Peterborough Mermaid/chestnut Playmate

[mschaller]

I am going to take a look at 2 14' canoes this weekend. 1 is a Peterborough with a stamp on the stem with 1814 XXXX, the other has no decals and the stem serial # is unreadable. The 2 canoes seem nearly identical in the pictures I have.

Question:

Did the amount of sheer change on these canoes change/lessen over the years?

I have seen pictures of some mermaids/minettas/champlains and their chestnut counterpart with quite a bit of kick-up (probably not the right term) at the sheer, and some with very little.

With kick-up

Without kick-up

Thanks,

 

[Graham]

I'm a little embarrassed to post this picture, where a canoe is used as a car cover holder, but here's my two Peterborough Mermaids, one from 1953 and one from 1958. Both seem to have the same form (higher ends?). The later was purchased from Ted Quinn Marine in April of '58 and the original owner said he never heard the term Mermaid, only that it was a deluxe Peterborough 14' canoe. And it doesn't have the 1814 stamp, just a 4 digit number. The older green one has the 1814 and a serial number (both were originally green).
Maybe the lower end boats have been trimmed down ?

 

[Jan Bloom]

The blue Chestnut Playmate was mine at one time. That picture was taken in my back yard. It was not rimmed down but made with that flat line. Think of a small Prospector, similar sort of flat line. I sold it as I found it way to heavy for a 14 ft canoe. It weighed almost as much as my 16 ft Old Town Yankee.

 

[mschaller]

Which blue one, the top or the bottom? What year was the playmate?

 

[Jan Bloom]

The bottom photo, I have no idea what year as there are no known Chestnut records nor do I remember what the serial number was. I believe that it was probably a rather late build by the Co because I thought it a bit crude. Certainly more so than the few I had seen from the late 40's early 50's.