The first Guys and Their Garages tour has past. If you missed it and you are a do-it-yourself restorer you will be sad. The event was hosted by the Trent Severn Antique and Classic Boat Association. They put together a great day. The group put together 67 boats at 3 locations. The owners of the boats were there with the boats to answer any questions you may have had on how things were done.
We started out at The Hendrens shop, just east of Peterborough, John and Friends had many boats at this location from Chris Craft, Shepherd, Richardson and more. It took us a while to see and talk to many of the self starters.
The next stop was about a half hour up the road to Clear Lake and the home of Prior Smith. Again at this location we saw many boats and owners. The location was beautiful from boats in the shop, on the driveway, and in the lake. There was a special guest at this location; Walker Riley was there, the last of the Peterborough canoe builders. This was his 100 birthday.
The last stop was at Murray Parnells Garage. This location was back in Peterborough. Murray and Friends also had a large collection of boats.
Lunch was provided at a school cafeteria: lasagna, salad, coffee and a dessert. After lunch it was off to the Canoe Museum. Here we had a guided tour and a look at the back building were the many overstock of canoes are stored.
We all had a great day, learned a lot, and left home feeling the drive was worth it. Hope that they can do it all next year. See you there. | 
