May Minto Canoe

[Gary]

Hi I recently finished a restoration of a canoe which was believed to have been built by May Minto. Those who are in the know regarding her canoes suggest that this is one of hers. I thought it might be of interest to the members as there are not many of these canoes left around.
This canoe was gifted to me by a fellow WCHA member and Wooden Canoe Guild member. There had been a previous restoration completed in 1983, as the hull was signed, but some components were altered at this time. I changed each of these alterations back to their original condition.
This canoe is 16' long, a beam of 33", and depth of 12". 2 1/4" tapered ribs, spaced 1 1/4" apart with 3 3/4" wide planking. The original seats were laced but as the bow one was broken I replaced it with two new caned seats. It had a shoe keel which had deteriorated so I replaced it, as well as both the inner and outer gunwales, and both thwarts and decks. I used bird's eye maple for all these except the keel.
For more information on May and her canoes here is a web address,http://users.vianet.ca/bearwood/pages/minto.html.
Gary

 

[MGC]

Nicely done.

 

[Worth Gretter]

Gary, if my project comes out as nice as yours, I will be thrilled!

 

[Todd F]

Gary, great work. How did you know what the original condition would be? Interested in your research etc. Again, looks amazing.

Todd

 

[Gary]

Hi Todd, I referenced off an original May Minto canoe in the possession of a fellow WCHA member. When the 1980's restoration was conducted the usual rotting of the decks and stem ends was repaired by cutting off the ends of the stems and replacing with a new piece and then cutting away the last 4" of the rotted inwales and fashioning arrowhead shaped decks which then replace the missing inwale ends. A common repair but not accurate to how it was originally made. So I removed these decks and made new proper ones with new inwales as well. I've included a photo below showing how they were and how they are now which is how May would have done them.
Thanks, Gary

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Nice work.
And thanks for the link - a very interesting builder/women.
25/year is amazing, ie: 1 every 2 weeks indefinitely.

 

[Gary]

Thanks Dan and yes impressive, well beyond my capabilities, ha.

 

[JClearwater]

I agree with Mike and Dan, very nicely done.

Jim

 

[Gary]

Thanks Jim, it's a very nice canoe, pretty lines and a great lady who built it.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Outstanding. Good on ya.