Motorized Canoes

The theme of the 2025 Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) annual Assembly at Paul Smiths, NY, will be motorized canoes. A motorized canoe can be, well, any canoe with a mounted motor, or a square back or Y back canoe, or even a canoe with an internal engine. @Nick Dennis from the U.K., a fellow WCHA director, sent me pictures of Old Town internal engine canoes, which appear at the end of this post. I don't know what year OT catalog they are from, but I suspect @Benson Gray will.

I thought it would be interesting to have a thread on our experiences and trips with any sort of motorized canoes. I know many of you do have square sterns, Y sterns and/or motor mounts. Lots of pictures are always informational, entertaining and popular.

My only experience with a motorized canoe was with the first two canoes of my own that I ever bought. In 1980, my first canoe was a cheap Pelican that I bought in San Jose, California. Along with it, I bought an Old Town motor mount and a 2hp Mercury outboard. I assembled the canoe and put it into the Calero Reservoir with the motor on, sat in the stern seat, and just about submerged the entire stern under the water at the put-in. The canoe couldn't float the stern weight of the motor and me.

Back went that cheapo canoe to the marine dealer, after which I bought a Royalex Mad River Explorer at Western Mountaineering. I put the motor on that canoe and zoomed around several reservoirs in Northern California and in San Francisco Bay. I had put a wide cane center seat in the Explorer for solo paddling, and jury rigged a handle extension to the Mercury outboard so I could sit in the center seat to better trim the canoe while motoring.

I never used the motor after I moved East in 1982. I guess the fad factor of it all wore off, plus I was more interested in developing my whitewater and flat water paddling skills.

What are your experiences with (and/or pictures of) motorized canoes?

I'll have to look for pictures but back in the 60"s when there were many many motor routes in the BWCA my dad bought a square stern aluminum canoe and a 3hp evinrude and we would travel all over. I was a kid and at that time couldn't understand why people would just paddle when they could use a motor!
Fast forward to this past June and I was at my brothers in NH and he still has dad's canoe and motor (it's a 1959 model) so we pulled it out and took a spin around one of the local lakes just for old times, that motor still hums along and it brought back a lot of found memories of being in that canoe with my dad who has been gone for 20 years now.

Glenn MacGrady said:

I don't know what year OT catalog they are from

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Most of these pictures are from undated Old Town materials. The second image is from page 13 of the 1911 White catalog. The full version of that White catalog is available at the link below. The popularity of inboard motor canoes like these dropped dramatically once outboard motors became available.

Benson

Years ago I clamped a 36 lb thrust electric trolling motor to the stern on my We-no-nah Jensen. It moved right along but the trolling battery was as heavy as the canoe and the hassle of carrying it all and setting it up just wasn't worth it. I think I used it about 3 times and went back to paddling.

Long history of freight canoes with motors. My current drift boat has a long shaft 6 hp outboard. It is a displacement hull and cruises at about 6-7 knots. It is very stable and easy to move around in. I use it on lakes when I am not running rivers.

I followed Glenn's instructions for imugr, and it worked! Thanks Glenn! Here are my two, it's hard to distinguish, one is a 20 footer with a 6 horse suzuki, the other one is a 17 fitter with a 2.5 suzuki. I still have Tim Marchetti's plans for a traditional 20 footer, similar to the NorWest company freighters, I am thinking about building one this winter.

I like my 16’ wood canvas square stern canoe built by Schuyler Thomson in Norfolk, Ct. I never really thought I would own one but I couldn’t pass up the deal. It has a 2.5 hp 4 stroke Yamaha which moves it along fast enough for my needs, and it’s great for taking my grandkids fishing.

memaquay said:

Ugh, forgot that imugr doesn't like it here.

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I recall your saying that before. To test, I downloaded this image from the web, uploaded it to Imgur, right-click opened the Imgur image in a new browser tab, copied the URL of the image in that tab, and embedded it below with the Insert Image tool. It worked without problem.

In the late 60’s, early 70’s I motored all over Northern Minnesota, especially the motorized routes that then penetrated the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the adjacent Quetico Provincial Park.
I had a light weight 17 foot Grumman double ender with a side mounted 2 horse Johnson. If solo I would have to double portage, but with a suitable sturdy companion we always single tripped all portages. The person that carried the canoe had it made. The poor person that carried the motor on one shoulder also had a #3 Duluth pack and on a rope around the neck a couple gallon jugs of mixed gas dangled. On longer trips we would stash gas at appropriate places, for the return trip. Where the intended trip diverged from the motor route, we would also stash the motor. I came back to a stashed motor along with the side mount one time. Rigged up the mount, attached the motor and fired it up headed home.everything was going great until the fuel in the carburetor ran out. A quick check revealed that a red pine squirrel or a porcupine had eaten the fuel line. I have never disliked any of my gear as much as I did while padding that crippled two horse motor back to the distant landing. A week after getting all the gunk out of the carb it was stolen from my friend’s garage. Never missed it, a blessing in disguise, I suppose, didn’t get another motor until about 15 years ago when I bought a Honda two horse, to power my cult classic,Grumman Sport Boat. I use it mostly for trolling for lake trout. I used to slow troll with a six foot spruce guide paddle, the 2hp Honda is easier on me and more dependable than I am.

