- Boats, they've been around for thousands of years.

Essential for transportation, for commerce, for exploration today, primarily recreation.

Join us on a journey into what it takes to keep and maintain classic wooden boats.

We'll explore the craftsmanship, the history, and the stories from those who keep these vintage vessels on the water.

- Vintage vessels is made possible in part by -Kozmiuk wooden boats.

Custom wooden boat builder of ore sail and power boats traditionally built with old world craftsmanship.

Born from knowledge passed down through generations.

Custom built and restoration service at kozmiukwoodenboats.com The Grundy Insurance Classic Boat program was born from their family sailing tradition, offering vessels full agreed value coverage, protection from uninsured boaters, marine environmental damage, and search and rescue.

online@grundy.com Pettit Paint Captain's Varnish, available in pints, courts, gallons and aerosol.

This marine grade spray on varnish is made to protect wood from ultraviolet light drying to an amber color.

More information is available online at pettitpaint.com ACBS celebrating 50 years of vintage boating in 2025.

Chapter locations across North America can be found at acbs.org Closed captioning support is provided by Peter Henkel incorporated.

online at chris-craft-parts.com In today's episode, we visit the Muskoka Steamships and Discovery Center in Gravenhurst, Ontario, tour their collection of boats.

Then visit the oldest steamship in Canada as it undergoes some maintenance.

All right here on vintage vessels of the water - Pressure.

- Hi, I'm Anne Curley.

I'm the operations manager curator here at the Muskoka Discovery Center.

And through these beautiful doors here at 275 Steamship Bay Road in Gravenhurst.

At Muskoka Wharf, you'll find all kinds of wonderful Muskoka experiences.

Things to explore, discover.

You'll go into our gray and speed boathouse that has a beautiful collection of, of Muskoka built wooden boats, Musk Canada, four.

The race boat is inside as well.

We have lots of canoes and kayaks that have a tremendous history here in Muskoka.

We have number of exhibits.

We have our watershed wonders that talks about the Muskoka River Watershed.

You get to explore life in the watershed.

We have a boat builders workshop, so it takes you back in time what the Muskoka Boat builders would've had as they were building these beautiful boats.

And we also showcase our Muskoka boats that are built by current day boat builders.

And the antique and classic boat society also has an incredible little interactive, that way you can learn more about the organization and what they do and the boat, their boat shows.

As you move into our newest exhibits, we have what we're presenting this year.

Opened up this year is the Muskoka story, which features three brand new exhibits.

One being Musco Waki confluence of cultures, which is our indigenous exhibit, telling the indigenous story here in Muskoka, it features eight first nations and for cultures as well.

You'll get a chance to meet some of our knowledge keepers.

We are very, very blessed to have on site with us some days knowledge keepers who will share stories about this.

The, the exhibits that you'll see, whether it be the objects that are in the new exhibit or the, the work that the artisans have done to create koki as the main floor, we have evolving Muskoka life on the edge of the shield.

And that's an exhibit that takes you from history, from, you know, the last two, you know, many years to present day.

And it'll focus on the changing technologies that took place.

It takes talks about economic drivers and the people here on the land, both past and present.

We showcase many people that cameos of individuals who have, have a very important role in history in both past and present day.

These exhibits cover the entire Muskoka region.

So it's not just a a Gravenhurst or a South Muskoka exhibit.

It's telling stories all throughout the Muskoka area.

And finally we have Wanda three steamed a green.

And what we're doing is we're restoring the 19 15-year-old steam yacht that was originally owned by Margaret Eaton.

And the Wanda three yacht has had a a tremendous history here in Muskoka.

We're restoring her and we've built a beautiful boathouse for her that will, and she'll be back sailing.

We're hoping to be having her sailing next summer.

And when she's not sailing in our boathouse, we'll be doing all kinds of wonderful programming on board her.

We could be doing lady eat teas, we could be doing lunch, all kinds of incredible fun things to do.

We also have the engine of Wanda as you enter into the exhibit.

When we were building the exhibit, we didn't know how much Wanda's engine would waste.

So she's right at the building at the front as you enter into the Muskoka story.

And you get to see this beautiful, powerful engine that now has been converted to electric batteries.

So she will sail.

She's at one of our part of our Sustainable heritage program.

We have something for everybody in the family here inside the Discovery Center.

