Rushton Indian Girl #5123 project canoe

[Howie]

Took home another project canoe today: a 16' Rushton Indian Girl (another gift from my buddy and WCHA guru Mike/MGC). They were made from 1902 to 1917. My understanding is that Rushton is thought to have only made about 5500 canoes, so with a serial # of 5123 it's a good guess that it was made in about 1915. It's of special interest as it has what's called 'long decks' which were a special order.


Mike tells me that Rushton's long-decks were placed atop Rushton's typical double-lobe decks. The upper portion of one of these the long-decks is missing from this canoe - the last pic shows the double-lobe deck along with a support brace for the missing long-deck parts.

 

[samb]

I wish I had a friend so generous!

 

[MGC]

I wish I had a friend so generous!

Howie's got that "why don't you give me some old canoes" kind of charm. What can I say?
Use copper!

 

[Howie]

I might also add that Mike did get lunch out of it.

 

[MGC]

Good point. Yes, it was a trade. Along deck IG for a salad.

 

[Howie]

Don't forget the stimulating conversation.

 

[Howie]

On a more serious note... I've been looking at the outer stems. They sure look odd to me. The canoes I've seen previously that have outer stems have much thicker inner stems and have outer stems that are a thinner version of inner stems; that is a, V shape tapering to a 3/8" outer edge where the stem band sits.
But the external stem with this IG is shaped like a rectangle that's bulging at the sides.

Here's some measurements:

As I say, a bulging rectangle shape. Very odd. Seems to me that the shape of the canoe at the outside inner stems is perfectly shaped for accepting a 3/8" wide stem band. So I'm guessing that there was just one IG form; that when someone ordered an IG with external stems Rushton simply took a 'normal' IG and screwed a pair of external stems to it (along with a mating keel).

 

[MGC]

I assume you are right. When a customer wanted a canoe with long decks or outside stems, a "standard" IG was modified.
You may see this in the presence of the short lobed decks present under the long decks on this boat. The deck frames were added on over the more common short decks.
The IG's were contract built so making a standard hull and then customizing it to order would have been a very logical way to simplify planning.

 

[Michael Grace]

I haven't worked on an IG with outside stems, but this cross-sectional profile is common for canoes from the Charles River area. What you and Mike are suggesting seems logical; building the standard canoe and then adding an outside stem to fit the narrow face would save money and time. And I like the look of this kind of stem. It might seem like a subtle difference from the usual trapezoid, but to my eye it adds a lot. By the way, in my head I've always called them "chubby stems."

 

[JClearwater]

The Indian Girl that is nearing completion in my shop has very thin stems as well. The back (inside?) of the stem is only 7/16" wide. The outside or leading edge is between 3/16" and 1/4" wide. Not a whole lot of wood to work with. Maybe it shrunk a little over the last 100 years but I doubt very much. The canoe never had outside stems. Attached are three pictures. I replaced the top 12" of both stems during the reconstruction. It is serial #3018 which Dan Miller suggested would date from around 1906 or so. It did not have a "Rushton shield" tag and there are no nail holes in the deck to suggest it ever had one. The Rushton company was incorporated after J.H. Rushton died in 1906. The shield tags appear after that.
This canoe will be the subject of an evening program at Assembly where the restoration process video will be shown. My daughter Leslie promises it will be done in time.

Jim

 

[MGC]

That is a typical stem. And that bit of twist is also pretty typical. When considering how narrow it is, keep in mind what it was made out of. Elm is a wood that we don't use very often anymore. These were made from somewhat green elm. In that state they would accept tacks without a concern for splitting. If you tried that with a piece of ash or oak, you would not be as successful.
Unfortunately, as they dried that had a tendency to twist. But when they dried they were as hard as nails.
Here are a few pieces I happen to have laying around in my shop....1912 ish.

 

[Howie]

Mike... need your help - or the help by another 16' IG owner.
I've been looking into my one inner rail that's broken. One break is right at a thwart bolt hole. I see that my two thwarts are different lengths: one measures 24-1/8" bolt-to-bolt, the other measures 25" b-t-b. The short one is where the break in the rails is and I suspect that's the cause of the break. Can you let me know the length of your thwarts (I assume they are of equal length) measured b-t-b. And to be thorough, my IG has 45 ribs and the thwarts are located half way between ribs 15 & 16. Also, what's the inner distance between the inner rails at the center of the canoe? I'd like to strap the canoe to get the rails at the proper distances before I start fixing the breaks.
And can you get me a pic of your thwarts along with some basic measurements (length, width, thickness, etc). I'm gonna need to make at least one - maybe 2 - and it'd be nice to make them properly.

