Kids & Classics Boatshops Museum receives award from Ministry!

This unexpected honour was brought to us from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Halton Youth Justice Services.

In their letter of invitation to the award ceremony they said we were voted this honour in the "It Takes A Community" programme on account of "our outstanding community partnership with the Ministry, Youth Justice Services" which means Probation Officers.

Further the award states "Your organization provides great learning opportunities in giving our clients an opportunity to develop great skills in teamwork and seeing that they all work toward a common goal". Needless to say this is a most important recognition for us.

Following the award ceremony there was a casual conversation around the table and the feedback about some of the kids we have worked with was most welcome. It seems a few really did have a change of course in life as a result of our efforts.

Our team, their team and awards! (Umm - we're the short ones)

Fall 2013 part one

Well there has been progress this fall, here are a few pics of the action...

Jim preparing the "Red" skiff

Chris lays it on the Lightning
boom and rudder parts



Mike removes the cowl from Gas-Hopper
in preparation for stripping the paint


 K&C volunteers head to Woodwind Yachts for ACBS Fall Workshop....

Our crew consisted of MB, Grant, Jim, Chris & Scott. This was an amazing outing for us as it covered some of the tricky jobs we see coming up (and that we have been putting off).

Ken Lavallette of Woodwind hands
off a 'hot rib' to Jim 

and Jim whips it onto the boat

Grant studies the methods of
re-ribbing a cedarstrip rowboat



Chris 'flies' his rib to the boat



Jim, Scott, Grant and Chris
soak up detailed instructions.

On the way home we put our notes together for future reference. We are already putting some of the hints into use!







ACBS Fall Colours Tour 2013

In what is now an ancient and honorable tradition ( which is when something is done twice) the Kids & Classics team took Despina on the ACBS Fall Colour Tour. This entailed a 6 AM start from the shop in the Glen with Despina in tow up to Lake Muskoka, putting in at Bala ( after a stretch and a coffee and buying of pastries at the Bala Bakery) motoring down Bala Bay, through Coulter Narrows (a low railroad bridge), out into Lake Muskoka around to East Bay Marina for fuel, then onto the rendevous point, a cottage on Morris island to join the rest of the group.  Then ensued a tour of the lake, a first for this writer, which involved some chart reading, rubbernecking of millionaire cottages and boathouses, meeting the Segwun on her way up past Rankin Island, her sister ship coming down past Christmas Island, and snubbing the odd plastic boat that came up close to investigate.

While the colours were not out in full, the weather, which had not been promising, improved greatly, in fact, the sun came out for a good portion of the day. Wood looked good!

Rendevous at the the cottage, shake hands all round and off to Bala, haul out the boat and on the road back to the Glen, back home by 5.

now where was I....?

Right! ACBS Gravenhurst Raceboat Show, July 6. Yours truly and Scott departed the Boatshop at 6:30 AM with a skiff in the back of the truck and Gas-Hopper in tow. We did not get off to a graceful start - the 1945 trailer hitch kept giving us trouble and we even returned to the shop for repairs once. It finally got sorted and we were off but late. On arrival at the show we proceeded to our spot in the Field of Dreams across the road from the show itself. Wayne met us there and helped with booth set-up and the first couple of hours. Great day, met quite a few racers who remember Dave Norton, sold some T shirts but not the skiff. Anton arrived later in the day and assisted with packing up!

6:30 AM - nuff said

Gas-Hopper has a unique look!

beautiful day and beautiful boats



Next year - IN THE WATER!

we did get quite a bit of information and leads for Dave's story

ACBS Gravenhurst, Big Daddy Festival and shop!

First thing, the winner of the skiff raffle on Big Daddy Festival day was Joey who says he never won anything in his life before! He loves the boat and looked into using it with his church but no solution to storing or moving it was possible. He has decided that K&C should sell the boat on a 50/50 basis. So here's the deal!

Make us an offer for this skiff, including oars.
Usual price is $1700
material costs $1200

4 Kids build skiff and row it!

Our first Boats 4 Folks event of the 2013 season was held on the 4th of May weekend and as usual it was an amazing experience for all involved....

within a couple of hours it looks like a boat!

We had a lovely weekend for boatbuilding outside!

George goes over a fine point of construction

the team has the skiff looking good on Sunday morning

nearly done!

disbelief - it floats and doesn't leak!

a little instruction on rowing...

and we can't get them out of it!

The Dave Norton Story, just the beginning