Have you heard of these Canoe Companies?

-- Last Updated: Apr-27-08 8:26 AM EST --

I was out doing errands this morning when off of the side of the road there were two canoes for sale.

The first was a 16.5' Allagash Canoe. Is this made by Stowe Canoe It was a glass boat, looking vaguely Prospectoresque in design, with a sliding bow seat. Has anyone every heard of this company?

The second was a Mansfield canoe. Ash ribs, gunnels and deck plates. Wide beam, maybe 38" at the gunnels only 15' long.

Have you heard of this company?

One Out of Business
Allagash is now out of NC? or somewhere in that part of the country. I believe they used to be here in NH at one point in time. The ol’ gray matter aint what it used to be!



Mansfield was made by the Stowe Canoe and Snowshoe Co. which went out of business years ago. I had one of their boats for a while. I have one in the barn right that is in need of a rebuild. Sweet canoes IMO.

is
the allagash worth picking up for $200?

Both the same company / I think
Back in '91 I had to pick up a trailer of canoes from Stowe canoe/ Snowshoe Co. Got the nickle tour of the factory by the owner. I believe they did the finnish work on the Allagash models. I think the hull’s are made in Canada, then sent stateside to be outfitted with all the seat’s and trim by smaller companies. I believe they made there own hull’s though for the ‘Stowe canoe’.

There is a small ‘Wood Stove’ shop nearby my house, the guy sell’s a wide range of wood stoves first and foremost. But he’s also been selling canoe’s for a few decades now. Nothing fancy or top end. He get’s the finnished fiberglass (cloth) hulls from Canada, and has a small woodshop where he install’s the gunnels, seats and the rest of the componet’s on site. They are not ‘low’ end but neither are they complete insult’s to canoe’s (not chopped glass). Must be some kind of saved labor cost by just getting the hull’s delivered then having a sub- do the woodwork’s.

What I know…
is that Allagash was a campany owned by Dave Mosely Sr. and Jr. The Mosleys are also Riverside Products ( canoe and kayak foam blocks are/were their claim to fame). They manufactured canoes for a few years anyway. I’m not sure how many locations they may have made boats out of. I think they were in the old Stowe Canoe facility for a while). Jr. is a paddlesport rep in the mid atlantic states and Sr. is basically retired I think. If the canoe is intact, $200 is a good deal!



Stowe Canoe is long gone. Ed Kiniry owned the compay and eventurally sold the canoe buisness to some guy who moved it north of Stowe and basically let it die. The snowshoe business he keep, grew to huge proportions, bought Atlas Snowshoe and then sold the whole thing to K2…hello Made In China.



We restore about 10 old Stowe Canoes a year. We just got in for repair a 1976 '10.5 solo Stowe for restoration (anyone out there know the name of this model?). I’ve only ever seen one other of that model. The older versions of the Stowe Canoes are a pain to work on because the gunwales were hung with ribbed nails (not screws) and the wood stem and keels are a real can of worms to repair once they rot. Eventually, they went to a moded fiberglass keel and used screws to hang the rails…much easier to repair.



Rob