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Tom Thomson 16' Cedar Canvas Canoe Raffle - Huntsville, Canada

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Thought I'd pass along some info of an upcoming raffle for anyone hoping to own a cedar canvas. Langford Canoe has donated a unique 16' boat to raffle off with the benefits going to the Huntsville Hospital Foundation. Tickets are $25 CND and the draw takes place on September 1st. I was told anyone can enter but the canoe can't be shipped. More details found on the local poster below:
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The backstory is that 2017 marks the 100th Anniversary of the suspicious death of Tom Thomson in Algonquin Park, so Langford has tried to replicate a canoe in the style used by the artist in the early 20th century. It is believed that Thomson purchased a 2nd grade (Guide) Chestnut Cruiser in 1915. Normally covered in a dull slate grey paint, the artist mixed in a tube of Cobalt Blue to make his canoe very unique. The devastating fire of 1921 destroyed the Chestnut factory and all the forms and canoes after this period had quite different shapes.
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Tom Thomson's canoe circa 1915

I happened to be in Huntsville last week and noticed a distinctive "blue-grey" canoe with high curved ends in the window of a local sports outfitter. Given the tight space and other merchandise, I couldn't get a full shot of the boat but managed to capture a few features.
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View of the Langford "Tom Thomson" canoe in the window

Once inside I noticed how robustly this canoe was built. Unfortunately, no stats were available and the store staff knew nothing of the boat other than erroneously calling it a "Cedar Strip". A key feature (rarely seen on Canadian boats) are the distinct half ribs added to strengthen the hull. These were apparently used in the pre-fire Guide canoes. There are two wide ash thwarts (no center yoke) and coupled with the ash outwales, seats and keel, this will likely be a very heavy duty boat.
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Half ribs and wide ash thwarts

Don't believe the early Chestnuts came with babiche seats but Langford decided to go for this rustic style...
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Rawhide seats

Pre-fire Chestnuts came in both closed and open gunnel forms but had a very distinctive narrow deck. Langford decided to use another darker hardwood along with their own commemorative logo...
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Langford Deck

The canoe also comes with two painted cherry paddles to match the hull...
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Cherry paddles with painted blades

As an aside, the only Pre-fire Chesnut Cruiser I'm aware of was found by Andre Cloutier of Ravenwood Canoes. He has documented many of the details of these rare boats and has even built a new form of this historic design. Recently, he completed the first build and his boat (much closer to Thomson's original) has recently been launched.

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Andre Cloutier's canoe based on pre-fire Chestnut Cruiser
 
The picture of Tom Thomson has him sitting in the stern seat up high like our header image guy. Those cruisers are neat boats long and narrow with prospector type ends.
Langford did a nice job with the build and paint.
I hope Andre brings his canoe to next years WCHA assembly at Peterborough.
 
Arrrrgh Murat!
You've just lessened my chances of winning...😀

Bought my tickets a while ago but thanks for bringing this up
As an aside Langford also have a new kevlar canoe model called the Thomson moulded in dove grey. My daughter rented one for the 150 canoes on Canoe Lake event last month and said it paddled great.

Bruce
 
Beautiful canoe. Would be worth driving to get if a guy were to win it for 25 bucks
 
I think I might by a ticket... Give me a reason to drive out east!!!
 
I came close to winning, only one of 999 that didn't, I hope Mr. Toth is a member of this forum and posts many pictures. The main reason I bought a ticket was that I was fascinated by the story of Tom Thomson. Sent off for the book NORTHERN LIGHT by Roy MacGregor, the book is coming by media post, so it will be a month getting here. I really liked the color of the Tom Thomson commemorative canoe, another reason I bought a ticket. I will now just have to wait until my Joe Seliga needs new canvas, in the meantime, does anyone know where to get that color of paint? I know that Thomson mixed cobalt blue in with the dove gray, but I am more interested the best brand of paint for painting canoes. I am also sitting here at high idle waiting to win the lottery, so I can buy that big green Grand Laker with the 9.9 hp Yamaha for fishing some fishing I would like to do.
 
Well I had 2 tickets so I guess i was 2 of 999...

You'll enjoy Roy's book- and if you haven't already, get a copy of Roy's "Canoe Country" too- and he has a personal connection to the Tom Thomson story.
Perhaps Andre Cloutier can help you on the mix he used to get the colour he used: http://blog.ravenwoodcanoes.com/search/label/Tom Thomson
Try contacting him through Ravenwood Canoes.

Personally I used Tremclad Rust Paint "John Deere Green" to paint the repaired hull of my Bobs Special.

Bruce
 
After looking for Northern Light, found a bunch of Roy MacGregor books, nearly 40 some including Canoe Lake, Canoe Country and A Life In The Bush that I want to read. He also has a bunch of hockey books, the Fairbanks Borough Public Library only has three of them and they offer a really good inter-library program if you are not in a hurry.
I am looking forward to reading his books.
 
Yes Roy has dozens of books.
As a hockey player and fan "Home Game" is one of my favourites. My kids liked his Screech Owls series.

I was referring to "Canoe Country", his treatise on canoeing in Canada, not "Canoe Lake" the novel.

Bruce
 
Ah. I read Canoe Lake and did not realize he had another book so closely titled. Canoe Lake was a fine book that told an interesting story of Tom Thompson. I'll look for the other one.
 
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