World's Most Expensive Canoe : A Cautionary Tale

A few years ago, Gundog magazine had a similar exposition of purchasing a good hunting dog, and then paying for all the subsequent trappings, including a nice 4x4 pick-up truck! Personally, relative to my three canoes and two rowboats, I have been wondering if I should build a separate building for them, which could later serve as a large garden shed after my death--OR--should we replace our two car garage with a three car garage.

By the way, my first canoe which I repaired, I obtained for free from a neighbor who was throwing it out.

B-O-A-T= Bring On Another Thousand.

Mark Douglass
 
A few years ago, Gundog magazine had a similar exposition of purchasing a good hunting dog, and then paying for all the subsequent trappings, including a nice 4x4 pick-up truck! Personally, relative to my three canoes and two rowboats, I have been wondering if I should build a separate building for them, which could later serve as a large garden shed after my death--OR--should we replace our two car garage with a three car garage.

By the way, my first canoe which I repaired, I obtained for free from a neighbor who was throwing it out.

As for the financial demands of our love of wooden canoes and boats, always remember B-O-A-T= Bring On Another Thousand.

Mark Douglass
 
Funny I once wrote about this subject on my blog, http://reflectionsoutdoors.wordpres...oving-that-the-worth-of-a-canoe-is-priceless/. Here is some of what I found out:

From http://www.fh2o.kuchingkayak.com/2007/04/02/expensive-white-canoe/:

Expensive White Canoe

by FH2o on April 2, 2007

This must qualify as the world’s most expensive white canoe; or rather a 1991 painting titled “White Canoe” by Scottish-born artist Peter Doig (who is living out his reputation as Europe’s most expensive living painter) that fetched a mind boggling $10 million at an auction at Sotheby’s according to a post by Gabrielle Lim & Peng Hee from Kuching at their blog creeART which showcase their own beautiful original artworks which I believed they sell for considerably much less!


peter-doig-white-canoe-s.jpg

Image of Peter Doig’s White Canoe from http://www.fh2o.kuchingkayak.com/2007/04/02/expensive-white-canoe/.

As I noted in my conclusion of the post:

Well maybe I didn’t really find out what was the most expensive canoe in the world. Perhaps I only got a glimpse of the canoe’s real worth in a few quotes. But two things did stick out for me after my “tireless” research:

1) Currently my own canoe is painted white….like the canoe in Peter Doig’s painting of the same name. And that “White Canoe” fetched $10 million!!!!

2) While wood-canvas canoes are merely listed as moderately priced, they do require a certain amount of upkeep. Which is just part of the joy of owning such a canoe….the smell of wood, varnish, or even paint are as special as wood-canvas canoes themselves. To me, whether painted white, red or dark green, especially after the work I’ve put into it, my canoe is (as the VISA ad says): PRICELESS.

Well at least it is easier to paddle a real live canoe than one in a painting LOL LOL.

Paddles up until later then….and I expect to be moved….since canoeing to me is priceless.


NOTE: At the time of writing that blog post I was in the final stages of a minor restoration of my then Peterborough Minetta....I'd sanded off the red paint and had applied white as a 'base coat'....later I painted it green....

Any way, I still think any wood canoe....or any time I'm paddling....is PRICELESS!!!!

I loved the article The World's Most Expensive Canoe, http://canoez.blogspot.com/2011/10/worlds-most-expensive-canoe.html (thought I'd post a link to as I couldn't see one in original post).....always love reading this blog.
 
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I remember the post about the painting - 'twas a good one!

I was just amazed when we started tallying up the costs that had been accumulated by the idea of building a canoe - and they haven't even got to the roof racks, paddles and PFD's yet! At one point I remember being relatively impressed (appalled?) by a $10K price tag on an old Morris in great condition. This takes the cake, 'tho.
 
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