More on the ongoing saga of the Mystery Sailing Canoe Model acquired by sailmaker Douglas Fowler. The mystery turned out to be a Bill Garden Paper Canoe design. (See the previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, for the complete background story.) Douglas sends some photos of his winter restoration work and the model is turning out to be a real beauty!
Looks like Photoshop still wants to convert the hull color to Herreshoff Sea Foam Green. The actual color is bluish as in the top photo.
Douglas Fowler is the consummate craftsman. His attention to detail borders on OCD, which is a very good thing when you are restoring historical artifacts. His writeup about his trials and tribulations of the winter rehab of the Garden Paper Sailing Canoe;
"Let me tell you, this sucker has been a challenge! I’m doing the rig now and was saved by a 78 yo model fitting maker in Florida. I tried to solder fix the 4 loop ring at the top of the mast and the gooseneck. Instead of 2 pieces I instantly ended up with 4 or more. Another interesting find was the color which was not really a Herreshoff Sea Foam Green at all but what you see. The hull (but not the deck) had been varnish[ed] over the paint which had yellowed. The current color was under the rail. Went to an auto paint store and had a custom mix loaded into a spray can. The hull and the deck are indeed paper which has presented special challenges. Between the plan and the bits (top of the mast was missing) I was able to figure the rig out which is almost ready for assembly. Still need to split a 1/8” dowel down the middle for the roller furler. I’m still in awe of whoever made this model!"
Beautiful job......
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