yarnellboat wrote:
It's a fiberglass boat (mat-type fiberous fiberglass?) and it has no markings at all on it. Couldn't see any place it ever had markings, unless they were on the float tanks which are no longer there. Who knows, it may be homemade.
Mat or woven roving?
Mat is more particle-board in appearance, basically choppergun glass in a mat. Woven roving is usually apparent as a wide weave, like a tightly knitted yarn blanket, on the interior. Either is thick and heavy, soaking up a lot of resin, and can be quite stiff. Woven roving was a step (or two) up from mat.
The mat or woven roving canoes I have seen all had gel coat and usually some regular glass cloth on the exterior. Neither was an uncommon material on economical manufactured canoes in the early glass era and up to at least the 1970’s, or in homebuilds.
I believe Sawyer used woven roving in their economy Oscoda line, as did Mohawk in some early composite canoes, and I have a vague memory of seeing a mat glass Mohawk.
I do not have much on the early Sawyer canoes, and less on the Oscoda models. The hull shape and ribs remind me of some vintage Mohawk “Sport” canoe, maybe a rebuilt Skipper or a Sportsman, or something from their earlier days.
Any chance there is a still readable Hull Identification Number, even just the first few letters, hidden under a coat of paint or near worn away on the right stern?
yarnellboat wrote:
The guy I bought it from didn't know anything about the design or manufacturer, just that it had been in the family a long time. He liked it enough to do a top-notch job re-doing the gunwales & seats, so hopefully that tells me it's a good canoe.
That appears to be a very nice rebuilding job; rabbet joint on the gunwales to hid the top of the sheerline, inset deck plates, probably new brightwork all around.
yarnellboat wrote:
Length: 13'11" stem to stem, about 13'4" to the ends of the gunwales
I am confused about the difference between those stem-to-stem and gunwale end measurements. The hull shape, materials and ribs really remind me of some vintage Mohawk. I don’t know what all Mohawk made in the early days, but they were making the Skipper and Sportman well into the 1990’s. FWIW:
Skipper, 13’ 1’ long, 37” max wide, 12 ½” deep center, 17” stems, 65 lbs
Sportsman, 14’ 2”, 35” max wide, 12” deep center, 18” stems, 65 lbs.
I love a good mystery canoe.