Lessons Learned from the Restoration of Inlet Belle
By Ian Devlin, Western Canadian Antique and Classic Boat Society
Oftentimes retirement continues to be as big a learning opportunity as the working years. This has certainly been true in my case, particularly since taking on and restoring a “gray hull.”
Inlet Belle’s hull was stored out in the back field of Jimmy Potter’s Millar-Potter Boatworks in Manotick, Ontario, Canada. Though we didn’t know the original make or builder of the vessel, Jimmy and two very competent shipwrights, Mike and Hermano, took on the task of restoring her for me. New oak ribs were installed to hold the shape of the hull and then the hull was rolled over so that all the original cypress planks could be checked and reinstalled. A new oak keel was also installed along with a new stern post, hand fashioned from the original.
On January 10, 2005 the hull was turned upright, and I was able to provide some input into the deck design. Since the boat was going to be used in open channel water, I wanted a remarkably high front coaming to prevent waves from coming into the cockpit area. This was accomplished with the steam bending of a large white oak plank which was bent over a frame. The coaming reached around the open cockpit and matched up with a new mahogany and oak deck, both fore and aft.
We also made the decision to construct a fixed canopy over the open cockpit area, since forms were available to bend the oak boards to match the same shape as the deck coamings. My initial thought was to install a steam engine in the absence of any gas engine plans. But, when Jimmy Potter opened the engine hatch of another boat he wanted to restore, there sat a 20 hp Kermath engine, beautifully protected from the weather for over 30 years.
August 11, 2005, with pride we lifted Inlet Belle onto a trailer and traveled to our first boat show in Manotick as a static display on land as the engine rebuild was not yet complete.
On August 26 we hosted a launch party on the Rideau River and the next day the boat and trailer headed west to Vancouver, British Columbia for its destination home port of Belcarra. Once home, the next couple of years were spent researching the correct lighting system and design of deck fittings for the 1900-1910 period, the assumed age of the boat, even the length of the stern flag that might have been used.
During the restoration at Jimmy Potter’s, one of the locals would drop by periodically to see how the work was proceeding. He told me that people were always be interested in talking about this boat as it was so unique. This has turned out to be an absolutely true statement!
Owning a historical boat presents many challenges, particularly when there is no provenance for the hull – that’s the first question that people wanted answered. But I also had an incredibly unique working old engine that needed some research.
I was delighted to learn that my ACBS club members were eager to share any information they might have; just ask the question and information flowed forward.
For instance, I learned from fellow ACBS club member, Eric Hansen, that the Inlet Belle was likely manufactured by Truscott. He provided catalogues dating back to 1898. There are numerous similarities to the lines of the 25-foot Standard Launch per page 17 of the 1901 catalogue, particularly the fan tail stern layout and hull dimensions.
I also learned that my engine was a 1925 Kermath 20 hp and was painted red because it was manufactured in Canada. Thanks to a discussion board, a gentleman from the U.K. offered a complete schematic drawing of my Kermath engine. I was then able to proceed with building and installing parts – and I was also able to set the timing marks correctly.
The first engine Kermath produced (introduced in 1910) was a 12 hp 4 cylinder. The “Vanadium 20” was introduced in 1915 and is similar. The serial number on my engine (#14636) would point to the mid 1920s and my engine was a “Vanadium 20.” By 1930 Kermath had dropped the “Vanadium” and just called it the “Kermath 20” and later, the “Heavy Duty 20.” In one form or another, it remained in the catalogs until 1945.
Three years after we had owned the Inlet Belle, I received a note from Richard Gibson, a friend of Jimmy Potter, and co-author with Cynthia Reith of Barrymore: A History, published in 2000.
According to Richard, there is a large probability that the Inlet Belle is The Bargain. The lengths appear to be similar. In the 1920s and 1940s, there were very few cottages on the lake, and fewer boats – not many power boats at all. A craft like The Bargain would be rare, if not unique, and for someone to find and recover another hull so similar, on the same lake almost defies reality.
Then another credible story emerged from another boater and historian:
A summer fishing camp called Barrymere was started in 1920’s near Barry’s Bay, Ontario by four families from Oil City, Pennsylvania. One of the families, James Black, happened upon a used boat for sale for $300.00 in Toronto. Although he was not a “savvy boat person” he thought this to be a bargain to travel to his cabin in Barrymere.
The boat was purchased, to be delivered and floated at the dock at Barry’s Bay. At the appointed date the men from the Barrymere Camp went down the lake to Barry’s Bay to pick up the boat. They looked around the dock and finally spotted a line leading into the water and deep down was the new possession – The Bargain, as it became known.
The boat was retrieved, revived, and survived to run again but not very well. The Bargain had to be parked in shallow water because it sank every night. It finally met its demise when some campers took it down the lake on an errand and it sank under the bridge in deep water in an area with significant current. There was no record of it being retrieved by anyone at the camp.
Some 40 years later the “gray hull” was discovered in an old barn that was being torn down for the barn boards. We do not know who recovered The Bargain from the water and when it was moved into the barn. But it was moved from there to Millar-Potter’s back storage area in Manotick, Ontario, where it remained until the fateful day that I visited Jimmy.
Even after full restoration the Inlet Belle had a bad habit of taking on water. The rudder and the shaft log were the only one original fittings still on the hull and I noticed that the source of the water leak was from the shaft log fitting around the flange. The addition of two rubber seals provided added separation and immediately solved the water leakage.
I’m privileged to be a part of the Inlet Belle history and to forge ahead creating new fans for her.
I was of the opinion that the first 2 digits of a Kermath engine denoted the year of manufacture!
Thank you for the write up and for providing the likely history of a boat that was a mystery for many, many years. I’d seen the grey hull at Jimmy’s a number of times while visiting and was always intrigued by the lines. It was completely different from any of the other boats passing through the shop. I’d always wondered about its origins and history. Having the mystery solved by information you’d uncovered was a real treat.
Beautiful boat and a unique one. Very appropriate restoration and kudos for seeing what it could become.