Thought I'd post a couple of photos of a 16' Chestnut Prospector I aquired last Oct. I re-canvassed it this spring after replacing a couple of cracked planks, stripping the interior, and making and caneing bow and stern seats (original slats are too uncomfortable for me). I refinished the original slat seats and stored them away should I want to reinstall them at a future time.
The canoe was owned by Bill Riviere, a freelance writer, Maine Guide, and Camping Editor for the Boston Globe. One of the many outdoor books he authored was titled Pole, Paddle, and Portage. This canoe was featured in several photos in the book. The canoe was most likely built in the 1960's. I replaced the steel nails fastening the ribs to the inwales with bronze ring nails, as well as installing new silicon bronze Robertson screws in the gunnels and replacing the steel carrige bolts used to secure the thwarts and seats.Some of these fastenings were pretty much wasted to nothing. It appeared Chestnut was already beginning to cut corners.
When I got the canoe it had many coats of dark green on the canvas but I did find traces of the original Chestnut Gray in a few hidden spots. Although the photos in his book are black & white, the canoe appears too light to have been the dark green when photographed. I used Kirby's Gray Green as it seems to be very close to the original color.
One thing I noted while stripping it down was a noticable flattening of the gunnels in the area of the carry thwart. After measuring the thwart and comparing it to the dimensions given in two books on Chestnut canoes I found it was 1" too narrow. I made a new carry thwart of the proper dimension and after installing, saw the gunnels aquired a nice fair curve. The short one definately appeared to be original to the canoe. With all the different models being built, I wonder if maybe a thwart for a different model was inadvertantly installed?
Anyway, she's ready to get back on the rivers of Maine again.
Dave
The canoe was owned by Bill Riviere, a freelance writer, Maine Guide, and Camping Editor for the Boston Globe. One of the many outdoor books he authored was titled Pole, Paddle, and Portage. This canoe was featured in several photos in the book. The canoe was most likely built in the 1960's. I replaced the steel nails fastening the ribs to the inwales with bronze ring nails, as well as installing new silicon bronze Robertson screws in the gunnels and replacing the steel carrige bolts used to secure the thwarts and seats.Some of these fastenings were pretty much wasted to nothing. It appeared Chestnut was already beginning to cut corners.
When I got the canoe it had many coats of dark green on the canvas but I did find traces of the original Chestnut Gray in a few hidden spots. Although the photos in his book are black & white, the canoe appears too light to have been the dark green when photographed. I used Kirby's Gray Green as it seems to be very close to the original color.
One thing I noted while stripping it down was a noticable flattening of the gunnels in the area of the carry thwart. After measuring the thwart and comparing it to the dimensions given in two books on Chestnut canoes I found it was 1" too narrow. I made a new carry thwart of the proper dimension and after installing, saw the gunnels aquired a nice fair curve. The short one definately appeared to be original to the canoe. With all the different models being built, I wonder if maybe a thwart for a different model was inadvertantly installed?
Anyway, she's ready to get back on the rivers of Maine again.
Dave
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