Iz It A Wolverine?

wolve 9Fellow Woody Boater Matt Yancer reached out to the fellow citizens of Woodyboaterville to help him know what his mystery tobacco barn find iz!  Here is the note from Matt Yancer from Virginia.

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“I bought this boat off a man who said he thought it was a 1952. He had it in a tobacco barn since the late 60’s ish, had no paperwork. All he had was a picture of him and his wife around that time. It is approximately 12 ft long and it has no markings except for numbers carved into the railing upside down on the transom.

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hey look to read ’10o9F 6 2′.
It looks a lot like one of the wolverine pictures I saw on the internet in a news article of a 12 year old winning a boat race in a 12′ wolverine runabout, which looked identical but the article was bad quality to see.

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Slight different bow though?

The strip of wood that runs down the side of the boat about half way is throwing me off because all the pictures I see that strip runs up to the bow completely.

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The design in interesting. It has grooved strip sides (as you can see in one of the close up pics of the stern). The top looks like some sort of a thin layer of white oak wood laminated on plywood (also a close up attached). The ribs, seats and other parts are all made of some sort of hardwood.

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The steering wheel says Vollrath in Sheboykin Wisconsin and is hooked up on a pulley system, it never had any remote throttle control.”

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Thanks Matt for reaching out. These style boats can be branded in all sorts of ways. matt is going to do the work himself and came with her engine and all the goodies.

32 replies
  1. Jim Staib
    Jim Staib says:

    While doing the homework be sure to stop by 3 sheep’s brewery in Sheboygan, Wi.
    Did Wagemaker produce hardwood boats? I only remember plywood.

  2. Captain Nemo
    Captain Nemo says:

    I don’t believe it’s a Wagemaker. The ones I am familiar with are all soft chined and cold molded construction. Nice little boat!

  3. Eric
    Eric says:

    In my research I found that Wagemaker (Wolverine) went from the molded hulls produced by their sister company U.S. Molded Shapes to Lapstrake. Tongue & Groove construction never showed up in what I found. Their were however similar hull numbers stamped in, see picture. Note the cross section elevation of the steering console is flat in the ad and arched on the mystery boat. Matt is welcome to come by and take a look at my Wagemaker this weekend.

  4. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    I vote not a wagemaker….but the volrath steering is cool….so is the whole boat….good project. Where in Va?

    John in Va.

  5. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    The crown in the deck looks Wolverine alright…and the rear steering is cool….lets you reach back and fiddle with the knucklebuster. Yorktown……he should join tidewater chapter…get in touch if you want to.

    John in Va.

  6. Scott Smith
    Scott Smith says:

    Looks like a typical utility racer of the early 1950s. There were plans aplenty in the magazines of the day – Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, etc. Might find something similar here:
    http://www.svensons.com/boat/
    The square chines eliminate Wolverine as a possibility, though – they were moulded plywood with round chines.

  7. Randy
    Randy says:

    Vollrath was a manufacturer of marine hardware. I know they were around in the early ’50’s, not sure how early they began.

  8. John Baas
    John Baas says:

    Vollrath now concentrates on stainless cookware in Sheboygan, WI. You know, where the bratwursts come from. Now back to Matt’s boat. Didn’t Pen Yan make a similarly styled outboard?

  9. Matt
    Matt says:

    Sande Ace boats were made in Washington State though. And this boat was purchased new in Richmond VA. Seems a little odd to have a boat like this all the way in Virginia?

  10. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    wow! Purchased in Richmond? The would be only a few places, Carwich Marine maybe Coopers, Pinnells, Rowletts maybe….even my father’s store the Sportsman’s Shop sold kit boats. Before the Richmond purchase info I was mostly with the Popular Mechanics and like mags idea.?????

    John in Va.

  11. Bill & Linda
    Bill & Linda says:

    That is definitely not an Ace. There are many differences, but the most obvious is that this mystery boat does not have the distinctive transom with non-trip chines, like the Ace. Notice the transom shape in this up-side-down Ace picture.

  12. ed adler
    ed adler says:

    My 1st boat was a ceder strip Wolverine 12′ 7.5 merk.My 2nd was 13′ wolverine 40hp merk. I don’t think this is a wolverine. To my knowledge They built ceder strips ,then went to Molded plywood My 13 ‘ was molded plywood today everyone calls it cold molded .I don’t think this is a wolverine.I looks like an early Aristo craft

  13. Matt Y
    Matt Y says:

    I haven’t been able to come across any ariso craft pictures that look like this boat.

    The bottom of the boat is plywood, only sides are strips.

  14. Matt Y
    Matt Y says:

    Did the Vollrath steering wheels come on specific boats? Is that a factor I could use to narrow down my search?

    Also the same with the tongue and groove sides, does anyone know what boats were made with those design?

    The bottom is plywood.
    No luck finding anything!

    • Scott Smith
      Scott Smith says:

      Vollrath was a manufacturer of boat hardware back in the day. Boats such as this were often shipped bare, then the dealer would rig them up with whatever the buyer wanted for cleats, lights, steering, etc.

  15. Matt Y
    Matt Y says:

    Update: The store’s full name where the boat was believed to have come from was Rowlett’s Bicycles & Canoes richmond va. Owned by a Fred Allen. I have tried to find his contact info and haven’t had any luck. Does anyone know about this place and what kind of canoes/boats he sold there?

  16. don danenberg
    don danenberg says:

    Wow..,
    Will this be a “Preservation”, or “Restoration”?
    There are definitely recognizable details, perhaps a search of Speltz – book 4 ?
    I’d keep it alive.

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