14' Chestnut w/ Odd decal

[Beth]

I just received a lovely canoe with a few oddities.
Maybe someone could shed some light?

LOA: 13' 10"
Midships: 13' Deep - 21" wide

Ribs are 1 1/2", not tapered and 1 1/2 " apart
Planks: 3"

Decal on deck is unusual. (From what I read it was put on the sleds that Chestnut made.)
It says "Chestnut Canoe Co. Limited, Fredericton NB

There is also a serial number 52002 (the last "2" is very faint)

Thank you.

 

[David McDaniel]

That is a Chestnut Canoe Co. snowshoe decal.

 

[davelanthier]

I have seen that decal on a small number of Chestnuts that I restored. Here's my conclusion. Chestnut Canoe Company had 3 grades of canoes in the 1960's and 1970's. The lesser grades in Canada were sold through Eatons and HBC department stores. They usually had no Chestnut decal at all but yet a few came with your " snow shoe " decal. All of these canoes had Chestnut 5 digit serial numbers. The quality of materials and older building forms used are not the same as used for the first grade canoes. For example, once the canvas is off you may find shorter pieces of planking than usual and the planking will probably have knot holes that have been filled. The ribs are standard for Chestnut canoes of that size. Once restored this will be an excellent canoe. Enjoy.

 

[Jan Bloom]

My Chestnut Playmate (14 ft) was well over 60 lbs so do not be surprised if you little canoe is also a bit on the heavy side.

 

[Beth]

Thank you.
One correction though, the canoe is 14'10" LOA, not 13'10".
In looking through the Chestnut reference material I have, I still can't find one that is short and 21" midships.

It will be interesting to see what the planks are like when the canvas comes off.
Yes it seems a little heavy for it's size.

 

[davelanthier]

Just checked my Chestnut information. In the vintage of your 15' canoe it appears that the Chum model came with 2 3/8" ribs where as the Doe came with 1 1/2" ribs. They had a 12 1/2" center depth, 34"beam, 68 lb. weight and a 20" depth at the ends. Chestnut factory measurements were seldom exact plus usually in time the bottom will round out and the width will lessen. I have to wonder if you are measuring your canoe properly as I can not find a Chestnut model close to that width. Also- quite often, in the day to make their canoes faster, owners would shorten the thwarts which rounded the bottom and narrowed the top width considerably. Further note that these canoes had a lot of tumblehome from the factory. If you are measuring the width across the canoe top rather than at the widest point at about 7" from the bottom the width measurements won't be correct.

 

[Beth]

Thanks - I will recheck the measurements at 7" from the bottom.
The center thwart has been replaced and the bow seat moved back so who knows?
Center depth should be to the top of the gunwales from the plank below right?

 

[davelanthier]

Right, then add a little for the planking and canvas thickness. Do not include the keel if it has one.