Murat V
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Few questions about the canoes in the pics to the knowledgeable folks here on the forums. They are from the Ganong collection in the New Brunswick museum. William Ganong travelled extensively in the interior of New Brunswick and documented a lot of the geography as well as capturing shots of local Maliseets. Many of the pics show an evolution in wood canvas construction from 1901 to late 20s.
In his various journeys, he seemed to have used a variety of canoes, including a closed gunnel type in the first pic (dated to 1904). What got my attention was the elevated seat set right into the gunnels. Was this a common feature in early W-C canoes? Can't imagine it being very stable since you'd be quite high up above the waterline and the centre of gravity would be quite elevated. I'm assuming that since Ganong was based in New Brunswick, he would have likely been using early generation Chestnuts. Any other builders use this feature?
Another canoe also from the same period has an pronounced ridged, crowned deck (sorry if my terminology is wrong). Haven't seen this style of deck too often either but would like to replicate it as part of fun restoration.
A pic dated to 1912 shows him poling his personal canoe...another closed gunnel without seats but lengthy decks. Common feature in courting canoes, I know, but this guy was a wilderness traveller. Not sure of the long decks' advantages in the backcountry
By 1919, Ganong seems to be using an open gunwale Chestnut as seen in the last pic.
In his various journeys, he seemed to have used a variety of canoes, including a closed gunnel type in the first pic (dated to 1904). What got my attention was the elevated seat set right into the gunnels. Was this a common feature in early W-C canoes? Can't imagine it being very stable since you'd be quite high up above the waterline and the centre of gravity would be quite elevated. I'm assuming that since Ganong was based in New Brunswick, he would have likely been using early generation Chestnuts. Any other builders use this feature?
Another canoe also from the same period has an pronounced ridged, crowned deck (sorry if my terminology is wrong). Haven't seen this style of deck too often either but would like to replicate it as part of fun restoration.
A pic dated to 1912 shows him poling his personal canoe...another closed gunnel without seats but lengthy decks. Common feature in courting canoes, I know, but this guy was a wilderness traveller. Not sure of the long decks' advantages in the backcountry
By 1919, Ganong seems to be using an open gunwale Chestnut as seen in the last pic.