Who got the Gerrish?

tnyankee

LOVES Wooden Canoes
There was a Gerrish canoe on craigslist on New Years Eve. Did anyone here get it? JUst curious.
 
Didn't see that! I hope one of our members snapped it up!

I found a portion of the ad: "EH Gerrish canoe. Needs new canvas .Wood frame in good shape. This is an early canoe made in Bangor Maine with the makers brass tag. Color is red."

The moral of the story is: if you really don't want to get full value for your old canoe, put it up for sale during the Christmas/New Years holidays, when people are distracted and have spent all their money. Also, it's the middle of winter. On the other hand, if you save-up your bucks and hang out on-line over the holiday, maybe you can snag something special.
 
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Kathy,

$200.00. By the time he could get a call in it was already spoken for. I too hope it was someone here.

Adam
 
It was in New Hampshire. The person who bought it was from Maine. Those are all the details I have. It was spoken for within a couple of hours.
 
I believe that Stephen Vorpagel from the Northeast chapter of the WCHA purchased it as shown below.

Benson
 

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You can go to Google and put in "craigslist" and you get a box where you can put in anything ("canoe"; "wood canoe") to search all of craigslist.org. Individual ads from all over the country will be there, as well as pages of multiple ads (like, the ads for a whole community) that may have "canoe" or "wood canoe" (or whatever you are searching).
 
This canoe appears to have an interestingly-sculpted heart deck. Also appears to have chestnut trim. And the Gerrish seat with the wire sides.

Would be so cool to get all known Gerrish boats together, and compare them.

Two hundred bucks, eh?......... nice deal!
 
Ahhh the secrets are out. Life just got a little harder as far as the canoe searching goes...
 
This canoe appears to have an interestingly-sculpted heart deck. Also appears to have chestnut trim. And the Gerrish seat with the wire sides.

Would be so cool to get all known Gerrish boats together, and compare them.

Two hundred bucks, eh?......... nice deal!

Steve plans to bring it to the Assembly this year and there will probably be an area to display unusually old canoes. (Does anyone think this is a good idea and care to suggest the cut off date for defining 'unusually old'? I was thinking about 1920.) This canoe has one mortised thwart and two bolted on.

Benson
 
I love the idea of having a section for older canoes with features we can inspect in-person. 1920 sounds logical, as they'd be at least 90 years old. That period would cover the evolution of the canoe from the birch bark to the "modern" vessel with open gunwales.
 
I could write a block or two of time into the Assembly schedule for
*Cedar City Tour of the old (pre-1920) canoes
Folks who contribute would be expected to do a short presentation of distinctive features and whatever they know about the origins.
Of course, that could lead to some lively discussion -which would be more direct face to face with an actual canoe to refer to. We might have to ensure that the "sheriff" is present. Benson Gray will assume that role now that Ken Kelly has ascended to President.

Rob Stevens
Assembly Program Coordinator
 
Rob, i think thats a great idea. Although I know we're no formal boat show, an organized segment of boats would be a delight to view. Sort of the "wrecks to riches" thing we were discussing. I would appreciate having the owner present while I peruse the boat, rather than wondering (often aloud) on the green what was done, what it is, where it came from and all that. Wouldnt have to be restored either, just bring it along..Dont let this idea fizzle out!
 
Assembly typically includes a "tour of the boats" at Cedar City when the theme is focussed on a builder/comany or one type of construction eg. lapstrake, birchbark, strippers, sailing canoes, etc.
Last year, the sailing canoe overview was done at the beach at Keuka. In Peterborough, Dick Persson lead the discussion of Peterborough and Lakefield area canoes. A large dose of similar exposure to rare and distinctive canoes happened with the tour of the warehouse of the Canadian Canoe Museum.
 
2010 in NH

I am bringing a pre 1910 carlton this year so I wood love to have a area like this & be next to Steve's Gerrish
 
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