Wednesday, January 22, 2020

A Hybrid Row-Sail Dinghy from the Late 1800's?

Douglas Fowler sent along photos of this discovery, identification unknown. It does fit my conjectural image of what George Aykroyd had in mind when he developed his hybrid row-sail dinghy. (See the Toronto Dinghy.) A fellow named Everett is in possession of her and sent along this information:
"Attached are some photos of a small sailboat I am trying to identify. I think it is a cruiser of the type that appeared at the end of the decked sailing canoe early days say 1890. It was owned by Fred Bourne and purchased at a Dark Island auction in the 1970s. Nicely made, Spanish Cedar, copper tacks have a star embossed on the head. Any thoughts? Thanks' Everett




There doesn't seem to be any provision for rowing. This may have been sail only but it does sport a Whitehall rowboat type transom.


2 comments:

Alden Smith said...

Very interesting looking boat. I presume by the number of deck beams that the skipper was expecting a tsunami to ball onto the deck at any moment!! LOL

Tweezerman said...

Alden,

This was turn of the century (19th to 20th) boatbuilding. No plywood as a option so the decks were plank on frame. Canoe builders definitely used some very thin planks so maybe the frames were needed to stop working and having a very leaky boat.