Pre 1906 Canoe?

David Pierson

New Member
Hi all,

I shared these pictures with a canoe enthusiast recently, and he offered the comments below. Does anyone know more about it? The canoe lives in Southern New Jersey if that helps. Thanks!
Dave

1. It was most certainly built in the United States.
2. It has a closed gunwale system which was not employed past roughly 1906.
3. It sports sponsons (float chambers on either side of the canoe) just under the outwales. They were employed as a safety feature in the early days of canoeing as a pass-time for people unfamiliar with canoes.
4. The design is not consistent with any of the well-known builders of the time (Carleton, Old Town, White, Kennebec, Morris).
 

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Welcome, are there any numbers on the inside stems? The information at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/791/ may help you find these. Please post some pictures showing both ends if you see anything. Closed gunwales were last listed in the 1929 Old Town catalogs. Some other builders continued to make canoes like this long after that so it may be newer than you were told. The deck shape is not a common one but these may be modified replacements. Good luck,
Benson
 
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The deck shape is not a common one but these may be modified replacements. Good luck,
Benson
I agree. If you look at the photo of the underside of the deck you can see that someone has done some repairs to both the deck and the stem.
The inside rails stop short of the stem and are simply square cut and not joined.
Canvas covered decks are also quite unusual.
The half ribs probably offer a clue to who the builder was.
 
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Hi Benson and MGC, After a thorough search with a flashlight and mirror. no evidence of a tag or mark of any kind. Would any other image of the construction be helpful? Thx! Dave
 
More pictures probably won't help much. The list at http://wcha.org/catalogs/maine-list.htm shows that there were hundreds of canoe builders in Maine alone. The canoes from most of these builders can't be identified without a tag or decal. It is also possible that your canoe may have had some substantial repairs in the past. It is an interesting one but will probably remain as an unidentified floating object. Sorry,

Benson
 
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