The thought of building a canoe occurred to me back in 1998. I had seen a book called "Canoe Craft" in Peter Lister's house and after buying a copy for myself decided on the Chestnut Prospector which was a favorite of Bill Mason's.
I set up shop in a barn loft on Winkie's farm near Guelph. After cleaning out a large amount of pigeon and bat shit covered hay and setting up some tarps, I started on the forms for the canoe. I bought some great smelling western red cedar from Classic Boat Kits in Dunrobin, Ontario. The guy milled the strips in his basement. The choice of a hot barn for a summer workshop proved to be a mistake and I didn't get past completing the forms.
In the summer of 2000 I cleaned out the garage at Mark Rodford's house and set up shop again. The time away made me rethink my choice of Prospector, which is more suited for whitewater travels. So I morphed the forms into a Peterborough-esque style. Once I had the form setup, I realized I was at the point of no return. I knew if I started and did not finish, I would have to move the project around on the form. I decided to pack it up and wait for another day.
The form parts and cedar have been resting in a few places since - Mark's shop, Mike's backyard and Jamie Jupp's garage.
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