Welcome and congratulations, the Kennebec canoe with serial number 14205 is shown on page 201 of volume number two in the Kennebec ledgers. This was assigned to an 17 foot long Kennebec model. It was planked by E. Stackhouse on May 22nd, 1920. The canvas covering was added by Roy on June 12th, 1920 and he applied the first filler coat on the same day. He applied the second filler coat later that month. It was railed by Baxter on June 19th, 1920. The original color was green. It shipped to "Kaufman" on May 6th, 1920 (which is probably an error). The scans of these build records can be found below. These original Kennebec records are reproduced through the courtesy of the Maine State Museum.
The microfilms and scans of these records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA). A description of the project to preserve other records like these is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
thank you,
Most interesting. we measured it to be 16ft. My father and grandfather always assumed it to be an. Old Town, where the man restoring it thinks it is a Kennebec. I will post more when I go back to see the progress.
The Old Town with serial number 14205 is 17 feet long with sponsons and closed gunwales. It shipped to Newport News, Virginia in 1910. This will look much different so some pictures could help. Good luck with the project,
A picture is worth a thousand words.
There are distinctive features of Kennebec canoes that would help confirm if it is one.
And, cut to the chase, why does your restorer think it's a Kennebec?
The wide ("splayed)") stem and other features of your canoe suggests that it might be a B.N. Morris. Where did you see the serial number on the canoe? If a Kennebec it should be on a tag that says Kennebec. If an Old Town, it should be stamped into a stem that looks radically different from the stem in your canoe (square in cross section where it ends in the bottom of the canoe). If a Morris, it should be on a brass tag with nothing but the number stamped in it. Clearly #14205 in the Kennebec ledger doesn't match your canoe and the photos don't show an Old Town.
Morris history is a little complicated and interwoven with Kennebec and Old Town. See, for example:
Here is a nice canoe that I stumbled on at an antique auction in Brookfield, Massachusetts. I was there to bid on an Eli Terry wood movement tall case clock, and there under the tent was this canoe, which I couldn't immediately identify. I knew it had very distinctive features that I had read...
A small assortment of records for partial Morris canoe builds were discovered many years ago in the Old Town repair records. See http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/morris/records/ for more about this. Many of these appear to be partially completed canoes that were filled, railed, fitted, finished...
I just purchased a Kennebec wood/canvas canoe with sponsons this week and am very excited to do some research on it. My family has a summer home in the Les Cheneaux Islands of the UP of Mich. I had admired this canoe my entire life as it hung upside down in the neighbors boat house for the past...
I agree with Michael that you probably have a Morris and a picture of the tag would help. The information at the first link below shows some examples of similar Morris tags. The second link below indicates that a Morris with serial number 14205 might be from around 1916. Good luck with the rest of the restoration,
Many old wooden canoes and boats have a serial number on both inside stems and a decal or tag with the manufacturer's logo on the bow deck. The number is usually stamped on the top of the lower part of the stems. The inside stems are the long curved pieces of wood that form the ends of the...
Your Morris with brass tag 14205 installed on the splayed cedar stem can be dated to circa 1916ish.
Read more about Morris (and wooden canoes) on the Wooden Canoe Museum website.