May 12, 2015
A story about a canoe
You likely won’t remember but last summer in July Colin bought a canoe. A very beautiful refurbished 16′ cedar Huron canoe. All the details and photos can be found here. He owned a canoe a very long time ago before we married and has always regretted selling it. Way back in June of 2010 on a trip back from my celebrating my Father’s 80th birthday we saw a lovely canoe for sale on the side of the highway as we drove through a tiny community. It was not to be at that time due to finances but it certainly has been on Colin’s mind for some time. So I was so happy that he was able to purchase the Huron last summer.
So once the canoe was purchased last summer a lot of work went into how to get the canoe down our stairs to the water. The first thing was to figure out a way to lower the canoe and bring it up again with just Colin’s muscle power. It was much too heavy for me to lift. Ideas were thrown out and I came up with an idea 💡 Simply brilliant if I say so myself.
My idea was to put our tallest ladder on top of the stairs and somehow slide the canoe down to the beach.
Colin developed the concept and with Rick’s ( our hired helper, he also worked on the construction of our home ) help things began to take shape. This was the first prototype.
The next amendment several days later.
Finally a perfect fit. To protect the hull of the canoe, the wooden guides/launch ramp were covered with indoor/outdoor carpet.
Voila! The different heights were to deal with the angle of the stairs down to the beach. Everything needed to be precise. The middle slot is where the hull will slide through down to the water. The reflections are because I took this from inside the house.
First the ladder is laid over the stairs ( see the red foot of the ladder just above these words ) , then the three launch ramps are laid over the ladder.
Ready for the first launch. Colin was doing this on his own, although Rick was standing by just in case.
Woohoo, looks like it just might work.
Success. Note the green carpet which is under the canoe, over our beach rocks, once again to protect the canoe.
Successfully pulled up again.
The canoe was then place on it’s wheeled trolley as were the launch pads on yet another trolley and rolled under the house. Sadly due to circumstances in my life and my being away for the better part of three months tending to my ailing father, the canoe remained under the house for close to a year.
You will have to check back tomorrow for the rest of the story.
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That’s brilliant! How lucky you are to live on a lake where you can canoe.
I wonder if the rest of the story will involve some sort of pulley system…
Good guess but not the right one 🙂
We aren’t just lucky, it also took a lot of planning and waiting to finally be able to build on this site. We love it here. When we are 90 and can no longer canoe or kayak we will still be able to sit back or lay in my hospital bed placed in front of the window ( yes this is my plan ) and enjoy the view.
Looks like someone is a happy camper, I mean canoeist!
Next time you visit you have a choice of canoe or kayak or just sit back and enjoy.
Such an idelic location – sure is a great place to have a hospital bed…LOL – I’m sure you planned it all – and what a fantastic lifestyle ….here we call such places “God’s waiting room”…enjoy
I like that ‘God’s waiting room’. Not ready for the hospital bed for a long while but nice to know it can be here is I want. Meanwhile lots of to explore out in the big world.
Great idea – we just bought light inexpensive kayaks to use this year but due to their length it still takes two of us to transport/use them – but then again we don’t live next to the water. I am sure he will get some good use out of it this year.
It still takes 2 of us to carry the kayaks up and down the stairs. We have toggles on each end to hold them by. I’m sure you are going to enjoy them this summer. Buddy too 🙂