Still Seaworthy

Restoring a classic watercraft to its original beauty

- Chris Spring

After a lengthy career in aviation, I decided to retire. In preparation for that, I built a workshop and began construction on three cedar strip canoes, one for each of my daughters. I planned to complete them over a period of three years but finished in just over two.

With the canoe project complete, people asked if I’d build one for myself. I wasn’t interested in building a fourth canoe. I was looking for an antique boat, already restored and ready to go. What I had in mind is what’s known as a Dispro (disappearing propeller boat), which is basically a motorized canoe. They were built by a number of companies in Ontario from 1915 until the 1950s. I couldn’t find a Dispro to my liking, but

I came across a 1915 Gidley square-stern power fishing boat. I knew virtually nothing about it, so I did an Internet search. What I learned was that the Gidley Boat Company built vessels, everything from small ski‡s to boats in the 100-foot range, in Penetanguishene, Ont., from about 1890 until 1939. Two famous Gidley customers were Henry Ford and Orville Wright, but that’s another story. The boat I located carried the serial number 1515, meaning it was the fifteenth boat built by Gidley in 1915.