Friday, September 11, 2015

Shop Updates 9-10-2015

This is going to be, as we say here in New England, a wicked long post.  Lots of pictures to show of finished canoes.  It felt like we did so much work that I had hard time keeping up with the camera. 

Once there has been time for the canoe candy sensors to absorb all the photos I will make an update with some of the current projects we have going on.  Lots of new projects so stay tuned.

We had a pretty cool run of Old Town Canoe canoes and boats in the shop that spanned all the decades from 1905 up through the 1960's.  Let's start with those in chronological order.

 
1905 Old Town Guide
We have restored a few Old Town's older than 1905, including an
Old Town/Robertson but this one was unique and a gem.
Before (in the red) and after. 
 





1917 Old Town HW
This one had seen better days but know it will see better days.
And that is the beauty of these canoes. 
They can be restored and put back on the water.
Before and after.
 





 
 
1920's Old Town
One of the classics.  A 17 foot Old Town Canoe from the 20's.
AA Grade, floor boards, outer stems, and a nice curved sheer at the ends.
Whew, momma-rizuto she's a beaut. 
Before and after
 







 
 
1930's Old Town Sailing Dinghy
 
Just in case you forgot what this one looked like when it came into the shop


And here it is restored
 











 
This dinghy is so fun and so wicked nice, let's look at it again....
 

 
Yeah, that was good.

 
1940's Old Town Double Ender
Just an all around nice canvas covered double ender.
Before and after
 









1950's Old Town Guide
with original OT paddles purchased with the canoe
 
 
 
 
1960's Old Town
I couldn't find the before pictures of this one.
Maybe I didn't take any.
 
 
 


More finished canoes
Some how between all these canoes being built and restored
Dylan left with a trailer full of new canoes to be delivered.....
 
 
....and came back with a load of wicked clear long cedar.
Okay so it was two separate trips back to back but it felt like one.
 
 
 15' Chestnut Canoe by
The Chestnut Canoe Company
The owner put the bark covered seat and the twine on
the canoe when he was a young lad and wanted it back on.
A really nice childhood memory for the owner.
 

 



Look mom, another Old Town!
An early 20's OTCA that was bombastically worked on in the past.
 
 
 
But when it left our shop it was good as new,
ready for decades of paddling.
 


Emily in the paint room
 

Paddles being made
 

 
Yup, we did it, we starting building another form.
This one, the famed 17' Chestnut Prospector.
More on this later
 





A Charles River festival anyone?
 
Here is the little 8' half scale Robertson. 
J.R. Robertson, Auburndale, Mass 
What a Sweet little canoe.
 


 
F. Brodbeck
A fairly uncommon Charles River area builder.
From Boston, Mass.
 
 
 
All the blue dots are marking broken ribs to be replaced.
 
 
 The finished interior showing all the replaced ribs, barely detectable.
 

 
 
A Waltham Courting canoe
The Waltham Canoe Company Waltham, Mass.
They just don't get better than this.
I love these long decked courting canoes!
 




 
Nice crisp ends like they should be.  .
 

There is a lot coming together at the ends and it takes skill to make it
look nice and appropriate.  The inner gunwales, outer gunwales,
decks, king plank, outer stem, and stem band all join in one small
tight area that measures about 3/8 of an inch wide.
 





 
 
How about some pictures of our canoes on the water this summer?
 
 A cruiser with Mom, Daughter, and dogs
 
 An 18' Windigo heading out
 
 16' Clearwater
 

 10' Puddle Jumper
 
 
A refreshing sip of water off the paddle right out of the lake!

 Hope you enjoyed all those pictures.