We also have our Kids Zone, space, which is a steam science technology, engineering, arts and math learning center where kids can engage with all kinds of different activities.

So it's a place for families to, to engage with their, their children, grandchildren.

And it also relates back to the different activities that you'll find.

So when we're doing a build it station, it goes back to the gears.

We'll have gears that show how gears and engines and motors and all that work.

So it's something for everyone.

Something for the ladies, the men.

We say we're fun for all ages, one to 101.

So you are inside the new Wanda Boathouse.

It's not open to the public yet.

You'll find some of our crew doing some restaurant tour of work on board Wanda today.

- My name is Peter Code.

I'm a boat builder.

I trained on the West coast to Washington state, and I've worked across Canada and a little bit in the United States.

And I've come in to help as a contractor to do some painting, some woodworking, and whatever else needs to be done on the one to three.

Immediately paint is on the, on the critical line.

So that's getting the white, what we call the top sides paint on.

And that will allow the boat when they're ready to be lowered into the water.

But the painting has to be done first.

So that's my next job.

- So when Wanda's finished her restoration and sailing, there will be, the top deck will have chairs on it.

So you'll be able to sit out on the, the top deck and enjoy the, the view our volunteers have been working on.

The canopy enter into the - Pretty needed.

- And then we come into our, the early settlers as well.

This is to represent what a Muskoka boat shed may look like with some of the, the activities, the tools, the, you know, the water skis, the paddles, the aqua boards.

And then we talk about our seasonal residents and the importance of the seasonal residents play in Muskoka, both past and present day.

You know, we, we complete the exhibit by showing everyone a, a movie called Koka Forever.

It's a nine minute movie that takes our history from past to present, showcasing what we've, what we started out of as what we've, what we've experienced over the years, both with acid, rain, algal blooms, all kinds of things that's impacting the future of Muskoka.

So we're just trying to do a very strong message that we need to take care of Muskoka, keep it Muskoka forever.

You have a part to play, actions to take and do.

Let's do it.

- Yep.

- So we started off mis goki with our, our canoe that's here and the canoe.

It was built in 1904 by Jills Williams out of Rama.

And this canoe was used to take the Mellon family on their fishing and hunting expeditions.

He was a tour guide for the Muskoka area.

So this is a focal point of the exhibit.

This is what the exhibit was built on.

The great dish, or the one dish with one spoon.

And it's, it's everyone coming together to tell the Muskoka story about the eight indigenous nations that lived here.

And the four cultures.

And the four cultures being the Metis, the Huron Wenda, the Anishinabe, and the Hoone.

We also have a wampum belt, which is also very symbolic too, that would, that supports the great dish.

Beautiful part about the exhibit is that in each of the different areas, you'll find objects, either historic objects or current objects, as well as commissioned art pieces from the, from the indigenous community that has made pieces.

Specifically for this exhibit, I'll be listening stations so you can listen to the, the storytellers and knowledge keepers tell you more additional information about a specific topic that they're from their culture that they want to share with you.

I - Are a leader.

I'm a leader.

Oh, that's cool.

When I hate, I hate - Parts design.

She's gonna be making another vest.

This is her.

So in the reflection space, it's time to sit back and listen to additional stories that are coming through the sound system up above.

And time to reflect on what you've seen.

Your canoe journey is now taking you out into Muskoka Lake, Muskoka Bay.

And as you're sitting here, you'll, you'll feel the beauty of the water and help you complete your journey.

There's an opportunity to reflect, to comment on what you've, what you've seen in, in the exhibit and how it's made you feel, what commitments you might have to do in the future.

So we have two exhibits in this area.

One being water is life.

And this is all about the, this was built by the Chippewa of grandma talking about the importance of water, women and their role with water, the water keepers, their commitment to looking after the water.

On this side, we take you into watershed wonders, which talks about the Muskoka River Watershed and gives you a great idea as what is representative in the Muskoka River Watershed.

This is everything good.

This is our central hub.

You get to talk about invasive species, species at risk, the animals that live in our watershed.

We talk about the, the four components, the forest, the lakes, the shoreline, and the wetlands.

And we do that through different visuals.

And one visual for the lakes that we've used is, so we have our beautiful iconic seg, our Ms seg that sails in our lakes.

And then below we showcase and highlight what you'll find in our lakes, whether it be a beaver or an otter or different types of fish.

So I'm just gonna come over here and show you how this works 'cause I'm gonna touch this beaver.

