The Spanish cedar planks of the hull literally glowed under the coats of varnish. The boat was named the L’Aiglon I, which translates to “The Eagle” and watching the phases of restoration was impressive. Its new owner wanted to return to the original pointed stern. The first was a 1931 Ditchburn that had been modified for more power with the creation of a flat stern. Starting that day, with the video camera in hand, I began an interesting few months of documenting the progress of two restorations at Clark Wooden Boats and a new build at Tim Butson Wooden Boat Builder.Īt Clark’s the two main projects were comprehensive and challenging. This led to the idea of documenting a few for PowerBoat Television. I was able to visit nine of the thirteen boat shops opening their doors to display their current projects for the day. Last April was my first encounter with the tour. This wonderful behind the scenes look reveals the talent, time and, yes, money that goes into preserving the historical boats of the region as well as designing and building excellent reproductions for discerning owners. The same organization hosts the Antique and Classic Boat Show every July at the Muskoka Wharf in Gravenhurst. Some say the popularity of boathouses protected the boats and the families that owned them cherished and preserved them with the help of current day craftsmen.Įvery year the antique and classic boat shops of Muskoka open their doors for the Annual Spring Tour organized by the Toronto chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. These are just the more well-known boat companies.ĭespite the building material, many of the wooden boats built by these shops are still around today. Ditchburn and Greavette had large operations in Gravenhurst while Minett, later Minett-Shields set up shop in Bracebridge.
Port Carling was home to Duke’s, Matheson, Johnston’s, the Disappearing Propeller Boats and SeaBird.
Boat companies of all sizes sprang up across the area.
Back in the day, building boats was big business in Ontario’s Muskoka region.
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