I'm trying to help someone find information on an old "Ellery's Canoes" ultra light cedar strip canoe. The question I'm asking is .. "Were some old cedar strip canoes built with strips that were only half the canoe in length and 'joined-in-the-middle'? I know it sounds unlikely but they two photos give that visual impression. The front and back 'halves' of the strips appear to have different tones, appear to 'join' in the middle, and there's even an 'overlapping' rib of sorts on the inside at the mid-point. Would they have actually built a canoe in this fashion? Or is it just an illusion?
Thanks.