very cool Barn find

[David Satter]

Found this in a barn 5 miles from my house. Didn't know it was there. This is the barn /farm I played at when I was a kid. I collected the eggs and fed the cows all those years and never new it was in the rafters. Very exited when we took it down. Morris with sponsons as far as I can tell. There's a decal on one thwart though Kennebec and it's a Wanamaker sporting goods decal. Stamped serial number no metal tag. Looks like 1 not sure of second number then 318 . Also any idea whats the three screws with washers standing proud on each stem above the serial number ? Any help or ideas ? I'd like to date it as close as possible. Dave Also I've never seen a sail mounted on the stern seat with a leather strap like this.

 

[Greg Nolan]

" Morris with sponsons as far as I can tell. "

How about a Kennebec? see http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/kennebec.12743/

 

[David Satter]

thanks Gregg, I never saw a Kennebec with the splayed stem. sounds interesting. Maybe it has just the four numbers 1 318 seems like theres a space after the 1 or it's so lightly stamped that i don't see it. ? any idea of the year from the numbers?

 

[Dave Osborn]

Sometimes known as a Kennebec/Morris hybrid... I think the story goes that Kennebec hired Morris employees away from Morris during Kennebec start up.
Here is a couple of photos of a 1910 Kennebec with sponsons that I restored for a customer I da UP.
It has the ugliest sponsons of any I’ve ever seen...

 

[David Satter]

Nice! I think I'll restore it to sell after I finish with customers jobs if I ever get caught up. I think this might be the year I hire a full timer, but I say that every year. There is something .. I don't know if it's cool looking or ugly about the sponsons may be cause their flush with the top of the gunwalwes? In the mean time I have some cleaning to do to get the raccoon smell out.

 

[Benson Gray]

Sometimes known as a Kennebec/Morris hybrid... I think the story goes that Kennebec hired Morris employees away from Morris during Kennebec start up.

Yes, the Kennebec shop was setup by Walter Grant who had learned the trade from Morris so it is not surprising that the oldest Kennebec canoes and accessories look a lot like the ones from Morris. See http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/14800/ for more on this topic. This appears to be one of the last Kennebec canoes with the flared stems since number 10625 from 1916 has the more common narrow stem as shown below.

Benson

 

[David Satter]

Ok one last question... there's a sail set on the stern seat with a leather strap. A small sail. Any idea about that ? no other signs of sail hardware anywhere on the canoe.

 

[Benson Gray]

The current sail rig on this canoe does not appear to have been installed at the factory. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Treewater]

Ugly sponsons? That is a subjective idea. I kinda like them. Here's a White with the same flush top.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Tree,
I kinda like sponsons, too. They’ve grown on me. (But so do warts.)
Seriously, on some canoes they look cool. I’ve done 5-6 sponson jobs in the last couple of years. Actually I’ve never had a customer tell me to leave them off. Even when I scare them with the up-charge for sponsons!
I guess it is the hard edge and angularity of the Kennebec sponsons that makes me think they are ugly. That takes away from the flowing lines of the canoe.
At least you can set a beer on them!

The coolest sponsons I’ve done are on a Racine. A bit more petite than most others.

 

[David Satter]

Dave, nice canoe. If that's your garage you must be really charging for the canoes you do.

 

[Dave Osborn]

NOT my garage...wish I had photos of the rest of it. My customer is quite a collector.
Boats, cars, fire engine, and much much more.
The black car in the photo is a Mercedes that belonged to the SS in Nazi Germany.
Needless to say, this guy set the bar pretty high for this Racine restoration!