Supermario
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Dear fellow canoeists, I'm pretty new to the WCHA, and wish I knew much longer ago of your existence, it might would have made my live in rebuilding that quite old wooden canoe perhaps a bit easier...never the less, here I am and need your help in identifying it's brand and model and perhaps its age as well. I'm at home in Switzerland, so I don't know wether it's a European brand, but most likely I would guess it's northern American/Canada built? There is no number or name plates or tags to be seen unfortunately. I restored it 20 years ago and by that time it was in quit a bad shape and covered in a thick layer of paint. So I removed it all, repaired some of it's ribs and planks and covered it with a few layers of clear fibres and epoxy (sorry if that might offend some of the hardcore builders among us..I did not know better by then...). Things that are quite characteristic, that might help for identification are the two quite large upper sections (decks) of the bow and stern made of Mahogany (I guess?), the Gunwale that is "solid" means completely closed, not broken by the ribs as on other models. There once was a very small keel (app. 1/2" or so) at the bottom, which I removed during renovation for better maneuverability. The Center Yoke was gone from the beginning, so that was not replaced by a new one. The two original seats where made of grating style wood. We lost them once we capsized on a ww river (I know stupid idea...but now I'm paddling lakes instead), and were replaced by me with grating style new ones that look very similar, although the original ones were more arrow shaped gratings, the new ones are just square (easier for me to produce...). One thing that is still original is the wooden backrest for one of the seats, was most likely for the inactive passenger (that's why I could only guess that it might have been built in the early 1900's ?). The brass flag pole holder and rope support seem to me original or at least the same age as the canoe. The name on the side was given by me, so don't take this as a hint or any brand or model name...the stem bands were both replaced with two stainless steel ones, if there were old ones they were either rusty steel ones or brass ones that were in bad shape. That's more or less it about the history and what I can tell you about it's restoration I did. Hope that info helps and the attached pictures might find some of you experts knowing more about it. With that knowledge I would like to add in the future decals or plates etc. to it again, so it would look as original again as it might once has been (ok, no repainting...I like the wooden look to much...). Thank you for your time and help! Great to be part of such a nice fellowship to take care of such precious pieces of craftsmanship. Cheers from Switzerland, Mario