I have a friend who brings a 1-hp trolling motor to trips on the Allagash.


It seemed like cheating at first, but it sure made crossing those windy lakes a lot easier, and got us into camp with plenty of time to set up and gather wood for the fire. Rangers use them, so why not us.

My first run at canoeing with an out board. It was a Coleman RamX made by pelican with A 2hp Johnson. I made a mount the mount for it. To noisy.

In the early days, prospectors, surveyors, hunting guides, trappers and other people that lived in the bush for long periods of time often used big freight canoes. They did not paddle very well especially when loaded. A small outboard changed everything especially for lake travel.

I have a 1929 Johnson 1 hp motor that my Dad passed along to me recently. The motor has been in the family since 1948. It still runs but is a little hard to start. It has manual spark advance, and the most primitive carb I have ever seen. It takes gas: oil ratio of 16:1. Modern 2 cycle engines are at 50:1. My Dad used to run it on an old wooden row boat he found at the bottom of the Spokane River in WA in 1948. We used the old Johnson on a tender for a power boat in the 1950s and 60s.

eckilson said:

I have a friend who brings a 1-hp trolling motor to trips on the Allagash.

https://flic.kr/p/2p6mteS

It seemed like cheating at first, but it sure made crossing those windy lakes a lot easier, and got us into camp with plenty of time to set up and gather wood for the fire. Rangers use them, so why not us.

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Leaving the bow paddler, I suppose, with lots of freed hands time to take photos.

One time I was paddling upstream on a favorite local river that is full of fallen trees. One reason I like it is that I usually have it to myself since powerboats can't get under/over/around the deadfall. Then I heard the faint sound of a motor so I paddled harder to ensure my solitude but after about a half hour a couple of young men passed me in a square back canoe with a 2.5hp motor. I remember that we all were surprised to see someone else going through miles of deadfall upstream and had to admire (or just respect) each other's choice of transportation.

Robin said:

I like my 16’ wood canvas square stern canoe built by Schuyler Thomson in Norfolk, Ct.

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Robin, did Schuyler reproduce an old design or is it his own design?

memaquay said:

I followed Glenn's instructions for imugr, and it worked!

Click to expand...

I've posted hundreds of pictures from Imgur on other forums. The key is to right click open the Imgur image into a new tab, which will give it a new URL that allows embedding. Using Imgur's "copy link" function always results in failure for me.

On this site, I now always download the images to my computer from whatever internet or photo site they are on, and then upload the images to our server using the Insert Image tool. That is what I recommend for everyone here. It takes a few clicks longer, but avoids the "disappearing photo site" problem that plagues many of the older threads here, which now have dead photo links.

Glenn MacGrady said:

Robin, did Schuyler reproduce an old design or is it his own design?

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Schuyler told me that a fishing club in Pennsylvania asked him to replace their aging fleet of similar boats. He made some adjustments to keep it more canoe like than the boats they had. He built a form and I think he made them 1/2 a dozen at least, plus he had a couple of his customers build some in his shop.
Schuyler built mine as a wedding gift for a friend who ended up moving out west and couldn’t take it with them, so Schuyler held it on consignment. As he got closer to retirement he dropped the price and when he threw in a new 14’ Chestnut Fox replica hull I couldn’t resist.

My only experience is with a small motor mounted on the side of a tandem, on the Green River Lakes. I was guiding someone who didn’t want to walk around the lower lake to get to the upper lake and the canyon. Wind was…well, like Wyoming wind on the west face of the Wind River range. Going East was easy. Coming back we had to seek every shelter, and the motor kept stalling. I ended up dropping the client off to hike back. Took me over an hour to get that last 1/2 mile along the shore.

On a smooth lake a motor would aid in getting around to fishing spots quickly. But then, this is the best paddling condition as well. I can’t see using a motor to push the conditions. Maybe with a weak paddler in the bow and a large lake to cross, or getting a large load somewhere. Other than that, wasted technology.

After a few days paddling the lakes of down east Maine, our group stopped to visit Dale Toby’s shop in Grand Lake Stream. Dale builds and repairs wood canvas canoes and square stern canoes (Grand Lakers)
Dale is in the green checkered jacket, he is also a fishing/hunting guide out of Grand Lake Stream.
This is Dale’s personal Grand Laker,


A new Gl’er ready to be delivered,


Inside Dale’s shop with another new Grand Laker,

I have never even seen a Grand Laker on the West Coast. I love the full transom to provide flotation under power.
Always room for more. More people, more dogs, more food, more equipment.

For years we have contemplated lashing 3 canoes together with 10 foot poles and pushing them with a small outboard. The plan was to add a plywood deck and a mast. I have made catamarans out of 2 canoes several times. They would be suitable for a small outboard.