Now personally, I'm a small boat kinda guy. The big stuff holds some interest, but I am always interested to see what others have done with their canoes and kayaks. As a result, I've decided to devote today's post to canoes and kayaks at the show. The picture above shows some restored and un-restored beauties on Robert Ross's trailer. Robert Ross is the owner of Ross Brothers and they specialize in the sale vintage canoes and sporting goods among other things. Here's a nice detail view of an un-restored boat:
I think that the un-restored boats can be as beautiful as the restored boats. Often, the un-restored boats (like those in the Rossi Mill building at Mystic Seaport...) show artwork and detail painted on them that you don't often see put back on restored boats. Things like gilt work and hand painted scroll work. The old boats had some pretty fancy stuff.
Here's another view of Robert's booth showing a lovely courting canoe with long decks and wide thwarts. I love the way that varnish glows in the sun!
Detail of the deck:
He also had this cute 10' long pack canoe and a variety of paddles and oars. DD would probably enjoy something like this as it's a bit wider than my Wee Lassie.
Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks had a booth again this year and was featuring his nearly complete Mini-Bootlegger. This kayak was made from 1/8" thick Mahogany strip that was organized as it was cut from the board. The trim was Tiger Maple. A gorgeous effort - and it is available for sale. A mere $23,000.00.
Just look at the grain. Gorgeous.
Chesapeake Light Craft was back as well with their lovely boats on display. I can't say I'm much of a guy for plywood kayaks, but they do a nice job. This is only a small selection from their display - they offer an impressive number of designs for the home-builder.
In the, "I Built it Myself" area at the show this lapstrake sailing canoe based on a Rushton design was just arriving as I was leaving and had no signs on it.
This gentleman built a Redbird to the design of Ted Moores from Bear Mountain Boats and customized it very nicely. One of the customizations was lowering the sheer a bit at the bow and stern. My father and I built a canoe to this design and it is a pleasure to paddle, but the high bow and stern can be pushed around when the wind is up.
A very nice sculpted cherry yoke:
Bird's Eye Maple decks and grab handles:
A slick sliding seat arrangement for the bow paddler. This is a nice feature as such a design will let you shift the seat to adjust the fore and aft trim for paddlers of different weight.
A nice sea kayak - I missed the builder and design information - Oops!
A Tom Hill designed Charlotte lapstrake double-paddle canoe. This is a very popular design and there are quite a few of these about. They are nice, lightweight canoes that let you go where you cannot go with larger boats. I've got the marine plywood and the patterns cut out, but I've got too many other projects going to really get moving on this before I wrap up others!
Finally, a beautiful Wee Lassie built to the design of Mac McCarthy of Feather Canoes. Sadly, Mac's health has not been good, but I'm sure he would be heartened to know that his design won Best of Show for Human Powered craft. This build was faithful to Mac's design and well executed. Michelle Corbeil of WoodenBoat and I were nearly tripping on each other trying to get good photos of this boat. I'm sure her's are much better than mine!
The happy builder with his winner's award.
Still more to come!
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