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considering a wood/canvas canoe purchase.

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There is a wood/canvas canoe that has become available locally which is calling my name. Although rigged with two seats, it was purpose built originally as a solo boat, at 15'2" x 29.5"x 1.5" rocker. In the attached picture, the stem has both an external wood stem and a brass cap. The work appears to have been well done, built in the 80's according to the owner, and recently upgraded.

Is this external stem a particular adaptation to wood/canvas canoes? I typically see them with the canvas wrapped, and only a brass stem band over.

I would appreciate the thoughts of you traditionalists!

Thanks, Pat

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Does the external stem dovetail with a keel? Some times the canvas when wrapped is fugly.. The brass stem is just kind of abrasion protection and a wooden stem band would hide the fugliness. I see a bit of wonky canvas in the pictures at the stems but it could be lighting.
I have a Robertson wood canvas with a wooden stem and it dovetails with a keel.
Another possibility is that a wooden stem lends aesthetics.

Who made it?
 
I don't know much about the external stem but I do know that's a nice looking canoe and those measurements are impressive. I like how the gunnels and inwales are different, and the last picture shows some nice rise to the sheerline at the stems.

My Chestnut Chum is about 30" at the gunnels, 15' and a tandem with a single thwart at the center, but the bow seat is closer to the bow that this. I like the seat position in this canoe.

Very nice canoe.
 
Yes, I agree it's very nice looking in the pictures, although I too noticed something awry about the interface of canvas and wood stem. I have not seen the canoe yet... it's about an hour from me... so I don't know if it has an external keel. The boat was homemade apparently, but clearly by someone with talent and style. Here's a shot of the boat in progress from the 80's; presumably in the same basement as the current photos! Note the form with steel wraps at rib locations below the in progress canoe.

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The steel is on the forms to clinch the tacks. When I helped build my wooden canoes I missed them sometimes and got scolded by the master builder. Then I got to remove the errant tacks and do it right. This may be home built ( mine were all built in a basement) but decidedly not amateur.

Hope you get to take a closer hands on look soon. This is a wonderful size for day tripping.
 
Yeah, clearly no amateur. That was the point of my observation about the steel on the form. The choice of wood, the aesthetic style, and the apparent skill in the woodwork suggests more than a simple homebuilt result!
 
Looks like it could be a dream to solo from that bow seat. If she's calling your name I think the noble thing would be to answer her. Let us know how it works out.
 
Buy it. Had to sell my last W/C canoe and nearly cry when I think about her. There is nothing like paddling a wood and canvas canoe!
 
A W/C canoe is like a Rolls Royce. Stable, heavy, but nothing else like it on the water.

Don't blink twice, buy the boat. You'll never look back and be sorry.

BTW, I own both an Old Town OTCA, circa 1931, and an Old Town HW, circa 1937. Finest boats on the water, as long as you don't have to carry them too far.
 
That's a good looking boat Patrick, nice lines, color and trim. If it doesn't work out, or as another option, I have a 16 foot 51' OT Yankee that I am going to sell. It was restored in 2015 or 2016 and has only been on the water for a few weeks a year since, as a cottage boat. It's not as sleek as the one you are looking at but it paddles real nice and is stable. You are welcome to a test paddle, I'm in the Poconos.
 

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That is one Beautiful canoe Patrick ! A work of art, deserving a place on the Wall next to a Terry Redlin Print !

I'f I had it ? I'd have it on display to show the World.

I definitely wouldn't get it wet ! I'd sob profusely if I tore a hole in that canvas !

Buy It !

Jim
 
I like the contrasting colours on that one ...the dark wood with the white canvas. The external stem is pretty too. Good lines, well made. Perfect size. If you can get it for a reasonable price I would snap it up in a heartbeat. Caveat....not a tripping boat. This one is a day paddler . The concept is great but the extras like floor rack and outside stems mean extra weight. All things I crave in a day paddler but not so much for extended tripping. Plus waaaaay too pretty to bang up out in the boonies.

I would add this to my fleet if at all possible.
 
Jump on that canoe and do not look back. It is very well made.
Great solo boat. Would work for two for day paddling.
 
I would be interested in the weight. It looks like a lighter weigh planking hence the floorboards. I have three w/c canoes 2 solo and the tandem is the heaviest at 45 lbs. It is a light construction so we added a floor too that is removable. But they are all covered in Ceconite not canvas.

My guess is maybe 60-65 l lbs. Not the 80 lbs of the Old Town golden days!
 
Pretty excited... going to see it Friday. Owner says 50-60 pounds at most. He’s a retired tradesman who apparently builds canoes at home and helps others as well. He shared a picture of a boat he just canvassed.
 
Patrick
As others have noted - that is a beautiful boat,
especially for a home built.
External stems were a feature of a number of builders many years ago- thinking Lakefield and a few others. Check out Wooden Canoe Heritage Association WCHA website for more info.
But I haven’t seen anyone do it on a home built wood canvas. Cool.

My “lightweight” Bobs special with similar dimensions weights in at just over 60 lbs wet.

Please share more pictures when you examine it- and yeah, I’d probably buy it but I have known soft spot for cedar canvas canoes...

Bruce
 
Interesting that you mention the Bob’s Special. The owner/builder referred to it as “a small Bobs Special”. We’ve talked a bit, and it seems that he’s quite knowledgeable about small boats; he’s built a pram, a strip canoe, the Bob’s, as well as an 18’ Old Town style sailing canoe. Apparently also does repairs & restorations.

Most recently he’s been working on restoring a Delaware Ducker, which is a local Delaware River boat used as a gunning skiff for harvesting waterfowl in the 1800’s. Some of them had large bore deck-mounted black powder guns which were stuffed with nails & random steel, used to kill masses of waterfowl resting in the shallows of the river and marshes!
 
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