Most dramatic, startling Morris find EVER at the Upper Great Lakes regional assembly

Dave Wermuth

Who hid my paddle?
Thank you Judy Kitchen for all your efforts that made the regional assembly such great fun for us.

As we were having pasties an old man came up to us and asked if anyone would want to buy his old canoe with sail rig. He said he came by last year but no one took him up on it. We speculated that it was a beat up OT but you never know, it could be a peach. I suggested he speak with Craig Kitchen. Chris and I decided to climb Sugar Loaf mountain and take in the spectacular sights. While sitting on top of the hill with the world at our feet Craig called me on my cell. "hey Dave, it's got a wide stem and it floats and all the sail rig is complete". and then he said, "I bought it, Judy doesn't know yet." by that time I had him on speaker phone. "We'll be right there."
I said to Chris, "which do you want to be? Mike or Frank?" He got to be Mike and I played the roll of Frank. Craig led us there to the man's house just outside of Marquette and there it was. But the owner was not there. I took pics, and someone got the garage door opened and started laying out all the sailing rig. that's when I spotted the neighbor eyeing us suspiciously. Fortunately I was able to draw on my personality and strike up a conversation with the neighbor, who turned out to be a pretty cool guy and once made his own canoe. By the time we had the sailing rig assembled the owner and his wife arrived. They told us of fish caught, ducks shot, kids and big waves. Did I mention it has a floor rack too? I may have to resize to get these pics to load, but here goes....
 
17' Morris Sailing Canoe surfaces at Great Lakes Regional Assembly.

and now to try again for photos.
 

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more pics

6 more pics
 

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and...

couple more....
So we paced it off and are pretty sure it's 17'. the ribs are thinned, not pocketed. Hmm? three cants? Did not see a brass tag or holes for where the tag would have been. Heart shaped decks. Minor rot on tips and some patched ribs. the owner says this is the way he got it over 60 years ago. Always kept in the garage. I am very interested in comments. I am not an authority on history of any canoe, much less Morris.
 

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I'll be over to look at it... very exciting! Meanwhile, check out the following and see what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU2iyygvr8I

The canoe in that video was on Dave Osborn's truck last Saturday.

I'm not saying anything other than "I am not an expert" and we may be able to figure this out as a group. The profile of Craig's new canoe (in the picture at least) appears to me to resemble the hybrid in the video, but maybe I just have Morris/Kennebec hybrids on my brain! I'd examine the stem for the larger Kennebec plate, as seen in the video. Anyway, a very cool find and actually more of a rarity if a hybrid.
 
I am probably wrong about the hybrid-thing and it's a full-blown Morris... have to see it in-person. Heart appears wider but it is probably a Model B, with a wider deck. I'll post pictures from the 1917 catalog (courtesy of the catalog collection available through the WCHA store and dragonfly.com). This canoe would be earlier than 1917 (heart deck says that) and the sail rigging could have changed.
 

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Saw the canoe yesterday and it appears totally Morris... probably an early twentieth century one! Very cool to get original paddles and all the sail rigging.
 
The bronze leeboard brackets and leeboards are almost certainly Old Town. The rudder may be homemade. Nice canoe, nonetheless.
 
Yes, the sail rigging appears to be aftermarket. The mast seat seems home-made. The fellow Craig bought the canoe from never sailed it... it probably hasn't been sailed since sometime prior to WWII. Looks as though the canoe could go into the water today and do just fine. It's a 16 footer, by the way... and probably Model B.
 
The old couple, I forget which one, said that their son sailed it once, as I recall. But my recollection is suspect. 16' seems even better.
 
There is currently no way to attach the rudder to the canoe (this was probably changed when the canoe was re-canvassed in the mid-'40s), but the canoe could have been steered with a paddle, and the canoe came with a nice, wide, short paddle that could work for that. So, the son of the fellow who owned the canoe could have sailed it. I can't imagine a young fellow who wouldn't want to give that a try!
 
There was also a long, thin paddle that came with the canoe. It is about a foot longer than the other and is very narroww. That could have been used to steer it. Craig Kitchen
 
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