thompsondockside.com

These two came home on an August day in 2009. They are both 12' Thompson (Peshtigo) row boats-car toppers, resort boats.

As you can see, they are not sea worthy. My question is this, The boat on the left was restored, and I covered it in glass, not canvas. Have I commited the ultimate sin? The other boat still has the original canvas, but someone in the past covered the canvas with glass.

This picture is of the hull with new cedar planks installed.


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Welcome aboard,

Both boats appear to be the TAKE-ALONG models.

They are your boats so you may do with them what you please. However, in my personal opinion, you did the boat a disservice by fiberglassing it. This actually was not all that uncommon for one of these boats or one of the cedar strip boats. In fact my father did it to our 1958 Thompson of Peshtigo Take-Along in the mid 1960s.

Canvasing her like original would not have been much more complicated or costly than fiberglasing her. I had a Take-Along a few years ago that had been glassed by a previous owner. I went to all the time and expense of removing the glass and having her recanvased. A wood/canvas canoe restorer did the work.

On your second boat I recommend that you consider canvas. Look at www.wcha.org for canoe restorers and information. The Take-Along boats were constructed like a wood/canvas canoe.

Do these boats have hull IDs stamped into the wood of the transom inside the boat? I keep a database.

Cheerio!

Andreas

The boat that I glasssed was nearly gone. The transom was completely replaced, and alas the serial number is gone. All that is left is the small tin name plate on the bow of the boat. The other boat is still original, and the serial number is there, but the boat is hanging in my garage and it is still winter so I will get the number this summer and provide it to you.

Given the amount of work involved with the hull: new oak keel-steam bent, (four attempts before success), cedar planks (a lot), 6 cedar ribs (laminated 1/8" thick pieces + the form to bend the ribs), complete stripping and sanding of the splash boards, seats and seat supports, transom supports, plus all of the other things I forgot, I just did not want to invest the time to canvas the boat. Fiberglass was easier, and since the boat is now just a representative example of the original, that completed the decision.

I am glad I had a table saw and band saw, and borrowed planer otherwise this project would not have been completed.