Strike one on the Nesbit’s “Who want grandpa’s ’37 Old Town”.

I have had phone calls and e-mails with three of Thorpe Nesbit’s relatives, Bland, Linda and Pat, all lovely people excited to hear about the reappearance of Gramps wood canvas canoe. That “I have your Grandfather’s 1937 canoe” exercise has been fun, but neither they nor their adult children have any interest in owning the HW.

Pat, who by sheer serendipity, lives 15 miles away, came by for a shop visit and photographed the canoe and original owner correspondence to share with her kin. That somewhat closed the original owner HW circle, and I have done my due diligence on the Lassie-Come-Home Nesbit front.

Next up, if I can find a way to contact them, the descendants of the second owner, Washington Irving “Tut” Tuttle.

https://www.fhnfuneralhome.com/obituari ... !/Obituary

Fortunately, so far, no one has found it creepy that I have tracked them down via archived obituary notices, and I already know more about the Nesbit family tree than I do about my own.

I still want to know if Tut was related to Merin Tuttle. That would add a personal connection; I mist netted bats with Merlin in my youth.

There are Tuttle’s all over Queenstown along the Chester River, there is even a recently sold “Tuttle House”.

https://www.compass.com/listing/7300-ma ... 256440401/

More Tuttle’s in Queenstown than you can shake a wood canvas canoe at. But, still refusing to join Facebook, I have no way to contact any of them. I found a few phone numbers, none were in service.

Ah Ha! I found a working phone number for a Tuttle Grandson, living in South Carolina.

“Hello”
“Hello, may I speak with William please?”
“This is he”
“This is Mike McCrea, I have you grandfath”

That’s as far as I got. He hung up. I probably would have too. Perhaps I should have led with “About Tut Tuttle’s canoe”.

Am I giving up? Oh, hell no, if I get an idea, I’m like a dog with a bone. Now more than ever I want to see the HW back in Queenstown, along the Chester River, with a Tuttle. I could stand in the middle of town and shout “Tut Tuttle! Tut Tuttle!” and probably find a relative. Or the police might come for a deranged man, but they would probably be Tuttle-aware.

If I’m driving to the Eastern Shore in Tuttle search I might as well make up “Wanted Posters” to hang around town.

Wanted, a Tuttle
Who Wants Washington Irving “Tut” Tuttle’s 1937 Canoe
ETC, ETC, ETC

I did receive another scam response from the WCHA ad:
“I have interest in your ads on woodencanoe, you advertise for 1937 Old Town HW 17 $825. What is the present condition and lowest selling price? Kindly reply back with the necessary details
Thank you”

So, so many red flags. “Randy Yarbrough”, you really are not very good at this.

The WCHA Classified ad for the HW has been up for 3 weeks. It has been a hoot; four total responses so far, all scams. I am not even annoyed at this point; the scam attempts have included some gems.

Scammer #3 (a less obvious scammer):
My name is Donald, I saw your posting of a 1937 Old Town HW 17 for
sale for $825. I hope it is still available ? Can I know more info
about it...
I await your reply,
Donald

I replied “What more do you need to know than what is in the ad and photos? Pick up only, cash only, no Cashier’s checks”. Of course I awaited, but heard nothing back.

Scammer #4 (The worst attempt yet):
Dear Seller,
Am interested in your advert for sale. please let me know the present condition and last offer.Thanks.


I resisted the urge to reply “I am Seller of the advert. future location is wedged up your kiester, last offer was from a Nigeran Prince. Learn to punctuate and capitalize”.

As an experiment I’ll let the WCHA ad run and see how many scam responses I eventually receive. WCHA Classified stay up for a year and I should have a complete collection of scam examples by then. $35 to put a non-member classified on the WCHA site, I want my money’s worth, if only in entertainment value.

I don’t mean to diss the WCHA, they know this is a target rich environment problem, and are working to find a solution, but I have no idea what can be done to prevent Classified scammers.

A list of scammer names will not help; they change names more often than a streetwalker. I could at least (worst) provide the WCHA with a selection of red-flag scammer replies as classic examples of Beware THIS or THIS type of response.

After nothing but continuing scam responses I had the WCHA ad removed. A Craigslist Eastern Shore ad produced a couple “interested” parties.

