Splash boards?

[Worth Gretter]

An ad just appeared in Craigslist

1921 Old Town Canoe, fish or Canoe in a piece of history. - boats - by owner - marine sale - craigslist

Beautiful 1921 Old Town Canoe. 1800.00 or reasonable offer.

nwct.craigslist.org

for a 1921 Old Town with the apparent addition of splash boards above the gunwales.
Was this available in 1921, or is this an owner modification?
-Worth

 

[Benson Gray]

This looks like an owner modification to me. The build record might provide more information if you can get the serial number. None of the catalogs from the 1920s mention of "splash boards" or anything similar. I don't recall ever seeing these on any other canoe.

Benson

 

[Worth Gretter]

I just replied to the Craigslist ad with a request for the serial number. But the owner may ignore my email since I said I was not looking to buy his canoe!

 

[Todd F]

Interesting modification. Reminds me of a canoe I picked up with perfectly spaced marks for what I assume is measurement for fishing. Older looking font to me.

 

[Worth Gretter]

Todd, those look like the numbered tacks people would use to identify their wooden storm windows! You would buy two sets, one for the windows and the other so you could put a matching number on the window frame.
In this modern era, I mark my aluminum screens with a Sharpie when I take them off to clean them!
But I think you must be right about measuring fish, what else could it be?

 

[Todd F]

16ft canoe. With space to seat two paddlers and four beer can holders I would say fishing...!

 

[Worth Gretter]

The seller got back and said the splash boards were an addition. He was terse and did not provide a serial number or respond to my suggestion that WCHA could get him the build sheet. I replied that virtually all Craigslist ads for Old Towns include the build sheet to show authenticity, so we'll see where that suggestion goes....

 

[MGC]

I recall noticing that canoe on CL when it first listed. What stood out (other than the obvious rail modification) are the number of replacement parts that had been added to the canoe. The seats, thwarts, portage thwart, possibly those short carry thwarts are all fairly recent additions. They look like Essex Industry bits... There are quite a few pieces of replacement planking as well as numerous rib replacements evident and it looks like some wood putty has made it's way into a few spots.
My impression of a listing like this is that if the seller was one who cared about the provenance of the canoe, that he/she probably would have taken the time to learn about it when all of that work was done. And, given all that has been done to it, the provenance doesn't matter all that much anyway. It's a tweaked canoe that is ready to go for a daily driver.

 

[Worth Gretter]

It's a tweaked canoe that is ready to go for a daily driver.

For $1800...

 

[Todd F]

The few of you who have met me will admit that I am economically efficient, ie cheap. Cool looking canoe but I would not pay full price. Just sayin...

 

[Dave Wermuth]

It seems to me that I would not be able to carry this canoe on my roof rack or even store it in the barn because of the splash guards. A trailer would fix that tho.

 

[MGC]

If you look closely you can see that the guards are removable. They appear to be held in place with plugs that are jammed in between the rails and the ribs.

 

[Treewater]

 

[Treewater]

Splash board on a Klepper folding boat, 1960. Twist fasteners on the other side. Removes easily.