Mystery Canoe

[Paul Miller]

Hi All,



At first glance this looks like a home made canoe, but.

This canoe is make like an old boat where the plank is fastened to the ribs with copper nails and roves just as the gunnels are attached.

Looks part Canadian with the thwart blocks, keelsom and straight ribs. The canoe appears to have good lines and construction.

Does anyone recognise this canoe as factory built?


Thanks,



Paul



P.S. I just have the pictures, not the canoe.

 

[Michael Grace]

Paul,

Is this a wood-canvas canoe? It's obviously covered and the ribs and planking look like a w/c canoe. But the nail/rove construction- I can't believe a factory would have ever done this. Surely they would have known that everyone else was making w/c canoes with tacks over a metal-banded form. The construction shown here would be an unnecessary waste of time and materials- not the sort of thing most for-profit operations would do. Doable as a one-off, but as a production item? If it were my company, I wouldn't do it.

Michael

 

[Dan Miller]

I once had a canoe that was entirely put together with little screws instead of tacks. Lots and lots of little brass screws. It was clearly a homebuilt boat with spruce planking and ribs. I salvaged those screws, still using them. Probably the most expensive brass screws ever!

 

[Dan Lindberg]

One of the canoes I have came from a guy who planned to "restore" it by replacing all the tacks with small screws, as he believed that was a better method.

Dan