1942 peterborough 12' trapper

[bob goeckel]

just finished restoring. it's definitely not a 2 person canoe

[SamSam]

I made a mold and then a bunch of those in a 17'3" fiberglass version with wood trim and sliding seats. Won a few races and always turned heads with the classic shape.

[SamSam]

I tried unsuccessfully to post a copy of a March 1981 National Fisherman article by John Gardner that tells the story of the Peterborough Canoe Co. and/or the Canadian Canoe Co. and also has a set of offsets and lines drawings, which I used for the plug and mold.

I somehow got it to work, but it is pretty unreadable. Apparently back in the 20s-30s they dominated the ACA sailing canoe races. You've done a wonderfull job on the restoration, the canoe is beautiful. How much does it weigh?

[bob goeckel]

probably 40 lbs. it's quite sensitive.

[Jim Ledger]

Beautiful job, Bob. It looks like a pretty total restoration.

[SamSam]

probably 40 lbs. it's quite sensitive.

I stood in mine once and was amazed how smoothly it rolled over and dumped me. Way back then, before cars, and especially up there where water travel was more used than horses and wagons, all the designs were working designs and everybody was pretty skilled in canoes. What's the width of a 12 footer? I enlarged the plans from a 16' canoe in the article to 17'3" and I think it was still only 34"wide at the widest part of the hull which was below the gunnel.

[Fitz]

"probably 40 lbs. it's quite sensitive".

Nice job on the Shorty, Bob!

I have one of those too. Actually, it is the reason for my wooden canoe addiction and was my first canoe. We inherited it from my mother-in-law and got it back in the water. It had a long history of dumping folks in a Finger Lake before we got it.

I tried to fish in it once tandem with a buddy and we feared for our lives the entire time. I do still paddle it, but typically kneeling near the center. It handles much better then. I like to sneak around marshes and streams with it early in the morning.

The Peterborough catalogue ad for the Shorty, shows an old timer kneeling amidship and poking around in a beaver pond. I think that is the way it is meant to paddle.

Incidently, Larry Bowers out west warned me of the properties of the Shorty Trapper too.

Have fun with the canoe. Try and stay dry.

PS: How did you date it? I think mine is early 50's vintage - maybe 1954. It has a Peterborough 75th Anniversary decal.

Fitz.