Is This a Kennebec Canoe?

[Bear]

I am new at posting!! So help will be good. I have purchased a "beater" Not sure what type of canoe this is but am looking to find out. Some info... serial # on both stems It looks like 18 8 38 1 ? 17' plus in length depth 13" width 36-37 inches. It has some damaged areas where I can see the upper parts of some ribs and they are tapered to a point. The deck is heart shaped similar to some Kennebec Canoe Models. It has a floor rack permanently screwed to the bottom. Floor rack has 5 slats center 10' 7" next two 9' outside two slats 6' Three twarts...center one missing. Other two are 28 1/2" Deck 6"x 15-16" heart shaped. Keel about 1" wide and deep. Someone glassed it and covered up the ends of the decks. There are no outer gunnels..not sure if there was a top plate over the inner gunnels that also covered the planking or not?
Thanks for your help,
Bear

 

[Benson Gray]

It would be helpful if you could supply some larger and better pictures of the serial numbers from each end and the actual overall length. Kennebec, Carleton, and many other builders used heart shaped decks so this alone doesn't narrow it down much. A common serial number format has the serial number followed by a large space and two digits that are the length of the canoe in feet. This canoe appers to have had closed gunwales so there may be some old nail holes left on the inside gunwale from the rail cap that covered the edge of the planking. Kennebec put serial number 18838 on a 16.5 foot long boat in 1926 and Carleton used this number on a 16 foot long canoe that shipped in 1927 so neither of them are a good match.

Benson

 

[Benson Gray]

The additional pictures and information that you sent to the webmaster account were helpful. My guess is that you have the Carleton canoe with serial number 8381. This is an 18 foot long, Carleton model with western red cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, spruce finish rails, a keel, and a middle thwart. It was built in June, 1911. The original exterior paint color was slate. It shipped on July 1st, 1911 to Boston, Mass.

A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below. This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_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 http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

A close examination of the bow deck may locate some old nail holes from a brass tag like one of the various types shown at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?1906 if you are lucky. The floor rack and seats appear to have been added during a previous repair. Please reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Bear]

Hi Benson,
Thanks for the update on the Carleton and all your work and time in helping me. The serial # looks like the one that you are talking about 18' 8381 The built sheet is awesome!!
There are 4 nail/screw holes at the top of the deck in my canoe. Could be where there was a tag. The stem bands are nickel in color and not the usually brass color. Both bow and stern stem bands are the same. I found an image of stem bands from an old auction (AntiqueBoatAmerica) 2010 New York. This image is from an 1911 17' Carleton and look like the stem bands from my canoe. I will try to add an image of this on this reply or send it later. The bow hand handle in some of these old Carletons is curved but the one on my canoe is a straight piece of wood?
Thanks again,
Bear (Larry)

 

[Benson Gray]

The bow hand handle in some of these old Carletons is curved but the one on my canoe is a straight piece of wood?

The attached image from the 1912 Carleton catalog appears to indicate that their handles were occasionally straight. More information like this is available at http://store.wcha.org/The-Historic-...pany-Catalog-Collection-Version-2-CD-ROM.html in the Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Company Catalog Collection. The ones in your canoe may also have been replaced. Good luck with the restoration.

Benson