Salmon Falls Canoe

The shop is bustling along and so is spring. Many projects have been completed and many more are nearing completion. We had several repeat customers this past winter, some of whom had us restore or build more than one canoe for them. We also had new customers, many of which came from across the country and abroad too. We are excited about this; that old customers still want us to do work for them and that we are able to attract new customers from across the country.

There are a ton of pictures to show so we will break them up into several posts over the next few months so be sure to check back often.

A COUPLE OF OLD TOWN CANOES
- An OTCA and a Guide

How many times have we seen this? The end previously rebuilt and just rounded over with no distinction between the end of the stem and the end of the gunwales.

The profile of the stem should look like this, a nice crisp distinction between stem and gunwales.

Here is Emily ripping a pair of steam bent mahogany gunwales on the table saw for the OTCA.

Here are those gunwales being installed on the OTCA.

Below are pictures are of the 2 completed Old Town Canoes.

OLD TOWN SAILING DINGHY

Most of the broken ribs have been replaced and Emily starts in on the planking.

Dylan working on the port side broad plank.

The planking is done to the point where it is back to more rib work.

With all the rib work done and most of the planking, it is time to focus on replacing the inner stem. You can see how rotten and broken it is.

The first step is to loft a new stem pattern and make a bending jig.

Once bent, the attention is focused on making and fitting the new replacement. The bevel is rolling throughout and there is no better way to do this than by hand with a draw knife.

Here is the new stem next to the old one All the rib notches have been cut and so has the the lap-joint for joining it to the inner keel.

Well, what do you think inspector? Does it meet your approval?

Funny story about the inspector. When she came into the shop to inspect my handy work on the stem she noticed a dog in the shop and asked, "does your dog bite?" "No" I replied."

When the inspector bent down to pet the dog it nipped and bit at her. She looked at me and saying, "I thought you said your dog does not bite." "Tis not my dog," I replied!

Alright, so moving right along, haven't seen enough dinghy pictures yet? No problem, here are some more.........

The stem installed

Emily driving the last nail home!

There it is, the sailing dink and its' hull all complete. Now on to the varnishing of the interior, canvas, painting, the sail rig, and more.

Hey, wait a minute, where did the dinghy go?

Oh, it's in the paint room. Hooray!

2 PETERBOROUGH CANOES

2 canoe from the Peterborough Canoe Company, Peterborough, Ontario, all restored and ready to go.

A view of the deck and........

.....the interior.

CHARLES RIVER LONG DECK COURTING CANOE

The courting canoe is moving along nicely. The new outer stems were bent and shaped. Here are some pictures that show the importance of hot steam and compression straps; Notice there is no spring back in the stems once they are unclamped from the jig.