Help Identify Builder of this Adirondack Guideboat

[J.R.King]

Hi all,

Long time listener, first time caller...

Requesting any and all help identifying the builder and timeframe of this boat.

I just purchased it from a couple in NH that couldn't tell me too much about it. Some Google searches are showing me that this boat has changed hands several times, and went through a 'restoration' in the early '90s. It did not come with oars. The seats and those boards along the bottom of the boat are not original.

It's between 17-18' long, 75-ish lbs. I only have the pictures I have (which are a few more than the ones posted below) but that's it. It's tucked away in storage for the time being. I posted the pictures that show as many of the characteristics as I think are relevant.

Whatever I am able to find out here in this thread, I'll still be taking this boat to NY this summer to get it in front of the experts. My goal is to get it authenticated, if I can, before deciding how to proceed. Ideally, I'd like to get it restored to as close to original as I can - and then get it back in the water.

Standing by to answer anything that I can.

Thanks!
Jon

 

[Worth Gretter]

There is a book that might help you with identification:
"The Adirondack Guideboat: Its Origin, Its Builders, and Their Boats"by Stephen B. Sulavik.
It must still be in print, because a new copy is about $40, and used it is less than $30 at ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, or Alibris.

 

[John Sand]

You might try posting on the WoodenBoat Forum too. Nice boat, good luck.

 

[J.R.King]

There is a book that might help you with identification:
"The Adirondack Guideboat: Its Origin, Its Builders, and Their Boats"by Stephen B. Sulavik.
It must still be in print, because a new copy is about $40, and used it is less than $30 at ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, or Alibris.

For sure. I bought a copy for my dad when he picked up his guideboat a few years ago. He's in Tupper, seeing what he can determine from there. I'll be reading through it myself soon.

I have a copy of Durant's book coming in today, "The Adirondack Guide Boat," to see what additional information I can glean. I'll update this thread with anything that I find.

 

[J.R.King]

You might try posting on the WoodenBoat Forum too. Nice boat, good luck.

Thanks. Will do! I've also emailed Adirondack Experience (Blue Mountain Museum) to see if they can help me with my research.

 

[chris pearson]

Ted Comstock in Saranac Lake NY….He can identify it…

 

[Rob Stevens]

Ted Comstock & Chris Woodward on Stephen Sulavik's book, "The Adirondack Guideboat: Its Origins, Its Builders and Their Boats" (Bauhan Publishing, 2018)

Books: The Adirondack Guideboat

It was known as the 19th century work boat for sportsmen and their guides in the Adirondacks. Today it's an icon of the mountains, and a new book tells the history of the Adirondack guideboat and many of the region's builders. The Adirondack...

www.northcountrypublicradio.org

Also, an Adirondack Almanack piece;

New Book On Adirondack Guideboats Published -

The life’s work of Stephen Sulavik, The Adirondack Guideboat: Its Origins, Its Builders and Their Boats (Bauhan Publishing, 2018) provides a heavily illustrated history of the iconic Adirondack guideboat.

www.adirondackalmanack.com

 

[J.R.King]

Thanks @chris pearson and @Rob Stevens!

I will be emailing Mr. Comstock this morning.

In the meantime, here's a piece of the story that I got in the past 24hrs:

From the couple that I bought the boat from: "...The person I purchased from told me that S Sulavik came to his place and looked at the skiff. He said it was a very early Rice boat from the 1800’s. He describes it in his book. It is the last paragraph on page 276."

Here is that paragraph:

If true - this is Dr. Sulavik describing the EXACT boat that I'm looking to identify. The description checks out.

What do you guys think?

 

[Worth Gretter]

Rob, yesterday it was the Haida video and today the Comstock/Woodward radio interview. Good stuff!

 

[J.R.King]

Here's the link to all of the photos that I have:

Google Drive - Jon's Guideboat

 

[chris pearson]

It checks out, but I’m no expert. What beautiful watercraft they are…..

 

[Chris Woodward]

Hi J.R.
Hard to tell from the limited photos what is exactly going on but from my assessment a couple of things stand out. First, the stem posts i.e. the part of the stem that protrudes above the deck is gone. This is unfortunate because that is a major identifier. It definitely was built here in Saranac Lake though. Also it looks like there a piece has been added from the stem foot (the visible end of the stem on the bottomboard under the deck) back between the first two scribe ribs (footless). The ends of these scribe ribs against the bottomboard were cut vertical on Rice's boats. Hard to tell with this piece added.
The bottom board is rather narrow for a standard boat, rib spacing looks to be about 6" which is typical.
The deck are actually let into the gunwales, not what we would describe as sitting on top. However Dr. Sulavik did reword his descriptions as his worked evolved over twenty years, so if he assessed this boat early on he might have described them this way. The straight edge of the stern deck does date this boat to the 1870's which is when Rice started his career in Saranac Lake. (1878).
The boat is also very similar to some built by Theodore Hanmer who got his patterns from F.W. Rice. However he was twenty years later (1898) so he might not have used a straight edged deck.
So to sum it up, while we can tell you 99% of the builders that didn't build the boat, it will still come down to two possible builders that did, without looking at the boat in real time and space.

 

[J.R.King]

Thanks, Chris! I figured I'd be talking to you eventually. The boat should be making the trip from NH to Tupper Lake this weekend, so I'll start to work out the best time to get your eyeballs on it.

 

[Dan Miller]

Just for kicks, here is a photo taken by F. W. Rice, so presumably the guideboat is also a Rice. I tried to blow up parts of the image to see if anything matches your boat, but the angle of the photo obscures most of the relevant parts. It does appear the decks are let into the gunwales.

 

[Todd F]

Dan, you bring some great things to these conversations. Thanks