Chestnut Playmate14'

A sunny day in between all the rain, hard to believe its February since its 63 degrees. Perfect day for a road trip to pickup up a nice little 14 footer in original canvas and finish.

 A stop at the outlet mall keeps everyone happy

14 footer from the 50s-60s, with small ribs and oak rails, decks and thwart

 

Remnants of original decal and painter ring

Oak decks, inner and outer rails, and steel screws throughout

 

Spliced outer rails, typical of the period

 

14' overall, 32" wide and 12" deep

 

Corded seats need to be re caned

 

Overall untouched from factory finish. 

 

Canvas rotted, to be replaced.  Might be best to put a new canvas, seat cane, freshen up the varnish and go paddling rather than the whole strip and refinish. Time will tell....

Vintage Chestnut photograph

A great shot of a prefire Chestnut Cruiser, built with open gunwales - boat shows high bows and low midsection, and the early shape

Thanks to Dan Miller of Dragonfly Canoe for sharing.

Grand Laker work

 Wrapped and ready to travel

 Leaving Maine for Ontario

 MIdway point in NY

 NOT a winner. $55 million left in the US

Back home ready for work

 New rails ready to go in

 New outer rails to be made

 Broken rails

 Old rails split out

 

 New build

 Mahogany transom and knees

 

 One rail in

 Second rail in

 22' ash stock for rails

 Rails fit

 Finished rails

 Old rails put to good use

 Ready for new varnish

Next up exterior paint and splash rails

Grand Laker restoration

Trailer adjusted to fit, and shrink wrapped for January travel

 

Recent winter storms in New England not only dumped lots of snow and knocked power out, but the roads were full of salt and ice preventer.

 

Wrap likely wont last the 1000km, but will get us over the majority of the way without a layer of salt and dirt inside

Not too much overhang, not bad for a full 19'8"

 Ready to roll, a mild weekend thaw was the perfect opportunity to run to Maine to retrieve it

 Somewhere around Albany NY it started to slowly unravel, but no matter since the sun was out and the pavement was dry

Unloaded and unwrapped before it goes in the shop

New rails tied inside, to be installed as part of a working restoration

 

Solid stem, planks and ribs. 

Solid transom and thwarts, broken rails

 

Spruce rails will be replaced with ash. 

 

 Seat and knees are solid

Transom plates inside and out to keep the engine bracket from biting into the wood

 

Half ribs, interior is a candidate for sealing and painting with marine enamel, and will likely get painted. Fiberglass is well adhered so wont be removed, work starts next week