Boats Boats Boats

Boats have a long history. Where there were large bodies of water, there were boats.  All kinds of floating matter was initially lashed together, but the first boats were mostly wooden dugouts.  At any rate for the next tens of thousands of years, wood was the primary material for a huge variety of water faring vessels.

My earliest memories are of cedar strip canoes, and run-a-bouts, and clear pine , skiffs and punts. I remember following my Dad along a shady wooded path to the dry land boat shed. In it were stacked nine punts which provided water access for our rental cottages.  I had a bucket of green paint and a 4 inch brush.  Prep work was optional  and I can remember scraping off loose bits of old paint with the brush handle.  A smearing of solid lead and oil based green enamel, filled small holes and cracks and made the watercraft worthy of another cottage season.

What I feel was my first boat was a cedar  lap strake or clinker built, double ended skiff.  With twin oar locks, and a friend, the skiff was the fastest human powered craft on the lake. (Although at the annual Bala Regatta, in those days, this fact was easily challenged.) At one point I chopped a hole in the seat and erected a cedar pole to act as a mast to hold a bed sheet sail.  With no centre board keel, sailing was a down wind affair and a long row home.  One morning I came down to the beach to find that the skiff had drifted away in the night.  My love of boats was cemented by a love lost.

Our family boat was a wood and glue, moulded plywood run-a-bout we called Shrimp Boat. It had a centre deck and a Mercury outboard motor.  At eighteen horses, it truly was the fastest boat on the lake in the mid 1950's.  In the early 60's it won races three years in a row at the Foot's Bay Regatta.  A local boat mechanic, lightened the prop, set the carburator to run on airplane gas, and drove the "Shrimp Boat" to  victory.  By the mid 60's, the wear and tear caught up with her and the last effort to keep her afloat was canvas, unsuccessfully glued over the dry-rot.

Fibreglass began to drift into the boating market as a repair solution for wood boats. Adding a very hard patch on a flexible wooden hull does seem like a good idea.  Eventually, however,  the separation is completed and the leak continues worse than ever.  Wood is sealed with natural fibres like cord or canvas.

 The first fiberglass boats began to show up on Lake Muskoka in the late fifties.  The molds could be made to any shape so automobile culture slipped into the designs.  Some of the first models had wood decks and accents, but soon, 'the all fiberglass maintenance free', boating style began in earnest.  The fiberglass canoe I had was certainly dry, and could battle with rocks, but I began to feel its irregular paddling rhythms.  The water on plastic sounds, seemed hollow.  It scratched onto a beach rather than eased.

 I find it hard not to love an old wooden boat.  Not only do they sound in harmony with water but they move with the rhythms of nature.  My friend Bob gave me his Mothers 1937 Peterborough Prospecter Cedar strip canoe that floated like an feather.  My Uncle Bill gave me his 1957 Peterborough Comet cedar strip,  run-a-bout. It was  powered by a 55hp Chrysler outboard, which in deed made it fly like a comet. A 1964 Lightning sailboat that could bend and moan in a fresh breeze and cross the lake on a fairies fart, sealed my love affair with wood crafts.

Every Spring I ponder these thoughts as I scrape, sand and paint my way to the future slow wonderful Summer cruises. Last year we launched a new, old woody, and for the first time ever, there were no leaks.  A wood boat with no leaks is boating heaven.  A small electric motor for quiet thrust, and nothing but time.

I saw these old 'fibers' sitting on the beach in Portugal. The bumps and scratches attested to their rugged life on the ocean.  Their sides were thick and solid, and although they were small they were very strong. I could feel the trust the sailors would need while miles from shore. I began to realize that my love extended beyond material preferences  to a deeper relationship of boat to man. The way a boat can alter the reality of solid footing. How a boat can offer secure trespass on a mixture of two gasses. How a boat can offer a tight balance between smooth sunset cruising and white knuckle survival, the humble meets the thankful. The relationship is in the experiences and as soon as you leave the dock they begin to work their way into your heart. Whether in a dugout or a houseboat, whether of wood or plywood, fiberglass or aluminum, kevlar or epoxy, foams, resins, or carbon fibers, whether day or night, on ocean, river or lake, the stories seep into your nature. They steady your gait, become part of your smile, add a glint to your eye and become part of the love you have for life.

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