NDR - Adirondack Guideboat goes home

[Steve Sanford]

All~

I guess this is NDR - but these boats were certainly used to hunt deer - and I cannot help but think that more than one poor Goosander was hauled ashore in a Guideboat over the past century-and-a-half....

I have always coveted but never owned an Adirondack Guideboat. I have rowed a few - an amazing experience of efficiency whilst afloat - but never lived where I "needed" one. Yesterday, I hauled a friend's guideboat up to the heart of guideboat country - Long Lake in the Adirondacks. Although my friend and her family rowed it for many years on Lake George, we both live in dairy country now where big lakes are not to be found. (And although Susan and I have a family camp on Lake Champlain, that inland sea is a bit too big for a guideboat.)

So, this vessel is now in the capable hands of a sixth-generation guideboat builder - most likely to be fully restored and ready to ply some new waters here in the Northeast.

We do not know when it was built or who built her. My friend's family acquired it shortly after WW II and it is in very good condition. Aside from repairs to a few planks and some new caning in the seats, it looks like - without the benefit yet of truly close scrutiny - it mostly requires cosmetics: off with the old varnish and on with some new.

I sacrificed a pool noodle to guard against chafe to/from my roof rack.

Here is a new boat a-buildingin the Long Lake shop.

In this jig, this guideboat can be rotated and pinned in dozens of positions to ease the building process. The planking is 1/4-inch Northern Whitecedar.

The rocker along the keel is carefully established and maintained throughout the building process.

The backward rake in this stem is called "tumblehome".

I hope to post some AFTER photos sometime in the future.

All the best,

SJS

 

[steve wheeler]

Steve

Thanks for posting -great pictures of the new boat build but what really blew me away was the building cradle. What an ingenious method for turning the hull for planking or working on other areas. Mine is a couple of 2 by 6 screwed together with spacers between them and set on level sawhorses. Frames are mounted on top ( building upside down) and then it takes two people to turn the whole thing over!

 

[Mark W]

This is so cool. Thanks for sharing.


Mark W

 

[Jeff Reardon]

Cool boat! What does she weigh?

I've never rowed a Guide Boat, but have spent a lot of time in Rangeley Boats, which are a little bigger. I'm told the primary difference was that Guide boats were portaged from lake to lake, while the tradition here in Maine was to have boats on each lake and walk between them. Plus our lakes were bigger, favoring a larger, more sea-worthy boat.

They are beautiful rowing boats. For anyone who may want to make a trip to Maine, the annual Rangeley Regatta is a hoot. It's September 17 this year. Here's the report from last year: http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/outdoors/rangeley-takes-home-first-rangeley-regatta-cup

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Jeff~

This Guideboat is light! Although we did not weigh her, the Long Lake builder and I estimated 50 pounds - not bad for a 16-footer. Even I could still portage such a boat - for a few hundred feet.....

All the best,

SJS

 

[JIM MARSH]

Great boats very neat, I would love to have one, Thanks for posting,
I have 11 old duck (punt) boats, 7 over 100 years old, 10 have been restored.

I LOVE OLD BOATS

 

[Jeff Reardon]

Good morning, Jeff~

This Guideboat is light! Although we did not weigh her, the Long Lake builder and I estimated 50 pounds - not bad for a 16-footer. Even I could still portage such a boat - for a few hundred feet.....

All the best,

SJS

That is seriously light. Tough to get a 16' canoe under 50 pounds without kevlar. The Rangeley boats are about the same length--I've seen 16', 17' and 18', but more solidly built, carry the beam closer to bow and stern. They were often fished with a guide rowing from a center seat and two sports in the bow and stern. I don't know what they weigh, but I've helped launch them at a sporting camp from winter storage and it's a chore with 3 of us. Pretty easy with 4. Not a boat to portage.

Next time I up at Grants Kennebago Camps, the last sporting camp I know that still has a fleet of them, I'll take some photos.

 

[Kevin B]

Jeff they quite stable once you are underway. Rowed crossed handed. They surprisingly fast considering the weight they can carry. They were the primary source of travel from Old forge,through long lake and up into the Saranac chain of lakes.
The camp I work at was a bunk house for the guides and connected Upper Saranac to Middle. Back (1854) The Bartlett Carry was the last stop before going on to Saranac Lake .
Beautiful boats...but at 17k a little out of my price point.