Walter Dean double blade paddle

[Murat V]

Recently picked up a Walter Dean double blade paddle that once belonged to a historic resort on Lake of Bays, Ontario. Blades aren't feathered so not exactly like their racing paddles features in their catalogues. But the decals are in great shape and seem to be the later design when the company switched for being "WALTER DEAN / CANOES & BOATS" to "WALTER DEAN / CANOE & BOAT CO." sometime after 1917. The cord in the middle has broken revealing the 9 foot paddle is made of splice spruce with powdered remnants of some sort of glue. The catalogue entry mentions something called "Dean Sphinx Filler" to complete the splice. One blade is cracked and underwent a glue and tape repair with remnants of the tape adhesive still on the blade.

Any other folks have DEAN related canoe stuff?

 

[Dan Miller]

I have a set of double-action folding leeboards with three decals. Don't seem to have any photos yet.

 

[Murat V]

Thanks Dan. Would be great to see photos of the decals whenever you get the chance. By the way, I found something else that might interest you. It's a newspaper article regarding this Dean advertisement from the 1912 ACA yearbook posted on your site:

Always thought the man looked a bit...what's the word...oversized for the canoe? Apparently he was featured on the front page of the June 10, 1910 issue of the Toronto Daily. His name was James Smith and was reported to be 390 pounds! The brief write-up mentions Dean's panic with Mr. Smith trying out one of his canoes, but looks like Dean turned the situation into a marketing opportunity.

 

[Benson Gray]

The picture below is from an old classified listing but I don't own the original.

Benson

 

[Andre Cloutier]

I have a set of double-action folding leeboards with three decals. Don't seem to have any photos yet.

All the way from the Peterborough assembly, no less

 

[Dan Miller]

All the way from the Peterborough assembly, no less

That was a long time ago.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Indeed...