Ho wmany boats?
15/09/14 04:34
Back in the days when our children were still living at home, we decided that it would be a good idea to take them on a trip to Chicago. We could show them where we lived when we were students and explore some of the many features of the city. We had developed a longing to see the inside of the Art Institute once again. The Monet Water Lillies painting was calling to us. We thought that trips to the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science and Industry would be good experiences for our children. And we had a wonderful trip. We enjoyed our vacation to Chicago a great deal.
On that trip we paid a visit to Ralph Frese’s Chicagoland Canoe Base. I’m glad that I got to see the place while Ralph was still alive. According to popular lore, Ralph Frese was the last blacksmith to operate in Chicago. He was a fourth-generation blacksmith. But Ralph’s hobby was canoeing. He said that he bought a canvas covered kayak for $15 when he was 14 years old and the urge to paddle and to acquire boats never left him. At the time we visited, the shop was busy building replica birch bark voyageur canoes. These giant team canoes were made out of fiberglass and painted to look like birch bark. They were massive and wonderful to see. But what was most impressive was the collection of stored boats. There were hundreds of canoes. Some were pristine and new. Most were used. I have long hunkered for a Chestnut Prospector and so I spent a half hour or so searching through the boats for a used Prospector that was restorable that I might afford. The one I found was listed at $350.00. I would need to be totally re-canvassed - not too daunting of a proposition. It also needed new gunwales - something within the scope of my experience and ability. Then there were a couple of holes in the planks - I could probably replace the cedar, providing I could get some from Northwoods Canoe or another source. A couple of ribs needed to be replaced - I’d have to use the existing ribs as moulds to bend the new ones. And the stems were rotted out.
The bottom line. The canoe was restorable, but it would be a year’s effort and I still needed to come up with the $350 to get it in the first place. I decided to pass it up.
I drove away marveling at all of the canoes that one man owned.
I’ve acquired a few more boats since that time. At the present moment I have 4 kayaks, two I made and two I bought. Each has a unique function. The shortest is a creek boat and just right for playing in whitewater. It is made out of a strong plastic, that I couldn’t replicate with home building. The next one I picked up at the Old Town factory outlet when we visited Maine a few years ago. It is essentially an Old Town Otter - a basic beginner’s kayak. but it has bullheads and a cargo hatch and a unique logo. They never produced this particular model. It is a great boat to loan to friends and to use when beginners want to try out a kayak. Then there is a cedar strip kayak that i built that is a nice combination boat - long enough to tour in a lake, but nimble enough for many rivers. I’ve paddled that boat in pretty big waters and it is always stable and secure. And I have a long boat: a seventeen and a half footer that is an expedition kayak. It is a replica of a Greenland Kayak and is covered with Dacron. I want to rework that boat this winter, but it is a keeper - a fine boat for big water.
Then there are the canoes. Let’s see. I have three canoes that I built from scratch and one I restored. So that’s really only eight boats plus my rowboat. A very small inventory compared to Ralph Frese’s collection. Yes I do pay rent on a storage unit to have a place to store the boats, but I can carry them all on a single trailer if I need to.
Now Jerry at Canoe Colorado has to rent a warehouse for all of his boats - said to be more than 100 at any given time. Call Jerry about a specific boat and he’s likely to have a couple of them. He doesn’t have an original Chestnut Prospector - they’re getting a bit hard to find. But he has replicas made by four or five different manufacturers.
So if I am a bit crazy to be thinking about another boat, I know some people who have gone farther down that road that I. One way to consider oneself not to be an extremist is to find someone else who is more extreme than you are. Compared to Jerry or Ralph, my collection of canoes and kayaks is definitely small.
Still, I am at the stage of life where I should be thinking about getting rid of some of my possessions. I have a canoe - a beautiful 17’ cedar strip canoe with a full sailing rig. It was the first canoe I made and it has mahogany gunwales and hand caned seats. The mast and sail are hand made as well. The thing about this boat is that I licensed it this year - you have to license all boats over 12 feel long in South Dakota.
But it hasn’t been wet this year. It is hanging in our garage and it hasn’t even been taken down and dusted off this year. Even I know that’s wasteful.
The trick is finding someone who would treasure that boat. Maybe it should go to one of our children or grandchildren or to a niece or nephew. Hmm . . . maybe I should take it out and give it a try. I’m not sure I want to risk getting wet with sailing, but it would be a good paddle to take it around the lake.
