Greetings all, my first post here but have been reading for a long while. I just finished my first cedar strip canoe and lo and behold a friend gives me an old canoe that has been in his family for many years to restore. No one seems to know much about it except it was bought new ca. 1920 and has been in the family ever since. It has been stored in an old farm out-building for some unknown number of years. All of the wood appears to be solid with no rot (surprise!). I cannot find any numbers, markings, etc that would give any indication of its origin so I thought I would ask the experts here. The boat is 16' long with a beam of 33". The decks are 27" long and one has a diamond shaped (brass?) emblem (but without any characters). Rather than try to describe the boat I thought I would upload several pictures and see if anyone could help me out. Thanks very much in advance for any information you may have!
Just acquired an old canvas on wood canoe-trying to figure out the who and when
- Thread starter Scotty
- Start date
Mark Adams
all wood nut
Hello,
What you got there is probably a Morris. It will be a beautiful canoe when you get the holes out of it, and get that horrible keel off it! There is a possibility it was fitted with an inboard originally, but it looks a little too much like a hack job.
Look for a set of 4 holes on the bow stem that might indicate the presence of a serial number plate. Also if there are holes, the orientation of them will give some clues as to age. the plate was about 1/2" x 1 1/2", and was either parallel to the center line, or perpendicular, depending on when it was built.
Nice canoe!
What you got there is probably a Morris. It will be a beautiful canoe when you get the holes out of it, and get that horrible keel off it! There is a possibility it was fitted with an inboard originally, but it looks a little too much like a hack job.
Look for a set of 4 holes on the bow stem that might indicate the presence of a serial number plate. Also if there are holes, the orientation of them will give some clues as to age. the plate was about 1/2" x 1 1/2", and was either parallel to the center line, or perpendicular, depending on when it was built.
Nice canoe!
Dave Wermuth
Who hid my paddle?
I didn't really see the splayed stem. The planking says Thompson to me. I think I saw the long deck like that on a Thompson photo once.
Larry Meyer
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
Profile seems to be an Indian Girl style. Deck suggests it was an ACA sailing type canoe. Keel modification suggests somebody who wanted to have a tree for a main mast got hold of it.
Mark Adams
all wood nut
yeah, I sort of missed the planking pattern. Rather obvious on a second look! I re-looked at the pic of the bow, and it still looks like a splayed stem to me, but, what the hell do I know? I am having problems seeing the end of my nose these days. Dan is far more knowledgeable than I anyway.
MGC
Scrapmaker
Pretty poor quality planking too....you would not see knot holes like that in a Morris....
I also had a real hard time seeing the stem in these pictures.
A guideline for posting pictures for a canoe ID should include:
Closeup of each deck, thwarts, seats, stem, mounting hardware, side profile of the boat and if exposed, planking, inside and outside rails, any unique characteristics and
D) the builders tag.
Unless it's a real obvious one I usually need 7 or 8 pictures of a canoe to completely satisfy my curiosity.
I also had a real hard time seeing the stem in these pictures.
A guideline for posting pictures for a canoe ID should include:
Closeup of each deck, thwarts, seats, stem, mounting hardware, side profile of the boat and if exposed, planking, inside and outside rails, any unique characteristics and
D) the builders tag.Unless it's a real obvious one I usually need 7 or 8 pictures of a canoe to completely satisfy my curiosity.
Hey, thanks Dan (and everyone else) for responding so quickly. Have not had much time to work on the boat but based on the picture you provided it sure does look a lot like the Racine but could not find the heart shaped deck you mentioned? I have started pulling the decks off and slowly removing the outwale. I'm sure I will asking more questions as I get more into it
Thanks again
My mistake - sorry! The short deck buried beneath a long deck would be a characteristic of Racine Boat Manufacturing Co., not Racine Boat Co.
Dan
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