Spring Project

Fellow equine enthusiasts,
I now have time to get serious with boats again, since two bad mule wrecks in 2007. I sold everything to pay for medical bills, after running into a hornet's nest in July and a mountain lion in August. Saddle mules are still important to me, "Ride with pride".
 
Need Help

Chestnut / Pete Canoe? – Age unknown. I have a boat similar to what you are talking about, but is 15 feet long, 31 1/4 inches wide, 13 ¼” deep, 1 ½” ribs 1 1/2” apart. Original cane seats, thwarts. Number C 8262 in bow stem.

Any idea what it might be?
 
Further Info

Talking a retired canoe builder who thinks it is a Peterborough based on the good quality of the planking and general workmanship. Apparently the beam varied significantly on these boats as the thwarts were installed depending on the flex of the gunwales as much as on the stated dimensions.

He notes the Prospector models by Chestnut actually had numerous different molds with differing dimensions.

Photos soon if I can upload them.
 
Photos

If these come through they should show he dimensions of the boat in question. Thanks for any info you have!

Don
 

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Wheelerd, as in previous posts in this thread, if a Peterborough could be Minetta (measurements seem right)...."C" could mean built by Chestnut....as were many wood canvas Petes....but no "1815" as most Minettas had....see previous posts here for more info. Either way, a beautiful canoe.
 
Got to Go

Thanks WoodnCanvas,

I have also asked the Canadian Canoe Museum to have a look. Our loss that the companies didn't do a better job of labeling and tracking their canoe models.

Unfortunately it is up for sale - I found another couple of canoes and according to my paddling partner and spouse, at least one of the current ones has to go!

Regards,

Don,
North Bay, ON
 
Not a Peternut. The names of the companies that made decks liek that are slipping my mind at the moment, but I think The St. Louis boat Co is one of them. Dan'll probably know better.
 
My guess is that this canoe came from the Saint Louis Meramec Canoe Company of Valley Park, Missouri. They had a very distinctive deck as described at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/meramec/deck.jpg and indicated on their catalog cover at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/meramec/catalog.jpg from 1925. The 1927 catalog page at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/meramec/models.jpg shows some of their more popular models. More information like this is available at http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/prod...d=406&osCsid=761aa37b305b6d5e0a85517acb6e7131 and http://dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm#historic on the Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Company Catalog Collection.

The message at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=5443 indicates that some of their serial number records are available starting with 1878 around 1943 but this one doesn't seem to match their usual format.

Benson
 
It is correct that this type of deck was used by St Louis Meramec , but if I remember right I don’t think they marketed a 15’ canoe and their rib and rib spacing was different.

I’ve seen this type of deck several times before up here in Ontario and each time a closer look has shown that the deck was replaced during a restoration.

No, I am sure that your canoe was built by Chestnut sometime late 50’s or during the 60’s and that it is the Chum or Doe model, depending on when it was built.

Dick Persson
Headwater Wooden Boat Shop
 
St. Louis Meramec records

Hi All,
I took a look at the photos of the arrowhead decked canoe. My opinion is that it is not a St. Louis Meramec Canoe or a St. Louis Boat & Canoe. The stem numbers we've found for St.LMCC and St.LBCC are nowhere near that high. My records show the last St.LBCC was #3976, dated 4-28-1977.

The deck is an arrowhead shape, but the proportions look wrong for that size deck. There is no scroll work or handle. I've never seen a stem number with a prefix or one stamped on an angle. Also, the type face doesn't look right.

Besides all of this, it looks like a great canoe. The last owner of the company told me that if they got a canoe in for a deck replacement, they would put an arrowhead deck on it no matter who the maker was.

This is just my opinion.
Wally
 
Quite Right

I didn't indicate earlier that this boat has been through 1 restoration. Typically, the decks, stem and parts of the gunwales were rotted and replaced, The "V" deck avoided replacing the entire innwale and outwale. It was meant to be a family heirloom, but circumstances have changed and it is for sale.

I wish I had logged on to this site years ago. The historical and practical information is amazing.
 
Just got back on-line first time after having a knee replacement. As indicated in a previous post equine enthusiasts pay a high price for repair work. It tickled me to come in and start catching up, to find so much discusion going on on this thread. Sure can get a great lot of good information by just asking a question or two.

