2011 General Assembly

After Lee's and Julia's enrichment presentations I hopped in the car and drove 2.5 hours north to Paul Smith's College for the 2011 WCHA General Assembly. What an experience. I made it there around 1:30, registered and began to wander through the mass of canoes all over the lawn. There is a lake right there at the college, and it was quite a sight to see all the sailing canoes and paddling canoes take it over. Unfortunately there was only 1 dinghy there and it was a Thompson not an Old Town, but that did not stop me from listening, watching, and of course asking a lot of questions.

When I spoke to Mike Cavanaugh before the Assembly he mentioned that he would be hard to miss because of his height. And sure enough within 10 minutes I spotted a very tall man with a name card that read Mike. I introduced myself and we meandered through the canoes talking about the different types, the different restoration styles, and he showed me his boat. It was an Old Town canoe that was his father's. We agreed that the history and the story are some of the most intriguing parts of restoring these old boats. I think it would be tough to do it for a living, without some personal connection to the boat, but there were many there that do just that.

Under one tent people were building, from scratch, a cedar wood canoe. It was great to watch that happening because when you start with the finished product, you fail to realize the parts that make it up. I watched that on and off for a few hours. Under another tent was terrific guy named Al who was helping an Assembly participant canvas his canoe. This was fascinating to me as well as very informative. I learned a lot talking with Al and watching them do their thing. It makes the canvassing a little less scary (but not much).

Then there were the merchants and professionals. There were probably about a dozen or so tables of all kinds of treasures. There were paddles, oars, new and old hardware, varnish, paint, tools, handmade leather belts and other leather goods, lumber, canvas, etc, etc and of course canoes. Many of the canoes were for sale and I was shocked at how much they cost. I understand because the time, love, and effort that goes into them, but I was surprised none the less. I figure with a decent restoration my dinghy could be worth $3,000 to $5,000. At $3,000 I may break even. We will have zero interest in selling her though. Tough to make money in this business I think. The only joke I heard at the assembly was this:
Q  :  How does a canoe builder make a million bucks?
A  :  By starting out with 2.

At one table a man was selling Epifanes varnish at 40% off. So I bought some varnish, thinner, and a brush. I was also drooling at all the tools that were for sale. Mostly old antique wood planes, and shapers. I purchased a clinching iron which I will need to replace my planking. This tool is simply a block of iron that bends the tips of the nails back as they come through the ribs. I also saw a great tool that the canvas project was using. They were vice grip pliers with a wide flat head (meant for sheet metal). The pliers grip the canvas and allow you to roll it and tighten it before you staple. Someone was selling them for 28 so I waited. I just found them at Allerdice for $20 so I was pretty happy.


All-in-all, the trip was worthwhile. I learned a lot and met some interesting people. Now it is back to the actual task of making Rosie float again ...

Networking and the 2011 Assembly

I made a forum post the other day on WCHA.org asking if there were any boat builders/restorers near Saratoga/Albany area. Within an hour, I was given the name Mike Cavanaugh (and the post mentioned he would work for beer … my kind of currency). So I reached out to Mike, and we talked for a while on the phone. He is a really nice guy with a ton of knowledge. He gave me some advice over the phone, like strip the boat before I remove all of the fiberglass residue from the gaps in the planking (so the stripper does not run right through), and the most profound advice was to stop thinking so damn much. I have been obsessing about the boat, what to remove, what can be kept, etc, etc. He basically said there is no right and wrong, only preference, and to stop worrying about it. He also mentioned that he would stop by to check out the boat on Sunday, July 17th, after the Assembly. What a guy. What is the Assembly you ask? The yearly WCHA Assembly is a gathering of all people who love wooden boats and canoes, restoring them, paddling them, or just being around them. It is usually held at a college, and it needs to be near water. There are daily paddling expeditions, workshops, kid's crafts, speakers, and a marketplace. Sounds like an interesting time, and also the perfect place for me to gain some knowledge, and finally relax about the whole thing.

This year the Assembly will be held from July 13-17th at Paul Smith's College in Lake Placid … my back yard practically. So I think I am going to go … at least for a day. Mike Cavanaugh mentioned to meet up with him at the Assembly and he would be with Dan Miller as well as a bunch of other "well-known" wcha members, including the great(?) grandson of George Alexander Gray, the founder of Old Town Canoes. I think he will be an absolute wealth of information regarding old Rosie. I will be heading up Friday afternoon for the day, and if it is great, Sarah and I and the girls will return on Saturday for the day. There are supposedly a lot of things for the kids to do. We will see.

I also started to make some equipment connections. I called Old Town to ask them about parts for their vintage boats, and they gave me a phone number. I called that number and got info, a connection, and two other phone numbers. I called those numbers and got more advice and made more connections. I now have a potential source for the old oarlocks and also paddles. The oarlocks are tricky because they were very common before WWII and there were many sizes and getting a set of four to match is hard. The oarlocks come in two pieces, the plate and the horns. I have two plates (three but one is broken), and no horns. So I need to source these parts, but if I cannot find old ones, I know I can get new ones from one of my connections (see all photos below). These oarlocks will be roughly a quarter of the renovation cost is my guess.

Old oarlock:

New version of the oarlock:

I was poking around on the website of one of the connections I made, and noticed that he had restored a 1930 9ft OT dinghy. There were pictures of the dinghy before the renovation as well as a picture from the OT Catalog from 1930. This page in the catalog shows the styles and the cost. In 1930 Rosie would have cost $125 (a lot of money back then). Here is the link to the site with the 9ft dinghy before renovation: http://www.rossbros.com/sport.htm.

The Neighbors on Murray

So Theo ran over to the neighbors the other day up at the River. The property is still new to the dogs so they are exploring ... plus the neighbors have two dogs as well. So I went over and introduced myself. They were all very nice, three families (sisters) sharing the cottage, coming from all over. One of the sisters was the previous owner of our new cottage. Because of this, they were all very familiar with our property and everything on it. We talked about the cottage, and the long drives they all have, and then I asked about Rosie. They remembered the boat. The son of the previous owner, Brian, mentioned his mom wanting to turn it into a planter since it did not float anymore. He remembered when it did and that they had a small engine on it. But it had not been sea worthy in years. They mentioned that the boat was on the property when they bought it in 1977. One of the sisters, Nancy, told me she would look through all their documents and old photos to see if they could find any more information.

Did I ever mention that Sarah's great grandparents owned this piece of land in the 30s and 40s? And that they lived outside of Rochester in the 20s and 30s (where the boat shop was located that Rosie was shipped to)? There is a chance that old Rosie was actually purchased by Sarah's great grandparents and that Rosie never left Murray Island or this piece of property. How amazing would that be? Sarah had a relationship with her grandmother that was very special, and the thought that she once tooled around Eel Bay in beautiful old Rosie when she was a kid is pretty cool and makes this project so much more meaningful.

Meeting the neighbors provided another small piece of the puzzle of the wonderful history of Rosie and I am hoping more will come out.