Mystery Boat, Cont’d….

We put out the call to identify a mystery boat a week or so ago and I figured I’d just share the responses- Looks like we have a few clues but it sounds like we need more photos and maybe someone can check it out in person- it belongs to Jim Oxenford and it is located on Chaumont Bay at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

First things first: the barn is a dairy barn- Jim says the cows are long gone! Tom Gloudemans adds that “That’s a milking barn. The metal stanchions separate the cows when they are in their stalls being milked. The trough to the right of the boat is the manure trough, no explanation needed.”

With that mystery solved we can move on to the good stuff- Here are the comments and further questions on the boat- Hope this clears the waters and please email me with any more info or ideas!

Bill Bucholz chimed in first, about two minutes after I put the original post up. He is pretty hardcore!

“My guess is a Palmer. No one else that I know of built those long tapered sterns, and the plank has a reverse curve and should be hollow. The chocks are different, though. There should be a builders label on the forward face of the aft cockpit coaming and on the side of the boom. Tiller steering? If he can get a look at the bulkhead at the foot of the fwd cockpit or behind the aft cockpit seat they should be diagonal planked. There will be a longitudinal in the fwd cockpit to support the mast step. The plank mounts will be cast aluminum and look just like standard Palmer. What’s the white stuff on them?

Cheers, Bill”

Next was John Low:

“I am guessing that could possibly be a Monotype XV, based on the dual cockpit design, but I am not certain. I would also guess that the building was a dairy barn. Where is it located?

As you know, Bill Bucholz had a Monotype built which was featured in Wooden Boat magazine. His was called Fast Piece of Furniture. I am not sure where it ended up, but it could have been Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. Monotypes were popular on the Baltic Sea before the Second World War and made a comeback in Communist Bloc Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

Regards,

John Henry Low
Nite 430”

And Bill Converse offers this:

“I vaguely remember seeing that boat on the ice years ago(early 80’s) at lake Wequaket in Hyannis when we had a Big Boat Weekend. Large ice boats showed from all over New England. It is what was called an E boat, or E class Skeeter( we were not that sophisticated here in those days) and is obviously a two seater. The local E boats had an 18 1/2″, 6-8 inches wide tapered mast with a 9 foot boom(low rig), about 18′ long with about a 14′ Runner Plank. Some had a short spring board making it 21-22 feet in length. Most of the hardware was either sailboat hardware, or was custom made by local machinists. The most famous of the sailors around here were the Allys from Fall River area. There was Julie, Joe, and Teddy. Julie was a local machinist who made most of the parts for their boats. The only one left is Teddy. I have seen him at Lakeville a few times. He had a boat almost identical to that pictured. They were quite fast in their day. There were a number of E boats from the cape. Unfortunately Teddy is probably the only one who could identify that boat. Leo Healy may, but you’d have to email him the picture. I will keep rummaging around in my memory. Where is the boat now? Bill Converse”

The truth is out there somewhere! Looking forward to hearing from everyone. Jim, if you’re reading this send more photos of the boat- details and close-ups please!

Thanks for sending us on the quest…. Think ICE! T

James “T” Thieler

12 Channing St.

Newport, RI 02840

401 258 6230

t_thieler