Politically correct it ain't, some truly odd work on this boat for sure.
This is the second of the two canoes we picked up in Southern Ontario in September. This is a one off, home built Y-stern that was used primarily for moose hunting in the Algonquin area in the 60's, 70's and 80's. It was remarkably well taken care of, there is no rib tip rot at all, even the thin cant ribs are good. Hull has no rot either and it was well built, the main planking is all one piece full length. We believe it is white cedar ribs with red cedar planks. The materials could have been purchased from Peterborough or CCC as they were at the end of their lives at that point in history, the ribs being tapered suggest that also.
It was a tad difficult to get apart, the keel screws were a mix of steel and s/s, all the gunwale screws were s/s so we have those for re-use. It may have been the original canvas and it appears it never had filler on it, they just painted the canvas.
The bow stem band had some brass screws and a half dozen copper rivets through the stem and peened over on the band, that is ala Morris. We figured out why soon enough as it has had the Jim Dodd treatment to a degree. Although it has a nice solid ash stem, the builders overlapped the planking like Jim would do stemless. It will take us a bit to remedy that since there is about an inch airspace between the point of the planking and the stem, which is why the stem band was put on in such an odd way.
Another anomaly is that they filled all the gaps with what looks like PolyFilla or Plaster. At least it comes out easier than resin. Still, it has to add weight especially when the boat is wet, which is was under the canvas/keel. It has dried out and gotten quite a bit lighter. Mem could just wrap it in glass after we fix it and it might be lighter than filled canvas.
Other than the obvious hole in the boat, there may be another 3-5 ribs to fix and some poor workmanship to clean up, but otherwise it should go fairly smoothly. It will require fairing considering the 5/16" thick planking did not conform well to the ribs at the bilge so there are edges that will need to be smoothed out. Getting the tacks out is near impossible since they are copper and the heads just fold up, so there won't be any replacing tacks happening this time.
This is the second of the two canoes we picked up in Southern Ontario in September. This is a one off, home built Y-stern that was used primarily for moose hunting in the Algonquin area in the 60's, 70's and 80's. It was remarkably well taken care of, there is no rib tip rot at all, even the thin cant ribs are good. Hull has no rot either and it was well built, the main planking is all one piece full length. We believe it is white cedar ribs with red cedar planks. The materials could have been purchased from Peterborough or CCC as they were at the end of their lives at that point in history, the ribs being tapered suggest that also.
It was a tad difficult to get apart, the keel screws were a mix of steel and s/s, all the gunwale screws were s/s so we have those for re-use. It may have been the original canvas and it appears it never had filler on it, they just painted the canvas.
The bow stem band had some brass screws and a half dozen copper rivets through the stem and peened over on the band, that is ala Morris. We figured out why soon enough as it has had the Jim Dodd treatment to a degree. Although it has a nice solid ash stem, the builders overlapped the planking like Jim would do stemless. It will take us a bit to remedy that since there is about an inch airspace between the point of the planking and the stem, which is why the stem band was put on in such an odd way.
Another anomaly is that they filled all the gaps with what looks like PolyFilla or Plaster. At least it comes out easier than resin. Still, it has to add weight especially when the boat is wet, which is was under the canvas/keel. It has dried out and gotten quite a bit lighter. Mem could just wrap it in glass after we fix it and it might be lighter than filled canvas.
Other than the obvious hole in the boat, there may be another 3-5 ribs to fix and some poor workmanship to clean up, but otherwise it should go fairly smoothly. It will require fairing considering the 5/16" thick planking did not conform well to the ribs at the bilge so there are edges that will need to be smoothed out. Getting the tacks out is near impossible since they are copper and the heads just fold up, so there won't be any replacing tacks happening this time.
Last edited:
