17' 1" B. N. Morris Canoe

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Designer/builder Rollin Thurlow took the lines shown here from a surviving 17' B. N. Morris canoe (Model A-64, Type 3) that had been built in 1908. According to the builder's catalog, the Morris Model A canoe combined "the most important features that are required in an all-round canoe ... great stability, good speed, good paddling qual­ities, together with a remarkable carrying capacity on slight draught." "Type 3" indicated that this canoe had longer decks and other details that marked it as being top of the line.

The 1908 Morris A-64, Type 3: perhaps the canoe in which Grandpa courted Grandma.

Paddlers with salt water in their veins might question this design—and, for that matter, most other "Indian" or Canadian canoes. Look at all that tumble home (the sides curve toward the boat's centerline as they near the rails). Won't it invite green water aboard, and won't it reduce secondary stability? And what about the seats located high up in the ends of the boat? Doesn't this arrangement put the paddlers' weight up where it shouldn't be for rough­-water work? The answer to all of the above is, "Yes, but...."

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