“Tut Tuttle’s 1937 Old Town Canoe

This is an Old Town HW (Heavy Water) 17’ wood canvas canoe. Purchased in 1937 by Thorpe Nesbit of Queenstown, I have his original order and the factory build sheet, as well as correspondence from his widow Elizabeth Nesbit.

The second owner was Washington Irving “Tut” Tuttle IV, also of Queenstown. Tut Tuttle worked for boat builders in Florida, Maine, and Maryland. The canoe is in good condition and has been re-canvassed and re-varnished.

I would rather see the ’37 Old Town return, if not to a Tuttle descendant or the Chester River, at least to the eastern shore from where it came before selling it elsewhere. The previous owner’s correspondence and two vintage paddles that came with the HW are included”.

I immediately received a definite “I want it” from a collector of (his term) “Primitives”; WC canoes, old paddles and oars, vintage lobster pots and other antique nauticalica resold as bar and restaurant décor. His collecting trip arrival was a month away, but at least that sale was assured.

A week later repeat phone calls and E-mails from a gentleman in Queenstown with a Disco 168 who never quite got wifely approval and, after three weeks (and some scam spam) advertised on Craigslist, a genuine non-scammy response from Craigslist from a guy who lives nearby. His family builds custom homes and owns a “Hunting Camp” in Neavitt on the Eastern shore, not far from Queenstown.

He wanted the HW for hunt camp décor. I’m thinking “Custom Home Builder” and room to display a 17’ HW means the hunt camp is not a crab shack, and asked that, once it is displayed on the wall, he send me a photo.

He e-mailed, called and was here in less than 24 hours with a trailer. Nice fellow; I think Lassie Came Home to a good family. I wish I had remembered to take the usual “Canoe goes up the driveway” photo as he left, but we were having too much fun.

Good job! I’ve never sold via Craigslist, have done a ton on subject- specific forums and eBay. I’ve never used FB Marketplace… I have however purchased a bike for my daughter via CL and all went well.

Other than a few oddities in years gone by I have only bought and sold canoes and kayaks.

Being a Facebook refusnik I have never used Marketplace. I can view canoes for sale there for an idea of what people are asking but cannot respond. The ’37 Old Town was WCHA advertised for $825 and Craigslist for $725, similar OT’s are listed for on the WCHA Classifieds for twice that.

But the HW is perhaps the most common of wood canvas canoes; OT made 16,000 of them. In my mind it was a work boat, not a Concours d’Elegance rarity. And now, instead of being paddled, it will hang on a wall as a Décor d’Chasse Cabine.

The WCHA ad produced nothing but scam responses. The Craigslist as wasn’t much better, with such gems as 8 word inquiries “good evening...is the canie still for sale” and “I am inquiring about OT canoe”. Seriously, those were the entirety of the messages. Jeeze, at least put some work into it.

I have sold canoes in the past via local club message boards, but most clubs in my area have gone Facebook based. The last canoe I sold, friend Jane’s Mohawk Nova 16, was advertised on Craigslist, and a friend linked that Craigslist ad to a North American Canoe Traders as a “Not my boat” post. Despite being unpriced I received no responses from NACT.

During the Covid craziness the Nova would have sold in a day at that price; after four weeks I received a single non-scam Craigslist offer from a local guy. As usual I threw in some extras when he picked up the Nova.

I have our Mad River Monarch up for sale on Craigslist, well outfitted along with a Pacific Action Sail, also “Not my boat” linked to NACT. We have five other decked canoes, the Monarch is the only one with name/Kruger cache value.

P5240024 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Humorous side note, a NACT admin sent the “Not my boat” poster a message saying “That is a kayak, this is a site for quality canoes”. That despite the ad having the name “Kruger” in it twice and the NACT rules stating that “Specialty canoes like Krugers are acceptable”. NACT ran the ad after the admin error was pointed out.

I have received one response for the Monarch from an adventure racer in Minnesota who was hoping I could somehow drive the boat a thousand miles to him. That’s a nope for a bunch of reasons; my time, my gas, “Now that you are here will you accept X thousand less?”.

