15 foot long, 32 inches wide, longitudinal cedar strips copper clinch nailed to hardwood ribs.

I bought this canoe in the late 1970’s from a family who had long owned it on the Rideau River south of Ottawa. They didn’t know who had built it. Nor did the great collector Kirk Wipper when I showed it to him at Kandalore a few years later or anyone else when I took it to WCHA Assemblies in the 1980s. It has no seats, just kneeling thwarts, which indicates that it is quite old. With a straight keel line it tracks beautifully on flat water. Its width gives it good initial stability, and it leans over nicely. I enjoyed paddling it with family aboard but am now past that and want it to go to another good home. Recent inquiries with the Canadian Canoe Museum have led to suggestions but no conclusions as to its origins. My guess, which they share, is that it was made by a small shop or one of the employees of the large Peterborough, Lakefield, or Rice Lake builders for a private sale or for his own use. The quality of the strip construction is excellent. The decks are simple and one piece. The hardwood ribs are flat and not curved as might be expected in similar canoes from the Peterborough region. I have priced the canoe low given the lack of provenance information.