Busy through the Winter - Northwoods Canoe Co.

The weather outside is lovely today. We’re expecting three to six inches of snow! And a happy spring to you all.

While Maine was still buried in the white stuff (i.e. until last week), we were hard at work on some fun and challenging projects:

At the beginning of winter, before the snow flew, a crew from Kroka Expeditions in New Hampshire hauled up two of their 20-foot Voyagers for restoration. The boats needed several new ribs, gunwale repair and several pounds of sand cleaned out from under the canvas! For the use that these boats get, though, on river and lake trips with hundreds of students and campers, they were in remarkable shape. The three folks from Kroka began the job of getting them spiffed up by taking them apart. We enjoyed their visit and their energy.

Rollin practiced his chandelier-making abilities this winter! Elisa dropped off this beautiful Morris reconstruction in Everett, Mass. It now lights and decorates the great room in an apartment building there. LED lights line the underside of the gunwales and highlight the color of the northern white cedar inside.

Are we sad that it will never touch water? A little. But at least many people will be able to appreciate the beauty of the Morris design when looking at it from below.

We are always in the process of renewing. Some of the jobs are small – a couple of ribs or a new polish of varnish, a new canvas and they’re on their way. But it’s rare. Usually, we have a lot of work to do to get from this….

to this!

For one canoe, we used a jig to draw out and make a new stem, patched up rib tops, installed new inner gunwales and a few new ribs. After a new thwart, new canvas and outer gunwales, newly caned seats topped off the job.