Have a 1947 18' cs hw ot. There are holes in every other rib centered. Build record says no keel and holes do not go through planking. It has half ribs so I ruled out floor deck. These holes were filled (not very well; thank you whoever). I did find a dimpled finish washer (the screws were countersunk). Orignial canvas. Anyone have a clue? Mike
Mystery holes
- Thread starter frogahern
- Start date
Was it returned to the factory for repairs? It would indicate such on the back of the card.
Someone may have used ribs from an old canoe with a keel to repair yours or it could also have been built with a keel which was removed in a later repair. How are you sure that the canvas is original? Pictures and a serial number might help.
Benson
Benson
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Ser.# 147685. It was returned to be repainted. The canvas reflects that.(red and then green) I have not stripped the canvas yet. Will do that tomorrow. I have a funny feeling that I might find the planking plugged because some customer from hell changed their mind about a keel before being canvased. Don't know. Update later. Thanks Mike
I don't see anything at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=20697&d=1334084295 about being returned but it does appear to have been repainted. This was a tough time in the canoe business as shown by the planking being spruce instead of western red cedar. Several of the ones made just before this one even had pine gunwales. It is possible that they repainted it and removed the keel for a specific customer order but simply didn't note the keel change on the build card. They would have needed something to fill the screw holes in the canvas before it was repainted which may be why it appears that the planking doesn't have any holes. All of this will probably become clear once you get the canvas off. Let us know what you find.
Benson
Benson
I removed the canvas and the planking had been plugged/patched. So this means it had been canvased twice before leaving the factory? Well I guess this means it gets a keel and o/stems. BTW the planking was varnished and ribs attached with galvanized tacks, Many tacks. It's fun being kinda of a canoe detective isn't it? Well, back to work. Cheers Mike
Another possability is that all this happened during repairs after it left the factory including the green over red paint. Galvanized tacks are not unusual on a canoe of this vintage. You may find that it isn't easy to add outside stems to a canoe that didn't originally have them like this one. The outer edges of the inside stems may be too narrow to line up well with a reasonably sized outside stem. Good luck,
Benson
Benson
