy mounts.

 

[Dan Miller]

Attached is a photo of what the Robertson wavy stamp looks like (this one happens to grace one of the printing plates used in printing his catalog).

Robertson was building all-wood boats in the mid-1880s, well before starting to build canvas canoes - this is hardly his fifth...! Still, this does look like a nice early Robertson - I hope I get to see it in person someday.

 

[kayamedic]

My camera isn't taking good pics..I will try again tomorrow in less bright light. Looks exactly like that stamp.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Ya, but are you going to be able to get it?

 

[kayamedic]

The picture or the boat? We do have the latter. It also has the penciled number 2161 on each stem on the exterior planking on each side.

Now on to stripping today.. Thankfully we are in SC and not in Maine!