Between 1906 and 1914, Peterborough Canoe Co. purchased seven canoes from its competitor, Old Town Canoe Co. all of them the HW model. I, among many others, when coming across this piece of canoe history of course would like to know; where are they now, what did Peterborough Canoe Co. do with them, why did they only purchase HW models? Well, some of those questions still have to be answered, but one of those seven canoes has been found and this is the story of its resurrection.

In the fall of 1999 the owner, Bud Wilkes asked me to take a look at
an old canoe which had been his fathers. From my first look on the canoe, I was certain of an Old Town lineage and the remnants of gunwale caps told me that it indeed was an old one. Confirming the canoe as an early Old Town, and the exact model, involved a bit of detective work.

The inside stem still bore three discernible digits of the serial number, but only a faint indication of the final two. Our helpful local forensic police lab was able to raise one more digit, and narrow down the last one to either a 2, 3, or 8. With the help of the Old Town serial number records it was established that it was an 1913 Old Town H.W. 16 ft. CS-grade and that it was shipped to the Peterborough Canoe Co. on May 13, 1913.

Bud Wilkes had started to remove layers upon layers of fiberglass, dirt and grime that had accumulated over the years. The canoe was a long way from its former glory. With the removal of the fiberglass, the canoe literally started to fall apart. When I first brought the canoe in to the shop, I admit I scratched my head and wondered, “What have I got myself into?”The bottom was hogged, the sides crooked, the ends rotted away, gunnels broken in numerous places, rib-ends rotted, one deck missing, the other one beyond reusable, ribs cracked and broken and a majority of the planking in bad shape.


The work took place intermittently over a year and a half so Bud Wilkes could be part and help in the resurrection of the canoe. When Bud came to me, he had essentially given up on the possibility of restoring the canoe and was ready to take it to the local dump. Normally, with a canoe in that bad condition, I would agree.

Because of the history of this canoe and its importance to the
Wilkes family, we felt it was worth to reconstruct it. Its heirloom
value rested in the fact that it was Bud’s father’s canoe; that it had been present, even pivotal, in so many family events.
Bud’s father bought the canoe used around 1920 when he was only 16 or 17.

It was his first major purchase. He used the canoe his entire life. The photograph to the right, with the canoe strapped to the roof of a Model A Ford was taken 1931, during Bud’s parents honeymoon. In the 1950’s the canoe came to
Stoney Lake where the Wilkes had purchased a lot and built a cottage. The canoe has now been part of the cottage experience for four generations of the Wilkes family.

Equipped with a myriad of patterns taken from
other early Old Town H.W. canoes we were able
to coax the canoe’s hogged bottom back to its true
profile by pouring hot water over the interior and
blocking it up from below.

Twelve new ribs were needed and another eight were reinforced with butterfly splices. Both the inside stems as well as the outside ones had to be replaced. The part of the old stem with the serial number was saved and attached to the new inside stem.
New gunnels and gunnel caps were fashioned, again with the help of patterns. New decks were made in maple from an old maple tree that once graced the cottage lot. A full 75 per cent of the planking on the canoe had to be replaced due to severe cracking and rot. The hull was carefully sanded inside and out, oiled and varnished. Finally in the late spring of 2000 the new canvas and its filler was applied. The goal was to have the canoe ready July 29, for the Heritage Canoe Day being held at Stony Lake’s Juniper Island.

Well, even the best laid plans can
go wrong! The filler took longer
than usual to set, so by the time
the five coats of dark green hull
paint was dry, it was already the
day before the event. That day was a long one, we had to install the seats, thwarts, outside stems, gunnels, gunnel caps and give all the parts a last coat of varnish.
When it was time to install the caps, both of them cracked. I will not repeat what I said at that moment. Finally the canoe was finished in the wee hours of the morning. 8 AM I unloaded the canoe at Bud’s cottage and it was taken to the Juniper Island. After a morning of on-shore display it was time for a “paddle
past”. The last time Bud had put the canoe in the water, it took three people to lug the canoe to the lake. Bud and Sarah his 10-year old grandchild took it out for the paddle-past. Now the canoe was like a leaf. Fine, curved, intricate ...and green. It responded to the slightest thrust of the paddle, Bud told me later with a grin on his face.
In the fall Bud and I undid some of the in haste performed work and gave all the wood-work a last sanding and fresh coat of varnish. It is more than possible that the canoe will last for many more Wilkes generations.

In the summer of 2002 the magazine Cottage Life featured the canoe in their June issue as well as on Cottage Life Television.