OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

I recently dropped off one of my new canoes at the Cottage, and took the old one away for repairs. The new canoe is an H20 Composites Canadian 16-6 Kevlar 'rental' (Notice the Aluminum thwart and carry handles) This was a 'factory defect' as it has a fairly large cosmetic defect, a slight rectangular crease so to speak, where the materials did not press properly into the mold, and left a 'relief imprint'. Otherwise a beautiful boat, and light at 44.5 lbs. I think it looks magnificent compared to the old Coleman beside her in the picture. The old canoe weighed in at about 75 lbs, and needs thwarts replaced, the float tanks fixed, and some fiberglass repairs here and there, which I will do in late July or early August, then return to the cottage as the complementary boat for our renters. I am already planning a couple of trips for Rudi and me in the new canoe, now that we have something we can actually carry. I am looking forward to a trip on the York River into the Conroy Marsh, and possibly a paddle up or down the Madawaska from lake Negeek.

ALL IN A DAYS WORK

So about the job. The job is interesting, dull, fantastic, dreary, stimulating, mind-numbing, fun, boring, exciting, tough, challenging, and dreadful, all during the same day of course! There is a small crew of really good people I work with, sometimes four of us all doing different tasks, or sometimes just me and Jeff 'tag-teaming' the last few boats before delivery. There is never a shortage of work, at least in the peak season, which saw me working up to 50 hours or more some weeks, not including the occasional day to deliver a trailer of canoes. On any given day I could be cutting sheets of fibreglass or kevlar fabric, stamping out serial numbers, oiling and webbing wooden seats, pulling the 'consumables' out of a recently shot (resin infused) boat, or cutting the tops off of a number of boats that have just come out of molds. The work can be - Hell who am I trying to kid! - the work IS tough, demanding, and hard, but when I blow out the dust from inside a finished canoe, and wipe down the outside, the end result is simply phenomenal! An absolutely magnificent canoe!