T Gordon

David Dannenberg

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I could have posted this to any number of WCHA forums, but this seems most appropriate. If any of you think I should post to "miscl" or "open" let me know.

Awhile ago I purchased a ca. 1890 T Gordon from an estate. My plan was variously to have it restored for occasional use, eventual donation to an appropriate museum, sale, or most likely, use as ceiling decoration should I ever get a lake house. Well, my wife and I purchased some lake property in the Northern Adirondacks and are hoping to get a cabin up so it is time to get out the canoe. It has been hanging in my father's garage since about the time I bought it--18 years ago. Some of you may remember that I posted here about it at that time.

Yesterday my wife and I retrieved it from Dad's garage, brought it home, put it on some horses, blew it out with compressed air, and mopped out the topmost layers of accumulated dust. I will upload some snapshots. You can see that it is in sound shape. All the ribs , gunwales, stems, and decks are sound. One thwart has a chip missing. There is a small section of damaged planking where one thwart attaches. I can understand why this method of attaching thwarts was abandoned.

It has a strange 4" deep keel running 3/4 of the length that I assume was added by an owner in an attempt to improve stability and/or tracking. It is a shallow draft round bottomed craft. If someone can confirm that that keel was indeed added on, I will happily remove it soonest!

I plan to see whether I can repair the damaged section of planking--advice appreciated.

Other than that I will clean it more thoroughly with water and perhaps lightly sand or steel wool it in preparation for some fresh varnish. I am thinking of using good old fashioned spar varnish, but am open to advice on that.

The boat is extremely light weight. Whether that is due to its construction or hidden dry rot I cannot say.

Any information and advice about this boat would be appreciated.

I uploaded 10 photos, and can upload more.

Is there anyway to upload video?

David Dannenberg
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David Dannenberg
 

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Hi, Dave....The boat is the same construction as my Strickland and has no keel or keelson. It is very tippy and unforgiving if you are not paying attention. Ask me how I know. I would bet that thing not well disguised as a keel, was put on later by someone who wet their pants during a not so pleasant evening paddle. The boat will restore well and be truly beautiful , your very own STRAD and affordable. I would suggest that you do not let the boat be subjected to long term dryness as some enclosed areas used for storage can offer. And consider the decal that remains. It may well be worth preserving.
I love the boat...have fun, and sit low. Dave
 
That is a fine looking canoe..so much potential. The keel made me laugh. Here's one I passed on a few years ago...the keel was the least of it's issues.
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So mine wasn't th eonly canoe ever to have such a modification. That one looks even larger in proportion to the canoe. I wonder how those effect performance--do the make a canoe more stable. Guess I'll never find out.
Thanks for sharing.
David
 
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