So if I were to start another boat project, it is possible, I suppose, that I might end up with one more.
Compared to the other guys, that’s not very many.
On that trip we paid a visit to Ralph Frese’s Chicagoland Canoe Base. I’m glad that I got to see the place while Ralph was still alive. According to popular lore, Ralph Frese was the last blacksmith to operate in Chicago. He was a fourth-generation blacksmith. But Ralph’s hobby was canoeing. He said that he bought a canvas covered kayak for $15 when he was 14 years old and the urge to paddle and to acquire boats never left him. At the time we visited, the shop was busy building replica birch bark voyageur canoes. These giant team canoes were made out of fiberglass and painted to look like birch bark. They were massive and wonderful to see. But what was most impressive was the collection of stored boats. There were hundreds of canoes. Some were pristine and new. Most were used. I have long hunkered for a Chestnut Prospector and so I spent a half hour or so searching through the boats for a used Prospector that was restorable that I might afford. The one I found was listed at $350.00. I would need to be totally re-canvassed - not too daunting of a proposition. It also needed new gunwales - something within the scope of my experience and ability. Then there were a couple of holes in the planks - I could probably replace the cedar, providing I could get some from Northwoods Canoe or another source. A couple of ribs needed to be replaced - I’d have to use the existing ribs as moulds to bend the new ones. And the stems were rotted out.
The bottom line. The canoe was restorable, but it would be a year’s effort and I still needed to come up with the $350 to get it in the first place. I decided to pass it up.
I drove away marveling at all of the canoes that one man owned.
I’ve acquired a few more boats since that time. At the present moment I have 4 kayaks, two I made and two I bought. Each has a unique function. The shortest is a creek boat and just right for playing in whitewater. It is made out of a strong plastic, that I couldn’t replicate with home building. The next one I picked up at the Old Town factory outlet when we visited Maine a few years ago. It is essentially an Old Town Otter - a basic beginner’s kayak. but it has bullheads and a cargo hatch and a unique logo. They never produced this particular model. It is a great boat to loan to friends and to use when beginners want to try out a kayak. Then there is a cedar strip kayak that i built that is a nice combination boat - long enough to tour in a lake, but nimble enough for many rivers. I’ve paddled that boat in pretty big waters and it is always stable and secure. And I have a long boat: a seventeen and a half footer that is an expedition kayak. It is a replica of a Greenland Kayak and is covered with Dacron. I want to rework that boat this winter, but it is a keeper - a fine boat for big water.
Then there are the canoes. Let’s see. I have three canoes that I built from scratch and one I restored. So that’s really only eight boats plus my rowboat. A very small inventory compared to Ralph Frese’s collection. Yes I do pay rent on a storage unit to have a place to store the boats, but I can carry them all on a single trailer if I need to.
Now Jerry at Canoe Colorado has to rent a warehouse for all of his boats - said to be more than 100 at any given time. Call Jerry about a specific boat and he’s likely to have a couple of them. He doesn’t have an original Chestnut Prospector - they’re getting a bit hard to find. But he has replicas made by four or five different manufacturers.
So if I am a bit crazy to be thinking about another boat, I know some people who have gone farther down that road that I. One way to consider oneself not to be an extremist is to find someone else who is more extreme than you are. Compared to Jerry or Ralph, my collection of canoes and kayaks is definitely small.
Still, I am at the stage of life where I should be thinking about getting rid of some of my possessions. I have a canoe - a beautiful 17’ cedar strip canoe with a full sailing rig. It was the first canoe I made and it has mahogany gunwales and hand caned seats. The mast and sail are hand made as well. The thing about this boat is that I licensed it this year - you have to license all boats over 12 feel long in South Dakota.
But it hasn’t been wet this year. It is hanging in our garage and it hasn’t even been taken down and dusted off this year. Even I know that’s wasteful.
The trick is finding someone who would treasure that boat. Maybe it should go to one of our children or grandchildren or to a niece or nephew. Hmm . . . maybe I should take it out and give it a try. I’m not sure I want to risk getting wet with sailing, but it would be a good paddle to take it around the lake.
So if I were to start another boat project, it is possible, I suppose, that I might end up with one more.
Compared to the other guys, that’s not very many.