Help ID this antique boat

[Keith Gill]

I saved this boat from being burned. It’s been in storage in a barn for 50 years untold at least. I don’t know what year it is. I don’t know the maker no identification marks unless they’ve been painted over. The false floor is camouflage as are the oars, which are pretty cool that I forgot to post pictures of. It is wood planked with canvas covering probably sealed and then painted. The top has multiple layers of paint the bottom I haven’t had a chance to closely inspect. I’m really intrigued by the oblong opening on the rear deck, is this for a small outboard motor that attaches to the combing on the rear of a cockpit? Is it for polling?

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Keith~

What a sweet vessel - and an intriguing mystery! Having studied duckboats my entire life I can say that I have never encountered anything quite like it. The craftsmanship and condition are exquisite - but the purpose is a bit perplexing. That oblong "port" through the afterdeck and bottom leave me with only wild imaginings - as does the twin-skeg arrangement.

It certainly seems like a boat that was made for gunning open waters, with its low profile, high flared coamings and serious oarlock stanchions. At first glance - with its very narrow entry and modest beam - and the cockpit designed for the gunner to be facing forward - it looks like a sculling boat - aka a true "sneak boat" - made for slowly approaching rafting fowl. The lack of a conventional transom and a sculling port leave me scratching my head. I am wondering if the mystery port/tube through the deck and hull held some sort of "patent" mechanical (not powered) propulsion device that could be operated by the supine gunner via crank or line. I can almost "see" the patent drawings - with various shafts, cranks, pinion gears - and probably a 2-bladed propeller....

I am also wondering about the floorboards - because they appear to end well short of the aft coaming. I am wondering if a slanted back rest was fitted between the floor boards and aft coaming - and whether the 2 "spots" I see on the inside of the aft coaming are sockets to receive a pair of pins - maybe from the backrest?
The hardware around the "port" reminds me of a hawse pipe - a fairlead installed through the bulwarks of large vessels through which hawsers (very large lines for docking, towing, etc) were led.

https://second-wind.net/products/vi...ting-hawse-pipe-hole-through-bulwark-fairlead
I imagine the craftsman who built your vessel would have little challenge in fashioning one for the boat - albeit of much lighter materials than those used on ships.

In any event, the fantail is superb! See: https://stevenjaysanford.com/great-south-bay-scooter/ to understand my life-long appreciation of this feature.

Final question: It is difficult for me to assess the photos regarding the rowing position. Could the gunner have rowed facing the bow as well as facing the stern?

BTW: The closest I have seen is this vessel - which I restored a few years ago. It was from the early 1900s - and of course has a conventional transom stern with a leather-wrapped sculling port. I later was told it is a Joppa Flats Gunning Float - made by Lowell in Amesbury, Massachusetts (if memory serves me). Instead of a tall flared coaming up forward, it used sheet lead that could be turned up as needed. The well in the bow holds a 55-pound (removable) ballast.

Congratulations - and thanks - for saving this very special gunning craft. I am guessing you found her somewhere in the Northeast. Please let us know.
All the best,

SJS

 

[bob welsh]

It reminds me of a New Hampshire scull boat in shape

 

[Eric Patterson]

The schooner stern is a really unique feature. The Whitney Scull has that feature. You can find more info on them if you search old posts. Thank you for saving her. She looks to be in remarkable shape and ready for her next hunt.

 

[RM Anderson]

Perhaps this is a dumb question but is it possible the oblong port was used for sculling with a shorter sculling oar held more vertically like a whitewater canoeist? Another possibility, but less likely, a port for a push pole? RM

 

[Eric Patterson]

It looks like the oar is meant to come though the deck which surprises me on a scull boat. You want as little commotion above deck as possible. Maybe there is a means for it to be operated below deck as well. I can't tell from the pictures.

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Definitely appears to be a hawse fitting in the rear deck. The vintage would suggest that the boat predated electric motors, and it looks too small for a gas outboard. I wonder if there was a tiller passing through it, rudder below? The rear hull design leaves room for one to be used. I notice in photo 7 what appear to be screw or bolt holes in the inside rear of the coaming, where tiller hardware might have been affixed. That still leaves the question of propulsion, other than the obvious oarlock holders. Alternatively, might the vessel have been anchored with a line through the hawse hole? Perhaps used as a layout? I only have questions, an interesting craft.

