White keel flat?

I'm working on a White (16-48-920 maybe- hard to read) which was busted up bad. A guess is washed up against a tree and pressed by the force of the water until ribs on both sides cracked, so the hull was somewhat flattened. The front 10 feet was not attached to the rear 6 feet by much wood. It's going to take 11 consecutive ribs thru this area, which I have started to do one at a time, starting from the center, where the shape is still pretty good. I've got a 2x4 screwed onto the outside of the hull, trying to hold it flat and straight. But I don't know whether this canoe was flat along its entire keel-line length. Would a 16' White keel line have been flat thru the full 16', or did it originally have a little rocker? Tom McCloud

 

I don't know what the rocker would/should be but I have put canoes back together that were busted in two and I took a dead 18 footer that was rotten and made it into a 14' 6" solo boat. getting it back together without lumps will be a real victory when you do it. I used 5/16" x 1" battens inside and out, doubled up and screwed together through the hull at about every third rib to seet the lines and the outside battens were used to install the ribs one at a time.

You might try old catalogues for the specs on rocker, or perhaps someone will chime in. for the lines on my projects, I eyeballed it until I got the rocker that just seemed right for the gunnels.

 

Hi Tom,

You might try contacting Jerry Stelmok through his website-- I haven't seen him post here.

http://www.islandfallscanoe.com/about-us.aspx

As Dave said, someone else who knows Whites may chime-in. Glad you've taken-on this project! Keep us informed of your progress.

Kathy

 

If its the std river canoe, it would have about 1.25" rocker, measured where the last full rib is located. In the world of rocker, thats not very much.
As Dave said, its going to be hard enough to get everything lined up straight and keeping the lumps out. As long as you get a bit of rocker, or even if its just staight, it will make a good canoe.

Rollin