Wonderful resource.
 
Sent an order last weekend to Northwoods Canoe Company for the material needed for my project, and I am really getting fired up about starting the work.

I keep thinking about how it will feel to again drag a canoe up the bank of a river right before it gets dark. I can imagine the rich dark smells of a forest, damp with spray from the river, mingled with the pungent warm smells of old canvas, Coleman fuel, and a couple of large trout fillets sizzling toward crispy brown decadence.

In my mind's eye, an old man can be seen, sitting on a large rock beside the river with his back against a tree. He smiles at the day's last glancing rays of Sun as they fall across silvery water that is somehow both intense brightness, and deeply shadowed darkness, all at the same time.

He lowers his eyes toward the ground, as he contemplates this, and begins to think of how real beauty is almost always made of contrasting elements.

His musing brings him thoughts of children, laughing as they chase each other down the river bank. They are now grown, and far away, but they are with him in this place nonetheless.

As the Sun just starts to slip below the ridge, he lifts his eyes and looks around this campsite he has used for half a century. For a fleetingly brief moment, it is as if he can hear the laughter of those children, and can almost catch a glimpse of a happy little face looking up at him, hands stretched up to him sitting on this very same rock.

Awash in feelings of made of both intense joy, and lonesome sadness, he looks again to the river, and thanks God for showing him the vastly complex beauty of love.
 
I keep thinking about how it will feel to again drag a canoe up the bank of a river right before it gets dark. I can imagine the rich dark smells of a forest, damp with spray from the river, mingled with the pungent warm smells of old canvas, Coleman fuel, and a couple of large trout fillets sizzling toward crispy brown decadence.

In my mind's eye, an old man can be seen, sitting on a large rock beside the river with his back against a tree. He smiles at the day's last glancing rays of Sun as they fall across silvery water that is somehow both intense brightness, and deeply shadowed darkness, all at the same time.

He lowers his eyes toward the ground, as he contemplates this, and begins to think of how real beauty is almost always made of contrasting elements.

His musing brings him thoughts of children, laughing as they chase each other down the river bank. They are now grown, and far away, but they are with him in this place nonetheless.

As the Sun just starts to slip below the ridge, he lifts his eyes and looks around this campsite he has used for half a century. For a fleetingly brief moment, it is as if he can hear the laughter of those children, and can almost catch a glimpse of a happy little face looking up at him, hands stretched up to him sitting on this very same rock.

Awash in feelings of made of both intense joy, and lonesome sadness, he looks again to the river, and thanks God for showing him the vastly complex beauty of love.

acfults, I don't think I could've said it better....I'm looking forward to being that old man myself (maybe sooner than I care to admit LOL LOL)....guess that's why I bought the "new" old Peterbourough Minetta I did....which reminds me (especially after reading your post), I still have some work left to get my canoe ready for the coming season....good luck on your project and thanks for sharing
 
There is a campsite I used much when my now middle aged daugthers from my first marriage were growing up.

This campsite has now been deemed as off limits for camping by the National Park Serice, but every time I am on that particular river, I always stop there and walk down to sit upon a large rock which lies on the downsteam end of a pool my children once swam in.

It is a place where I am much haunted by memories.
 
The material for my restoration arrived from Maine (Northwoods Canoe) yesterday. One of the two boxes contained some very nice white cedar rib blanks. Very nice clear grained wood. It felt like Christmas !

Hope to begin work on the canoe this weekend. I am thinking I should replace the broken ribs before striping the varnish, because it seems like this would put a little "stain" on the new ribs so they will blend in better with the old ones. Anyway, that is what I plan to do, unless one of you more experienced suggests otherwise.

I was talking with the wife about this job. She asked me how long it will take, and I mentioned how long it takes for the filler to dry.

Then she asked me how I was going to keep the cats (which roam in and out of my shop at will) from tracking on it before it cures. I have never put any filler on canvas before, so I don't know whether this is really something I need to worry about or not.
 
Cats?

I think cats will leave the filler alone because of the smell. Not sure about when you paint it tho. And I think installing the new ribs before stripping will help match the new wood to the old when you do the stripping. We did that recently. There must be many ways to stain a rib or skin a cat.
 
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