I’m in no rush to sell the Monarch and when selling something it’s “Pick up, cash only”. If I like the buyer, and I usually have, I throw in some extras.

I gave Facebook and NACT the ol’ college try. Couldn’t get cleared to post to NACT because I was too new to FB and they “didn’t know enough about me” because I had it as locked down as I could and have it still function. FB and user attitudes were generally just too pushy, so I canned it with prejudice. You’re spot in that all the paddling clubs and orgs have gone to FB. Free website management and a large pool or participants do make sense I suppose, but I’ll pass. Too few canoeists in my AO, other than the rentals at the head of the Wacissa River.

Hmmm---Craigslist seems to be quite popular in your area. Here in Ont it seems to have fallen out of favor. Kijiji is really big though.

"The Craigslist as wasn’t much better, with such gems as 8 word inquiries “good evening...is the canie still for sale” ...... Seriously, those were the entirety of the messages. Jeeze, at least put some work into it."

Kijiji actively encourages such short msgs as the first inquiry. It has a little button to click on for that. It saves the potential buyer from using a detailed response only to find out that it has been sold, as is quite often the case----maybe not for vintage canoes, maybe, but for regular stuff.

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Every boat I have ever sold, on Craigslist, club boards or paddling sites has been purchased by a respondent who established some bona fides in their first contact.

Not typing out War and Peace, but asking a knowledgeable question and including their e-mail or phone number. If a phone number is provided I am at least assured that they aren’t sitting at a keyboard in Minsk sending hundreds of scam replies each day.

I have done the same with every used canoe I have purchased; let the seller know I am for real in a sentence or two.

I can’t imagine who today falls for the “I’m stationed in Ft. Collins Colorado I will send you a cashier’s check and arrange for my agent to pick up the item” nonsense, but some scammers are simply out to get an e-mail address to hack and exploit; “Grandma, I’ve been arrested in Boise please send $2000 for my bail”

Maybe this is why Kijiji is more popular than CL.

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

HW Dénouement. Once the HW was sold I deleted the Craigslist post and e-mailed everyone involved in the adventure to let them know it found a new home. First Dex, the guy who turned me on to its availability, then Linda, Pat and Bland, the Nesbit descendants/relatives, Larry the “Primitives” reseller, and Steve, the Gueenstown resident who wanted it to replace his 90lb Old Town Discovery 168.

Primitive Larry responded immediately with a phone call. He seems like a genuinely good guy, maybe a bit of a character, sorry I didn’t get to meet him. He lives in Maine but travels to collect; if you have any “primitives” around I can put you in touch.

Dex responded, commenting on the paint job and asking if I wanted his brother’s wife to “come wash it with a scrub brush”. The Nesbit ladies responded. Linda noted that the HW has been “hung out to dry”. I may see Pat on the Prettyboy Reservoir next year; I had sent her the permit application for her (heavy) long-unused tandem SOT, the reservoir is the perfect place to keep for a too-heavy plastic SOT.

It weirdly wasn’t over. The phone rang and caller ID showed it was Queenstown Steve.
“Hello”
“Hi, this is Steve. I’ve decided I want to buy the HW”
“Uh, Steve, did you not see the e-mail I sent you?”
“No, I just got back in town, lemme look. . . . .awwghh”

Two days. He missed it by two days.

I hinted that, when the hunt camp buyer called, I was at that very moment in the midst of writing Steve an e-mail sweetening the offer with some extras. Paperwork and paddles, an old thwart that matches the HW’s brightwork that could be cut into shaped carry handles*, a raw ash yoke* that could be stained to match the brightwork and double hung, the Stelmok & Thurlow Wood Canvas Canoe book and some roof rack accessories to help get the HW home and along on future paddling adventures.

*Don’t get me started on no carry handles or yoke. I know, I know, that’s back when men were men and stuck their head between two paddles lashed to the thwarts. Thanks, but no thanks.

P9220010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I looked up that Stelmok & Thurlow book.

https://www.amazon.com/Wood-Canvas-Cano ... 13d670b6bc

Dang, $90? The copy I got with the HW just got more precious.

The dénouement to the dénouement will be when I get a photo of the HW “Hung out to dry” on the wall of the hunt camp.

The best two days with a boat, the day you get it and the day you sell it!!