Peterborough Restoration & Copy

[Kliff]

Well, I've finally decided on my next canoe project, and it might be a bit ambitious. I've had a 75th anniversary Peterborough wood & canvas canoe in storage for close to 30 years. It's in relatively good shape, but does need some work. I'm going to restore that, and in the process create a table of offsets to make station forms, and eventually a cedar strip copy. I'll be starting the restoration in about a week.

My primary goal with the restoration is to bring it back as close to original as possible. One item I'll need to recreate is the logo. I have a decal printer/cutter. If need be, I can recreate the logo, but hoping not to, as I am not a graphics expert, and it'll take me more than a couple hours. Anyone have a high quality image like this?

 

[Benson Gray]

I have the image shown below but yours is in better shape. See https://www.woodencanoe.org/product-page/peterborough-canoe-company-deck-decal if you just want the basic decal. The list at https://wcha.org/catalogs/plans.html includes several Peterborough designs so you may not need to recreate the plans for the copy. Good luck with the project.

Benson

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Sounds like a great project, Kliff. Since this first stage is a restoration of a wood/canvas canoe, I'm moving the thread to that forum. @Murat V has a lot of knowledge about Canadian canoe decals, so maybe he'll chime in.

 

[kahel]

have a look ...

Peterborough logo1

Peterborough logo 2​

​

 

[recped]

Not relevant to me but the Logo 3 is not loading (the others are fine).

I only looked to see it matched my Peterborough that was stolen in 1965....probably does but I really can remember what the original looked like. Sadly my parents bought a Lakefield as a replacement (still "sleeping" in my garage), nowhere near as nice a boat as the Peterborough but I do remember that we paid the extortionate price of CA$265 in '65.

 

[Kliff]

Kahel. Logos look great. Missing the 75th year banner, but I can add that with Illustrator or Photoshop. My dad bought this canoe before I was born, he died when I was 2. Don't remember him much, one photo, this canoe, and an old .22 rifle are all I have from him. Hopefully I can do the restoration justice, make a stripper copy, and give the original to my older brother.

 

[Patrick Corry]

Buckhorn Canoes, Ontario, CA and the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association sell Peterborough decals. Neither lists the 75 year decal, but they may have an image suitable for you.

 

[Murat V]

The back cover of the of the 1954 Peterborough catalog has the the 75th anniversary logo, but it is not colorized. You might be able to to just add some of the colors to it and get a relatively clean copy. Here is the image:


The current Peterborough reproduction decals are based on an earlier era design where the words "Registered Trade Mark" appear at the bottom of the red oval. For the 75th issue, Peterborough changed the design so that "Registered Trade Mark" was positioned above the main text that now read Peterborough Watercraft instead of "The Peterborough Canoe"

If you're interested, there's a great thread on the WCHA forum with a timeline of different versions put together by Roger Young:

Dating Peterborough Canoe Co. decals

Over the years, from 1892 to the 1960's, the Peterborough Canoe Co. decal has undergone a number of iterations and variations - some slight, some more extensive. If we can get them into some semblance of correct sequence, perhaps it could help to suggest an approximate date of manufacture for...

forums.wcha.org

 

[Kliff]

Wow. Thanks Murat. My graphics skills aren't good, but they aren't non-existent either. I can easily give it a transparent background, and fill the red & yellow with the appropriate shades. Thanks again. You made that part of the job much simpler.

The canoe is currently in my barn "up north", which is my summer place 4 hours away. I'm going there in 5 days, and still toying with whether I want to do the restoration there, or at my main home. I have a shop at each. In any case, I'll be starting hopefully a week from today.