18' Chestnut Cruiser Leader is now a 16' Cruiser Kruger

[Robin]

Today I stopped over at Schuyler Thomsons shop, picked up 19' of #10 canvas, tacks, ring nails of assorted sizes, stem bands and stem band screws, all for this canoe. I also got a free tutorial on how to repair a bent ash stem without removing it, and best of all got to hear Schuyler reminisce about trips on the Missinabi and northern Quebec in the 70's with a first nation guide in wc canoes.
I told him that I shortened this canoe to get as close to 16' Chestnut Prospector as I ever will. His opinion of the 16' Prospector is that Bill Mason made it popular, but it's not a good tandem canoe for tripping in the north. He considerers the 17' Chestnut Prospector the best tripping canoe ever made. He then gave me the skinny on how to set my canoe up as a tandem but without a bow thwart that hinders solo paddling from the bow seat, canoe reversed.
I could have gotten all this material on line, but not the freely shared knowledge
Here's 6 boats from the shop waiting to be picked up in the next few days.

 

[memaquay]

Serious square stern envy happening up here in Northern Ontario!

 

[snapper]

Robin - I can only imagine how wonderful it was to hear those stories and pick up all that information that Mr. Thomson was willing to share so freely. I had a friend, who has now passed, who also did some of those trips you mentioned back in the early days of movie cameras. I don't know how many times I watched his films on his Missinabi trip. All the canoes were wood canvas, the packs made by Duluth and the food & cook gear was packed away in wannigans, tied up with long leather tumplines. I always loved the part in his trip where their Cree guide stood there talking to a bear before shooting it. I believe this is part of the Cree culture but for guys like him, it was a bit nerve racking to watch as their guide explained to the bear why he was going to have to shoot him yet thanking the bear at the same time for being willing to give up his life for them. It must have been an interesting adventure.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[Robin]

I spent most of the day installing the inwales. Lots of distractions, but I got them finished.Canoe is straight and now very solid.





Tomorrow I hope to replace the removed the planking.

 

[sweeper]

Looking Good Robin, any plans on what color you're going to paint it?

 

[Robin]

Yes, light green, like this 17' Prospector I restored. I have a qt of this color I have been saving for the right canoe...this is it.

 

[sweeper]

By the picture it seemed the Green was the prevailing color in your fleet.

I kinda like the looks of those Black Canoes.

 

[Canotrouge]

Yes, light green, like this 17' Prospector I restored. I have a qt of this color I have been saving for the right canoe...this is it.

This is the colour I want my wc to be when I get one.... They call it Chestnut Grey if I recall it right!!
You do really nice work Robin!!

 

[Robin]

This is the colour I want my wc to be when I get one.... They call it Chestnut Grey if I recall it right!!
You do really nice work Robin!!

Thanks for all the kind comments. I was going to paint a Chestnut Chum with that quart of Chestnut Grey paint, but something told me to hold off and save it. Glad I did, although the painting will not happen for a while (my old eyes can't see well enough to paint in my shop, better with daylight)
I bet this color will go well on the rivers of the Yukon Canotrouge!

 

[Robin]

Robin - I can only imagine how wonderful it was to hear those stories and pick up all that information that Mr. Thomson was willing to share so freely.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

Schuyler appreciates tripper folks who come into his shop. He sees folks from all walks of life and he can adjust the conversation accordingly. I think he enjoys sharing stories from the trail, and I know he loves to see wood canvas canoes well used from being used by trippers.

 

[Odyssey]

Seeing that Chesnut Grey gets me every time. I'm beginning to understand people's collections of all red or all green canoes. (You know who you are lol.) I'd probably lean on that soft green too much, although the painter Tom Thomson used his artist oils to tint his favourite canoe, and I like that one very much, but colour is such a personal thing.
http://blog.ravenwoodcanoes.com/2013...ser-found.html
Places like Schuylers could run out of room for canoes pretty quick if they served complimentary coffee with every friendly visit I bet. Hand me a strong black coffee and throw in a doughnut and I'd lose all track of time in that shop, despite not being a carpenter.
Do they hold an open house once in awhile? That, and a happenstance ADK paddle trip could pull me way eastwards so easily.

 

[Robin]

I posted a video of the first half of the restoration here ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3BFJuHGB1I&t=20s

 

[Mihun09]

Not a task that I would take on willingly Robin, excellent work as always.

Brad, Pam Wedd isn't far from you, and if you had the funds, you could go take one of her workshops and build your own w/c canoe in a week at her shop.

 

[sweeper]

Great video Robin and I second that, that's not something I'd want to try, but fun to watch you do it.

Obviously it was a 16'r living in an 18' shell and the factory got it wrong.

 

[Murat V]

Great work Robin! That's an awesome bit of canoe surgery. Did you keep the ribs & planking you removed? Maybe you can re-use them to make one of those fancy curved wanigans...

 

[Robin]

Thanks again for the nice remarks, appreciate it.

Murat, that's a great idea. I did keep the 5 ribs I removed and since they were in the long mid section they are all the same size, and in good shape. I have a lot of old and new plank too.
Funny, I looked at those ribs and was wondering if they had any use. I never even thought of a wannigan.

 

[memaquay]

Wow, that wanigan idea sure is a good one! Hope i get to see this canoe one day!

 

[Odyssey]

A wood canvas wannigan.

 

[Murat V]

If interested, the image is from this article on Canadian Woodworking...

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/plans-projects/make-wannigan

 

[Muskrat]

I haven't had a chance to comment on this yet. This is awesome Robin. It's going to make a great solo canoe. That wannigan idea is also great.