 

[MRB Decoys]

I saved this boat from being burned. It’s been in storage in a barn for 50 years untold at least. I don’t know what year it is. I don’t know the maker no identification marks unless they’ve been painted over. The false floor is camouflage as are the oars, which are pretty cool that I forgot to post pictures of. It is wood planked with canvas covering probably sealed and then painted. The top has multiple layers of paint the bottom I haven’t had a chance to closely inspect. I’m really intrigued by the oblong opening on the rear deck, is this for a small outboard motor that attaches to the combing on the rear of a cockpit? Is it for polling?
View attachment 66781

Keith This Float is known ay a Great Bay Scull. The scull originally was Designed by James Whitney. I have the planes for this design. The roomer has it that the original boat that was lofted had a full schooner stern but the plans were changed and the hollow stern was put in and the motor well added. Im not sure who built this one but it looks like it was built for layout hunting not sculling. It has no oar hole in the transom. in the original plans the cockpit was square not a tear drop and it was much lower in profile. I know this boat was built by a few guys when the plans became available. Really interesting variation on this design for sure. Someday I plane to build one my self.

 

[Keith Gill]

Wow, I’m so happy for all these replies thank you everyone keep coming. I’ll try to confirm some of the questions raised so far when i next get to my shop. The boat came out of a marina in grand haven, Michigan. The 90-year-old owner passed away a few years ago. He had seven quonset huts filled with Antique outboard motors. We don’t know for sure, but there were probably 3 to 4000 motors and some really rare stuff as well. He also had a gun collection which was sold at great value, duck decoys, old cars, he saved everything. This is one of the last pieces remaining and I was surprised nobody took it. I had seen it in the past year, but I didn’t appreciate it till I saw it on the floor. It has been standing on its stern tucked away in a corner of one of the huts. I had wandered out loud if that feature in the Stern deck was for a long pole for moving through water, but someone raised a great point it would’ve scared away all the ducks so perhaps it was a Rudder. I just wonder why you’d want a rudder when you have oars.

 

[RM Anderson]

Sculling Pry Stroke...The oval fairlead serves as the gunnel which you would ordinarily pry off when performing the stroke. Only one hand would be required. RM

 

[Keith Gill]

Sculling Pry Stroke...The oval fairlead serves as the gunnel which you would ordinarily pry off when performing the stroke. Only one hand would be required. RM

Wicked cool! Was there a way to insert the oar but attach it to the boat so the operator could just let go of the oar whenever needed but it’s right at hand when they need to use it again?

 

[MRB Decoys]

Sculling Pry Stroke...The oval fairlead serves as the gunnel which you would ordinarily pry off when performing the stroke. Only one hand would be required. RM

I like your theory but I am not sure this is why he put that in there. On the real plans the opening is much bigger to except a small HP Motor. I don't see the benefit of trying to scull this float that way. Im thinking they put that in there as it was in the plans. Maybe he used it as a way to adjust the anchor. Who ever built this did not attend to scull it.

 

[MRB Decoys]

If you take a look at this photos there is an eye let and an open run threw on the bow. I'm thinking it was anchored from the bow by hooking a line on the ring and running the anchor line through the hole on the front. to keep the float swinging an anchor can be dropped down the hatch opening. With the tear drop combing the waves will wash to the sides. Just my theory.

 

[RM Anderson]

I don't see the benefit of trying to scull this float that way.

MRB Decoys,
It is possible that the builder was an older gentleman who wanted a scull boat but wanted to remain sitting while sculling. The same hole could anchor the boat in the shallows with a pole. Whatever his intentions it apparently never caught on; much like many of my ideas. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Jeff Reardon]

MRB Decoys,
It is possible that the builder was an older gentleman who wanted a scull boat but wanted to remain sitting while sculling. The same hole could anchor the boat in the shallows with a pole. Whatever his intentions it apparently never caught on; much like many of my ideas. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Had the same thought--that might be for an anchoring pole. I'm wondering if there is weight in the bow--or needs to be--to balance this boat like the well for a weight in the Joppa Flats sculler that Steve Sanford shared. Does anyone know if the Great Bay sculls needed weight forward to balance properly?

 

[Hank H Garvey]

Cool boat but there are a few things that don't make sense with it. It does not make sense that you would scull this with the hole where it is. Way too much movement unless it was put in for comfort for the shooter and used it like a delaware type boat. It has some similarities to the Great Bay boat which is right up the road from me but I don't think this has Whitney influences. Whitney was in Maine and the Great Bay boats are from eastern part of NH. They are different lines particuliar the Whitney had more rocker and an swept back up to the stern which created much less wake and why they are one of the finest sculling boats. It has some lines from multiple boats and certainly interesting. I wish we could ask the owner what he did with it. Maybe the family has some old pics of him hunting did you ask about that by chance? Love the old historic boats for sure.

 

[Hank H Garvey]

 

[Hank H Garvey]

These are the Whitney designs that he built as a reference. Hank