Willits Sailing canoe in Seattle (05/50/10)

Mark Adams

all wood nut
There is a pretty sweet looking Willits sailing canoe on the Seattle Craigslist. For once, there is a pretty complete set of pictures with the listing.
 
Note that the verbage in the xbay listing claims it is the same canoe that is listed on the Seattle c-list.

Dan
 
I had a nice talk with the seller of the canoe in Mark's original post tonight (the Seattle example). I should be getting detailed photos and dimensions of the original canvas cover in the next few days. It has three wood posts inside to keep it taut, and perhaps hardware to keep it all together - we'll see.

Should be another neat accessory to get a closer look at - I'll post my findings.
 
That description of the support system for the canvas cover sounds original. The brother manufactured a canvas cover to be used to protect the canoe in storage (not while transporting it) that consisted of the cover that was made from tanbark canvas. If I remember correctly, it either had a line around the perimeter for cinching it just under the gunwales, or it had hooks every so often to hook onto the gunwales. The cover is supported by a rope ridgeline attached by brass or bronze hooks that hook over the tip of the decks. Attached to the rope are three wooden slats that stand vertically from the inside of the hull. When set up, you've got a nice little canvas tent over your canoe to keep dust, rain, or little critters out of it.
 
Neat, Pat - thanks for the description. The sellers' rep couldn't have been more cooperative, so hopefully I'll get some detailed shots.
 
There sure seems to be a number of Willits canoes that are offered for sale. Maybe that's because of the hi $$'s??

I could look in the book if I had it with me but, how many canoes did they make? Something in the 1000 range?

Hmmm. I'm mentaly comparing that to either Joe S or Lloyd Rehbein, each of whom made about 600 canoes, and with both of these guys, finding a used one for sale is hard. Joe's might be a bit more common, just cause of the publicity, I only remember seeing maybe 4-5 of Lloyd's in the past 6-8 years.

Dan
 
R.C: believe it or not, $150 is the revised figure!

Google's cache from 7 hours ago has a slightly different version: "Free restoration project. Needs work! Yours for the hauling." I put a call in for fun - but I'll bet it's already gone.
 
Earl and Floyd built 956 canoes over the course of roughly 50 years. Not a very high production rate, but they were able to make a decent living!
 
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