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Boating Challenges for Young Minds – Challenge 2
Challenge 2: Non-Buoyant Becomes Buoyant! In the first challenge, materials were chosen that had buoyancy. This challenge will be to demonstrate buoyancy from a material that does not float!...
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Boating Challenges for Young Minds – Challenge 3
Challenge 3: The Buoyancy Test: how much mass will it carry? Materials: building materials to make a small buoyant floater that will not sink while carrying a load of 500 grams or 20 quarters....
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What Should Santa Bring
If your boat could speak, what would it ask for at Christmas? What would warm the oil, tickle the RPM or soften the exhaust of your wooden boat? By Christmas, every wooden boat in Canada anyway, that...
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New Year’s Resolutions
When New Year’s rolls around, it is a marker in time that causes us to pause and reflect on the past year and ways to make the coming year more rewarding. There are so many aspects to consider....
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Water in the Winter
I was scanning through some of the old family movies my grandfather took of the Windermere area from the late 1940’s through to about the mid 1950’s and one strip documented a visit in the winter....
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DOA is all About Fellowship
With all the Dispros tucked away for the winter or in for some service, you might wonder what comes next when it comes to wooden boating for the Disappearing Propeller Association or any other...
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Hidden Mechanicals of a Wooden Boat
You see the 36’ long hull, the steering wheel and some levers attached to it, but what are they attached to and how does it work? In an outboard, such as a little Peterborough that has a forward...
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Original Engines: Challenges and Character
There is no question that the vintage character of a wooden boat is as much about the engine as the hull. The sound of the exhaust and the clattering of valves, piston and drive shaft are a critical...
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The Albacore Is Race Worthy
There is nothing like catching spin drift racing across the water in a sailboat like an Albacore. Popular as a recreational and highly competitive sailboat, the Albacore can be found in just about...
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The Dinghy
In two previous blogs I talked about the Albacore and the Aykroyd built sail boats. These are classed as dinghies due to the centre board or dagger board vs. a fixed keel. But what is truly the...
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Icons of Muskoka
It is time we look back and reflect on the events and icons that have stood out from generation to generation. Wooden boats certainly play a big role in the collective memory of Muskoka seasonal and...
View ArticleDocking and Handling
At the Muskoka Lakes Boat Show this past summer, every invited boat was allocated a spot based on hull length and design. The longest boats were parked parallel to the main dock. The challenge for...
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Running the Dispro E1 Engine
The single cylinder Dispro E1 copper jacket engine is now over 100 years old. A distinctive feature in Dispros of the 1920’s, this engine provides as much of the character of the boat as the hull...
View ArticleKid’s Crafts
Are you a kid at heart, hoping to never grow up? Or are you a parent or friend of a parent with kids who love boats? What boating fun can children enjoy that will keep the waterborne spark alive?...
View ArticleKid’s Crafts 2
Challenge 2: Non-Buoyant Becomes Buoyant: In the first challenge, materials were chosen that had buoyancy. This challenge will be to demonstrate buoyancy from a material that does not float!...
View ArticleKid’s Crafts 3
Challenge 3: The Buoyancy Test: how much mass will it carry? Materials: building materials to make a small buoyant floater that will not sink while carrying a load of 500 grams or 20 quarters....
View ArticleKid’s Crafts 4
Challenge: If your family had to travel by boat, design a boat that would meet their needs, pets included! Materials: The activity bin, drawing paper, ruler, drawing tools (crayons, pencil crayons,...
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Kid’s Crafts 5
In the last challenge, Young Boaters were challenged with a boat for their family. What kind of boat would you design that would meet the needs of them? It would be wonderful if readers who took on...
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Kid’s Crafts 6
In the previous challenge young boaters were asked to reflect on boats used in well known stories. For this challenge, you are tasked with considering any stories that involve any boat. Some you may...
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Hybrid World P.2
So what is the ideal craft for the conversion from gasoline to electric power? A boat that will maintain a steady and moderate speed, where space and weight offer options for storing batteries and...
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