New Owner of wood/canvas canoe

WedgewoodK

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Thanks Andy and all who responded to my first post. I drove down to Gig Harbor, WA after work tonight and bought what I believe to be a 67-68 Chestnut Deer.
The canoe seems to have the proper dimensions for a Deer. It has the narrow ribs and and rib spacing of the deer. It has slat seats which apparently were only used on this model for one year in the late 60's
The canoe has two thwarts, though Andy, the center thwart was moved forward to just aft of the forward seat. The original mounting holes, though filled, are clearly visible. The screws fastening the gunwales are Robertson screws and there is a hole in the foward deck where I assume a painter ring should be. I've found one cracked rib and don't care for the condition of the stem bands, but am quite happy. The serial number is 23306.
Though sold by a friend, I did speak with the owner over the telephone and learned some of the boat's history. Her parents bought the canoe new when they were first married and used it for many years in Alberta. She was given the canoe by her mother and she had it recovered ten years ago by someone she said had worked on canoes all his life in northern B.C. She and her husband applied ten coats of paint under his instruction and the boat has seen very little use since then. I intend to put it in the water ASAP.

Thanks Again,
Rob K.
 
Rob,

Congrats! I think you'll be very happy with your new purchase. You can certainly paddle it with the cracked rib until you decide to repair it and/or re-canvas. I think you'll find that by replacing the missing center thwart it will make it easier to paddle this boat solo Canadian style. The center thwart gives you something to lean against and of course makes portaging possible. This should be a very sweet paddling canoe and I hope you enjoy it.
 
Thanks Andy,

I fell in love with it over the weekend. I put about a dozen miles on it paddling on some of the waterways around Seattle.
I don't think either thwart is original so I intend to replace them. In the mean time, using the forward thwart as a kneeling thwart is working well.

Rob
 
No pictures yet. Not much to look at really by the standards of this board, but I will post some after I get some adventures under my belt this summer.
 
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