Old Town's All-Wood canoes

[Benson Gray]

Chris Pearson was asking for more details about the All-Wood canoes from Old Town. This seemed like a topic that might interest this group so I decided to post the information here. The 1929 Old Town catalog page below shows a 16 foot long All-Wood model that was "aimed to confirm in measurements with the racing regulations of the American Canoe Association" (ACA). The ACA was very slow to accept the new canvas canoes so their top racing class rules still specified this construction.

The original static image used for this page is shown below.

The story is that these were made by Morris at their home in Veazie. This seems to match an assortment of build records mixed in with the Old Town repair records for serial numbers 1 to 42 as shown below.

The story goes on to say that Morris was later brought into the factory at Old Town to teach them how to build lapstrakes. This also appears to match the first lapstrake boat being listed in the 1932 Old Town catalog.

A few of these All-Wood canoes have survived so please notify me if you know of one. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Michael Grace]

Hi Benson. I'm curious about "The story is that these were made by Bert Morris at his home in Veazie. This seems to match an assortment of build records mixed in with the Old Town repair records for serial numbers 1 to 42 as shown below." I don't understand what matches between the posted build records and the idea that Morris may have worked from home to build OT canoes. Am I not seeing something in these records? Is it only that his factory was gone and was alive (among countless other boatbuilders) during these years? Same for the "match" between a story about Morris coming to the factory to teach and first lapstrake in catalogs in the 1932 catalog. From this information alone, where is the connection? Curious... I'm not saying the story is wrong; just excited to see any evidence that supports the story.

 

[Benson Gray]

excited to see any evidence that supports the story.

I believe that Deane Gray told me this story. Another version of it is also repeated on page 16 of The Canoeist's Catalog by Bill and Fern Sterns from 1978. It quotes a letter from Charles B. King who identified himself as a grandson of Charles A. Morris. He says, "In 1926 and 1927 I used to help my grandfather in his old factory (a three-story building on the lot behind where Red's Market now stands in Veazie) as he built racing canoes without any canvas on them. He finished them in natural finish; they could only weigh between 62 and 64 pounds - no more, no less. They were made for the Old Town Canoe Company, as they did not have the men to do the job right."

This 'old factory' is a barn behind the house at 6 Flag Street in Veazie. Kathy Klos got permission from the current owner for some of us from the WCHA to tour this building several years ago. It still had many things left from when the Morris family lived there.

The short run of build records have very little construction information and the numbers are not part of the usual sequence. This seems to indicate that most of the work was done outside the factory in Old Town.

I realize that none of this is beyond dispute but the available evidence seems to align reasonably well with the stories. Let me know if you would like more details. Thanks,

Benson

 

[samb]

I maybe showing my ignorance of terminology here, but I thought that lapstrake construction involved overlapping planks nailed through into the light frame. Is the illustration of the canoe not a board and batten canoe?

 

[Benson Gray]

Is the illustration of the canoe not a board and batten canoe?

You are correct, and I have edited the previous messsage to remove the errors. This is a board and batten canoe, not a lapstrake. I thought that it might be a smooth sided lapstrake but that doesn't appear to be the case as shown below in picutures of one from 2017. Ooops,

Benson

 

[Ben Fuller]

These 16 x 30 racing canoes were called "Peanuts" and could be paddled as K-1/ K-2 and C-1/ C-2. high kneeling. They were build by a number of builders; I think most came out of Canada, Dean of Toronto being the best known builder. It would be totally understandable for Old Town to want to get into this limited but high prestige market and subcontract these as they wouldn't fit into the normal Old Town work flow.

 

[Worth Gretter]

Benson, I am intrigued by layout of the risers that hold the 3 thwarts. The locations are identical in the picture from the 1929 catalog and your 2017 shot of a surviving example. The 2017 shot makes clear that the thwarts are adjustable. The bow and stern risers are located differently, and the center risers are shifted from center even though the thwart itself is shown almost exactly in the center. What is the rationale here?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The 1917 shot makes clear that the thwarts are adjustable. The bow and stern risers are located differently, and the center risers are shifted from center even though the thwart itself is shown almost exactly in the center. What is the rationale here?

If @Ben Fuller is correct that these canoes were meant to be raced tandem or solo, then I would guess that the thwarts were adjustable fore and aft so as to function as sliding seats. Proper trim is very important in racing canoes, and adjustable thwarts would allow tandem paddlers of different weights, or a solo paddler, to fine tune the trim. The bow and stern risers are the shape they are to allow the thwarts to be adjusted into the narrower or wider parts of the hull.

The center riser would be offset toward the stern so that a solo paddler could sit or kneel the typical 5"-10" behind the geometric center. When paddled tandem, the center thwart would likely be stationed at the geometric center to serve as a portage thwart.

These are just my suspicions. Perhaps other folks have others.