Classic Boats on Boshkung
Bob Fisher / Jim Sargant
An early picture of our 1954 15ft. Peterborough “Lakeside” cedar strip boat, with Peggy and 5 year Bob Fisher.
1960 Grenell 16 ft. Mahogany Parisienne, with its original 40 hp Johnson outboard.
The 1954 15 ft. Peterborough “Lakeside”, with Bob Fisher driving and neighbour, John Best. We were given this boat to use for skiing as young teenagers.
Here it is from the Summer of 2021 with its 1966 80 hp Evinrude outboard, which is still in operation today.
We gave it to Paul Dies in the early 2000’s for refinishing and use with his family. Here’s a wonderful picture of Paul’s parents, Bill and Joan Dies, in it.
Until the late 1980s, it was used as our main ski and water-sports boat.
Our wooden boats included an early 1950s cedar strip rowboat, a 1954 15 ft. cedar strip Peterborough “Lakeside” that was given to us teenagers to use for skiing and watersports and a 1960 16 ft. mahogany Grenell “Parisienne”.
Bob’s Dad bought the Grenell Parisienne off the 1960 Toronto Boat Show floor as their showboat of the year. Grenell or Gren-ell was started in Brampton in the 1950’s by a Mr. Greenhill. Unfortunately, the company, Gren-ell Boats, went bankrupt after only 10 years in operation after going into production of larger wooden cabin cruiser models in the 1960’s, just as fiberglass boats were taking over, and they didn’t survive.
Originally powered by a 40 hp Johnson outboard, it now has a 1966 80 hp Evinrude outboard, which is still in operation today. The Parisienne is still used regularly and has been in use continuously every summer since 1960, except for three when it was in dry dock for refinishing and maintenance work. Until the 1980’s, it was used as our main ski and watersports boat. It is one of the few mahogany boats still on the lake. Everything on the boat is original and just kept clean and maintained.
There’s also a restored 1956 Grenell that was in use until recently at the north end of 12 Mile Lake that had been refurbished in different colours and with upgraded trim and there was one in the 1962/1963 era in use at the Elliots, which is now Tom and Lyn Steele’s place.
Bob Fisher / Jim Sargant - May 2023
Lloyd Sexsmith
Peterborough “Auto Boat”
Lloyd Sexsmith, aged 10 months, in August 1943 in his parents’ mid-1930s Peterborough canvas covered Auto Boat at the dock of the original family cottage on Boshkung (then normally spelled Boskung).
Peterborough “Zephyr”
Remy Sexsmith, aged 10 months, in August 1990 in his family's 1954 Peterborough Zephyr outboard runabout in front of their boathouse on Boshkung.
Forty seven years later, 'Like father like son!'.
The boat with the ‘Boshkung Bottom’. This photo was taken after the bottom was replanked using cedar lumber grown and milled at our property on Boshkung. This use of our own lumber on our own boat was not planned! It was just fortuitous because that material was not only suitable, but also readily available.
Boshkung: Our Classic Watercraft
Peterborough “Seafarer”
I have several wooden boats on hand, all produced by the Peterborough Canoe Company, with the exception of the wooden Fireball dinghy that I built myself, the 14ft wood and canvas canoe, and the wooden folding boat.
They include:
An early-1920’s 14ft double end cedar strip rowing and sailing dinghy,
An early/mid-1930’s 12ft Auto Boat that has spent its entire life on Boshkung Lake,
A mid-1930’s inboard Seafarer 18ft runabout,
A 1954 14ft Zephyr that has also spent its entire life on Boshkung Lake,
A late thirties cedar strip sailing dinghy that came from Twelve Mile Lake and whose model name I’ve forgotten,
A 14ft wood and canvas canoe, by Langford Canoe.
A wooden framed folding boat that I’ve never dared use in case it folded up with me in it!
A wooden Fireball sailing dinghy that I built.
The 1930s 12ft canvas covered Auto Boat has a lot of Boshkung Lake history. It was bought new by my parents to use at our original cottage. The motor that now goes with it was also used in the early 1930’s by Wilfred Mason to deliver farm produce to cottagers around the lake.
There’s also a good Boshkung story about the 18ft Seafarer. When I was having it restored after purchasing it, the boat builder told me that all the bottom planking needed to be replaced.
This boat is unusual for a Peterborough, since the hull bottom has 1/2" thick x 3" wide eastern white cedar planking with caulked seams, rather than the traditional smooth skin planking normally used on most Peterborough boats. However, the ribs are the normal rounded steam bent style used in most Peterborough cedar strip boats, and the planking between splash rails and gunwales is the normally used smooth skin cedar.
My response to the builder about the need for new bottom planking was, "Where in the world are we going to find white cedar with those dimensions, knot-free, and about twenty feet long?" His response was, "There's a canoe builder in Haliburton, Michael Butz, who has some!".
Well guess whose cedar logs Michael milled to make the lumber? My own, from my property on Boshkung. There are many very large cedars on the property, a few of which had blown down so I sold them cheap to Michael to avoid wasting the wood.
So, the 18ft Seafarer's bottom is now re-planked with my own Boshkung cedar! It is not yet back in the water because the engine must still be installed, but I will be quite disappointed if that new Boshkung Bottom dares to leak!
Lloyd Sexsmith - May 2023
Arthur Lee
Looking fine dockside, watching children/grandchildren play on the beach, with my 1963 Richardson Aquacraft 16 ft. “Playboy”, with a 1959 Johnson Super Seahorse 35HP, the second of three attempts at repowering.
Out for a spin with the original 1962 Viking Twenty Five Electric outboard. Nothing quite as nice as riding in a wooden boat as you skim across the water at full speed.
The third outboard suited the boat perfectly, being a 1985 Johnson 40HP outboard purchased from Neil Griffin and installed by Brad Griffin at Northland Marine in Carnarvon. This is a recent photo showing the “stem to stern” refinishing (inside and out) completed in 2022 by Paul Chalmers of Chalmers Boatworks in Fenelon Falls.
Richardson Aquacraft “Playboy 63”
As my 1963 Richardson Aquacraft 16 ft. “Playboy” turns 60 this year, I remember purchasing it 25 years ago at the “Field of Dreams” during one of the Antique and Classic Boat Society’s Annual Vintage Boat Shows in Gravenhurst.
My son (then 4) was with me and when he noticed me looking closely at this one, he said in his biggest little boy voice, “Are you going to buy this one, Daddy?”, just as I was speaking to the owner and discussing the price! It was meant to be, since it’s perfectly suited for Boshkung Lake, especially in the evening when the water is calm, or when it is moored offshore on our (mostly) protected beach just past Houser/Woods Point, where the Houser family had their property (Boshkung Book, pp. 95-100).
It’s always enjoyable to drive, while gliding smoothly over the water and waves, unlike the flutter of fibreglass hulls on many boats today, or watch it float and bob offshore in the sunshine with its exposed and varnished ‘brightwork’.
Often mistaken for a Peterborough, it was made by Jack Richardson, who built and sold cedar strip boats, dinghys, sailboats and canoes after the Peterborough Canoe Company ceased operations in 1961 (after being in business since 1892). Some say he was the former General Manager of the Peterborough Canoe Company, Jack Richardson manufactured many of the same types and sizes in the “Peterborough” style, as well as some modern styles, for a number of years in Lakefield, Ontario under the name Rilco Industries Limited.
Arthur Lee - May 2023
