Wide board canoe id.

samb

LOVES Wooden Canoes
While out paddling today in the Norfolk Broads UK, I got talking to an old bloke who showed me a wide board canoe. He was thrilled that I was paddling a 'real' canoe (chestnut playmate) and wanted to show me his real canoe and was I able to tell anything about it.
It was a wide board, about 14 feet and with 3 boards each side. He had got it from a 90 yr old lady who had it since her early teens - and it wasn't new then.
It had thwart tags on but with no name - I suggested he take one off and have a look at the reverse just in case they had been turned for some reason. It had been nicely fixed up and varnished with one replacement thwart and some props (they must have a name) between the older thwarts and the keelson. The gunnels appeared to be maple, pale, with little visible grain. Definitely not oak or ash. the boards were basswood.


Stupidly I didn't take any photos!
To me, apart from its size, the most distinctive feature was that the ribs and battens were not the half round profile most often seen but flat (like those on my Canadian CC boat) rectangular with slightly rounded top as in
the photo
DSC02295.jpg


Apart from CCC, did anyone else use this shape of rib?

Him and his wife were thrilled to be talking about real canoes and I'm invited to call in anytime I'm near, so next time I'll take photos!

thanks
Sam
 
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