 

[MGC]

You will find that the thwarts are not cut square on the ends. They are angled and different lengths. They will fit only in one specific place.
Your thwarts are not the same as the ones on my other canoes. They are a different shape and they are oak to match the decks and rails. I always thought that was really unique. Most of the others I have seen are cherry or ash (B grade).
I will take the measurements for you but keep in mind that once these are pulled up to the rail it's harder to get exact dimensions. Probably tomorrow....teaching a class today.
I'll put a few pictures here later. I'm between PC's and haven't moved files to this one yet.

 

[Howie]

Mike - for the thwart length just measure the distance between the bolt holes. Much easier. And yup, I'm aware of the angled ends.
And these thwarts are both really chewed up. Literally. So I'll be remaking them. Maybe cherry??? See what I have on hand...

 

[dtdcanoes]

Howie..............as the termite said at the front door, " is that oak ? " OAK it was and is - and maybe fiddle back if you were to go randy, eh ? It will be fine when done.
Have fun, Dave

 

[MGC]

I thought I had some pictures of the IG thwarts out of the canoe...not, so here's one from when I started to put things back together. Cherry, yours are oak.
I thought I had some pictures of a Brown thwart. Not as "fine" but the same form. So first the IG, then the Brown. I'll get the dimensions tomorrow. This is feeling like DeJa'Vu again. Who did I do this for once before? 

 

[JClearwater]

Howie,

Here are the dimensions of the thwarts and locations from our 16' IG that I am nearly finished with.
There are 45 total ribs including the cant ribs. The stern thwart, which is original to the canoe, is located between ribs 31 & 32 (counting from the bow end). The "center" thwart is located between ribs 20 & 21. However it is not located in the center of the canoe. It is 10" forward of center. The original inwales which I had to replace had no holes in the canoe center. I placed the thwart at the location of where the original was from measuring the old inwale. The length of the stern thwart is 27.75". The length of the "center" thwart is 32.5". The width of the canoe at center is 33". The Rushton catalog reprint says that a 16' IG was 32.5" wide at center. Our canoe was in such a sad state when we got it that the original width was undetermined. I replaced 19 ribs in this canoe and did backside repairs on five others. In order to bring it back to a semblance of the original dimensions I installed seven wires and turnbuckles across the canoe, with 12' long battens on the outside, so I could tighten and loosen as needed to bring the canoe into a fair shape approximating the catalog dimension. I needed, of course, to drill little holes through the ribs and planking and passed the wire around the batten and back through. The little holes were of no concern - they look like tacks. Attached is a picture where you can see the wires and batten. After the inwales were installed, and a fair curve established, I made the "center" thwart fit the width required. The thwart that was in that location when we got the canoe was a very poor incorrect replacement. I made a new one using the stern thwart as a pattern albeit longer. The width of the thwarts at the ends is 3" and shaped to fit the curve of the hull. In order to hold the thwart stock so I could work on it I fastened a long block with bolts through it so I could clamp it in the vise. I switched the block to the other side to work on the opposite side. I will post pictures of the finished canoe next week. I will start a new thread so as not to highjack Howie's thread.

Jim

 

[Howie]

Jim: Thanks very much. Yeah... I guess your thwarts look like mine, but the dimensions & placement in the canoe are different.


But wait. When I looked closely the lower thwart while taking the picture a few minutes ago I saw writing:

I can make out 'Indian Girl', but it looks like the letters were scratched into the wood as opposed to bring stamped. There are other letters but I can't make out what's said. Anybody have thoughts?

Also, it looks like there may be writing above these 'Indian Girl' scratchings. Is it possible there used to be a Rushton decal on the thwart and what I see is fading in the wood that was underneath the letters?
In any case I guess I'm not replacing this thwart at the very least. Glad this isn't the one all chewed up!

 

[Todd F]

My thought is that it is very cool!

 

[fred capenos]

This was on the underside of one of the thwarts on the IG I did a few years ago