My first wood canvas canoe, not sure the make or model or age other than its "old"

John R Knight

JK's first canvas canoe
Hi, I'm a retired guy (used to be with the Ministry of Natural Resources) and am living in Peterborough Ontario. I own a lighter Kevlar canoe largely because I only wanted to carry a lighter canoe on our portages. None the less I've always loved the look of wood canvas canoes and decided to finally buy one (an old one).

I'm not sure of the age or the manufacturer so wood appreciate your input.

My wood ID skills are not as good as they should be but it looks like the canoe has cedar ribs, oak gunwales, elm thwarks and elm decks. I also added a picture of two screws I removed which are brash in color but two different heads. The canoe also has a hole in the bow for a mast (I assume) that ends in a block of oak with a smaller hole that is attached to the bottom of the canoe.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Its 15 feet long, 12 inches deep and 35 inches wide in the middle.
canvas.jpg
 

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I just finished my second gin & tonic so I am feeling especially smart. The method used in attaching the thwarts to the hull, location of mast hole, style of deck and Robertson screws (the one with the square drive hole) all point to a canoe of Canadian manufacture. Which manufacturer, Peterborough, Chestnut etc is beyond me. My knowledge of Canadian builders is a bit under nourished. It appears to have been fiberglassed - is that correct? You can do a search of these forums and find threads on how to remove it if your aim is to restore it to it's original configuration. It looks like a very nice canoe and welcome to the WCHA.

JCC
 
I agree, Canadian-built. Peterborough and Chestnut operated under the same umbrella, so if you believe what is written in the Solway book "The Story of the Chestnut Canoe", all canoes of traditional wood/canvas construction, regardless of the decal, were built at the Chestnut factory and all strip built were built at Peterborough. Looks like your canoe is in good shape and will make a nice paddler. Take measurements and then compare with the specs listed in the catalogs of Chestnut and Peterborough.
 
The narrow strip planking suggests Richardson / Rilco to me. They were a late successor to Lakefield Canoe Co.
 
Agreed that the tight narrow planking- is it lap strake?- is indicative of a Peterborough boat like a Lakefield or Richardson, I'm not aware of external stems and decks like that on a Richardson.
I have seen a number of Lakefield's like that though , including a couple in the Canadian Canoe Museum.

Bruce
 
Thanks for all your posts. I did check out our public library and they did have some old sales brochures for Peterborough canoes but unfortunately none matched. The closest match was one from the Rice lake canoe company based on the look of the deck but the ribs and gunwalls didn't match.

When I cut back the bow gunwale I could see the corner of some fabric that had pulled away from the hull but it felt pretty stiff almost like it had been epoxied, so honestly I don't if it was fiberglassed. I'm going to strip the bottom of the canoe once the weather improves a little and hopefully it will be easier to tell.

I think it is lapstrake since I can see the overlap inside the canoe.

John
 
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