"Old, old Old Town" on eBay

I am surprised someone hasn't jumped on the listing for canoe #13505 on eBay. Kathy where are you?

R.C.

 

You mean #160429085535, the Morris? nice, nice boat!

 

Been worked on and modified, but of coarse it can be returned to original beauty.
Denis

 

Yup, I saw that one... it is now in our Morris database as an 18 foot long-decked canoe with outside stems (type 3) circa 1915. I didn't give the seller a heads-up because sellers have been known to pull a listing if they think there might be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow... and they relist with unrealistic expectations.

This canoe has been worked on and needs a fair amount of restoration to take it back to original... perhaps less, if someone only wants to get it onto the water again (in which case it would probably paddle as nicely as any other Morris).

My guess is it originally had closed gunwales, and rather than going to the considerable trouble of replacing damaged inwales (creating pockets for each rib), someone turned the canoe into an open gunwale boat. Open gunwales on a Morris have a whole lot more finesse than the gunwales on this canoe... nice D-shaped mahogany outwales and a narrower, shaped inwale. On a Morris designed with open wales, there's a nice segue where deck and wales meet... not just *bang* you're there.

Morris stem bands extend only 3/4 inch onto the upper surface of the deck... it can be indicative of stem band replacement when you see a stem band that creeps farther... which means the canoe has been "worked on" (I believe the seller suggests the canoe is in original condition). Of course, personal inspection would reveal more clues... I'm just going by what we can deduce from the pictures in the listing.

King plank seems wrong to me... and by "king plank", I mean the piece that covers the place where the two pieces of deck meet. Morris king planks taper to a wider dimension than this one appears to.

Could be nice again and I hope someone who has been wanting a Morris gets it for a decent price. Denis and I will be taking an open gunwale Morris to the Assembly and have pictures to share, if someone here buys the canoe and wants to correct that aspect.

Kathy

 

auction over... who won?

Anyone here get a nice deal on a Morris?

 

Not me....was close to bidding...but held off