Hello again, John--
Your Morris appears to be either 17' or 18' long. Length is measured from the farthest point on the bow (outside) to the farthest point on the stern... but if you pull a tape along the side of the canoe, you'll add-in the curve of the side--- so, imagine a stick placed vertically in the ground, that just touches the bow and another at the stern, and measure a straight line between them.
Your canoe is probably either a Model A, type 3 or a Model B, type 3. Could be a C or D, but is more likely A or B and I'd vote for B. The B is more often the model fitted for rowing or sailing.... the HW of the Morris-world, not necessarily in terms of measurement but in terms of use (so perhaps in terms of measurement, after all).
I'll give you the width of the A and B models, but after 100 years, any canoe may not be exactly as it was when it came off the form... so catalog measurements must be taken with a grain of salt.
The 17' Model A Morris is 34" wide at the extreme, and the 18' Model A is 34 1/2". The 17' Model B is 36 1/2" at the extreme, and the 18' Model B is 37 1/2".
Type 3 refers to a long-decked canoe with outside stems. I believe I explained what outside stems are on the video. They are the strip of hardwood on the outside edge of bow and stern, that protects the boat from banging into things (the dock, an old snag, some moose's antlers, etc.) and also looks really nice when refinished the same mahogany color as the other trim, contrasting with the color of the canvas.
Your canoe has a diamond-shaped flag/pennant/burgee holder on the deck. This is original to the boat. The blocks for the row locks are original and very cool to have-- we have a set and yours is the only other I've seen. The painter ring is the metal loop above the serial number plate. This is also original to the canoe--- Morris painter rings were nickel plated and placed on the stem, just like that. Different from Old Town, but they show up on Morris canoes again and again in that location, and are seen in the catalog as "painter loop and screws" for 25 cents. (The catalog I refer to is part of the Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Company Catalog Collection CDs, available from
http://www.wcha.org/catalog/ and
http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the web.)
It's nice to retain as much as possible of an old canoe (as Greg said), but the things that apply to a Chippendale chest of drawers, regarding restoration, don't necessarily apply to old canoes. If you were to strip away all the old patina and apply stain and varnish, you won't decrease the canoe's value. Boats are in the same general category as antique cars.... to restore them, you make them usable again... you take them back to what they were, but with perhaps some better products for wood protection.
The general consensus is that it's your canoe and you can do what you wish. But if you know what you're doing you'll be happier with the end product.
As MGC mentioned, using the "search" function (above) should bring up old discussions of Morris canoes--- and you may find you have even more questions... I hope you feel free to ask. If you email me in "real email" I can send you the text of the most recent article on Morris canoes that was in our journal, "Wooden Canoe". My email address is
kathrynklos@gmail.com.
Kathy
