Help needed identifying an old Thompson

fc170 · Post by **fc170** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:33 pm

I recently acquired an old Thompson boat. I was told it is from 1935.

It is 13’7” long with a 4 foot beam. The only identification I can find is a small tag on the inside of the transom (starboard side). The tag s 2½ ” long by ¾” wide and says:

Thompson Bros
Boat Mfg Co
Cortland NY

I was unable to find any type of hull number.

Any help would be appreciated.

LancerBoy · Post by **LancerBoy** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:00 am

Welcome aboard! Nice looking boat!

Without a hull ID it is almost impossible to determine the year.

It is one of the many TVT hulls made by Thompson. TVT = Thompson V Type. This is not a model name, it's what Thompson Boat called their hull shape. They made these boats by the thousands each year, around 12,000 per year at their peak (both factories).

Since she does not have a hull ID stamped into the wood of the transom, she probably dates from pre-1946. It was about 1946 that Thompson Boat started using a hull ID for the first time.

The Cortland plant got up and running in 1925. So, your boat probably dates from 1925 to 1946.

You can look at the brochures yourself. They are available for sale on a CD-ROM at www.dragonflycanoe.com and www.wcha.org.

You will see that there were dozens of models that all were nearly identical. Two inches wider was the only difference from one to the next sometimes.

Andreas

LancerBoy · Post by **LancerBoy** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:08 am

A few more things...

The deck should be varnished, not painted. The interior of the boat: seats, ribs, planking, inwales, and transom should be varnished only, no paint. The outside of the transom should be varnished.

The exterior of the boat below the spray rails should be painted. Above the spray rails she could be painted or stained and varnished, depending upon the model.

Black definately would not have been an original factory paint tone.

Andreas

fc170 · Post by **fc170** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:01 am

Thanks for the information I will order one of the CD-ROMs and see if I can narrow down the year a bit. The boat seems to be very structurally sound. We have started striping the loose canvas off the bottom and have a few planks to replace but nothing to serious.
Do you have any recommendations on how to treat the bottom after all the old canvas has been removed? I am debating weather I should re-apply a canvas bottom or just seal it with CEPS and 2500.

Greg