The Adirondack Guideboat is a rowboat that was developed in the 1840s for recreational activities in

Adirondack Park The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park ...

. It was designed to have a shallow

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

, carry three people and their gear, and be light enough to be portaged by one man, the guide. Typical dimensions are 16 feet long, with a 38 inch beam, and weighing 60 pounds. While superficially resembling a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

in size and profile, its construction methods are very different and are one of its defining features. The

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

and ribs are made from

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, a wood which has a very good strength to weight ratio. The hull is planked up with cedar laps, with seams tacked with copper tacks. The hull has a bottom board, like a

dory A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishin ...

, typically made of pine. Ribs are traditionally cut from spruce roots which have a grain following the desired curvature of the rib. Since 1962 the annual Willard Hanmer Guideboat Race has been held on the closest Sunday to the 4th of July in Saranac Lake. It is a 10-mile canoe and kayak race on

Lake Flower Lake Flower is a lake in Franklin County, New York, Franklin County and Essex County, New York, Essex County in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York in the United States. The lake was created by damming the Saranac River in 1827. It was ...

and down the

Saranac River Saranac River ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is an river in the U.S. state of New York. In its upper reaches is a region of mostly flat water and lakes. The river has more than three dozen source lakes and ponds north of Upper Saranac Lake; the highes ...

. Modern hand-crafted versions can sell for about 20,000 US dollars.

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File:ADK Museum - Guide Boat built on-site.jpg File:Adirondack Guideboat.jpg File:Guide boat - Paul Smiths Hotel.jpg File:Guideboat on Upper St Regis Lake.jpg

References

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Further reading