Trevor used some clever photoshop to picture what the restored canoe could look like...all shiny with Omer's famous racing stripe painted below the gunnels.
Digitally restored
For the whole story and more pics, check out his posts here and here.
After this post on Beaver Canoes, I started doing some rudimentary research on Omer's canoes. Wooden Canoe issue 25 (Winter 1986) has an article which describes Omer's custom boats. Here's an excerpt...
"Omer's canoe is also unique. He began with a 15-foot Chestnut Chum, built in New Brunswick. When it was under construction, he asked that the cedar plank-and-rib shell be left without inwales, thereby allowing him to vary the sheer line after the shell was removed from the form. He then increased the depth of the canoe to 15 inches and reduced the bow height by 1-1/2 inches. With weights, he rounded out the ribs in the center of the canoe slightly. This rounding produced a canoe that was deeper and a bit more tender and maneuverable than the original Chum."
Today, Omer's personal canoe is hanging in the Algonquin Park visitor's Centre (km 43)...it's the faded red one.
Photo Credit: Andre Cloutier
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1 comment:
Hi Murat! I found your blog in researching historical canoe paddle shapes and designs. I gifted my husband with a canoe paddle-making workshop for xmas and we just took it out for a test drive. He is an avid canoer and has had many different paddles over the years. He was completely thrilled at how light and quiet his handmade one is. His is very simple compared to your designs, of course. But he is a convert now. His only regret is not using a more hard wood. His instructor didn't guide him property on this. (!!!) Anyway, you can see a pix here if you like: samantharoddy.blogspot.com. I really enjoyed looking around your site. What a lovely niche you are covering. And fascinating too.
Cheers to a happy spring, Samantha
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