It is an interactive aquarium and it'll, as you touch the various animals that you'll and rep and amphibians and, and fish that you'll find in here, you will see all kinds of, so this is a small milk bass.

We also have, we talk about sustainability and the importance of being a, a citizen science and stewardship.

So we always wanna make sure when we leave the exhibits that there's a huge message that you know, you gotta sustain mu koka.

It's beautiful.

As well as you can take these messages back to your own community no matter where you live, you need to take action and do your part.

- We're at the Muskoka Discovery Center in the Grayson Speed Boathouse.

We have a dozen beautiful mahogany boats.

They are all privately owned.

This is a Peter Breen boat here, cash injection, which is lovely.

The Duchess here just came in.

The duchess is, she's a duke, I believe it's 1929 here.

Chimo iss a beautiful ditch burn or Minnet Shields, pardon me, Minette Shields.

She's 34 feet long.

And who do we have here?

This one is Highlands.

She's a 1926 and she's a ditch burn as well.

Tulley Cree here is a Matheson and she looks like a ditch burn, but she's a matheson.

She's in another beautiful boat that's been in here for a couple of years now.

And Maywood here is a triple cut pit and it is a gravette.

And behind her is Caruso, which is a gravette made right here in Gravenhurst.

We're situated on the ditch burn boat factory and across the way where Boston Pizza is used to be vet.

This is a 1945 Port Carly Seabird.

And behind her is Mary Arden, another ditch burn as well.

We also have Miss Canada four here.

Ms. Canada four was built by the Gravette boat company.

It's 1948, she's a 34 foot and she has a Roll Royce Griffin engine in her.

She was owned by the Wilson family when she raced down in Pickton and she won the speed record 200 miles an hour at that time.

Her mechanic was the wife of Mr. Wilson who drove the boat.

So for a female mechanic in 19 46, 47, 48, that was pretty amazing.

And she would crawl right across the top there with her big life jacket on in those days and put gasoline in the, the engine over here.

So she was quite amazing.

So all these are privately owned.

We do own all the canoes.

They've been donated to us.

The heritage boat works on the other side.

They refinish a lot of them.

They refinished this Mitchell rowing skiff a few years ago.

The sailboat at the back, they've just finished refurbishing this sail sail canoe, which is from the 18 hundreds, late 18 hundreds.

This is only part of what we have at the Muskoka Discovery Center.

We've just opened another 12,000 square feet with an indigenous exhibit and the Muskoka story.

So you're, and also Wanda three is in there, which used to belong to the Eatons family.

And the Eatons family yacht is going to be electrified.

So it's going from steam to green so it's sustainable for the future.

So it will be sailing from here as well.

Either the end of this year or the beginning of next year and the season of May, June.

And everyone should come out and see what we have here.

This is where the stepping point was.

The train would come up here to the bay and the people would get off the train and get onto the steam boats or their steam yachts and go up the lake to wherever their camp or their summer home was.

Their summer cottage was.

So it was a jumping off point.

The gateway to Muskoka, as it's called.

This was a great spot to boat manufacturers.

We still have 16 boat builders in Muskoka area that our refurbishing our building reproducing these boats.

So that's pretty amazing.

And they keep pretty busy.

- Yeah.

- Hi.

And I'm chief engineer on the RMS seg.

I we're, right now we have some issues with our feed pumps and so we're doing a testing regime to make sure that everything is in good shape.

It entails running the feed pumps because we're sitting alongside, we have to then drain the boiler or blow down the boiler for the amount of money or the amount of feed water we're putting in.

We do that for probably the next four hours.

Well, I was first, well I was the second chief engineer on her way back in 1981.

I've come back and basically she's old.

She's, it's, it's a very unique experience.

Everything is, there are no, no manuals for these, although there are textbooks that will tell you how to do it.

YouTube, YouTube doesn't work very well.

Somehow we have had some issues in regards to the, the age of things.

On the other hand, we've been able to use modern technologies to solve the problems.

So it's, it's unique.

She's, she's a ship worth saving and we're worth the, the, the only way to save her is to keep her running.

So we're doing our best to do so.

But if you go to Switzerland, if you go to Germany on, on the, the rivers and Switzerland, it's, there are ships like this that are just part of the, the normal transportation system.

Most of them were paddle wheelers, but this started off as a paddle wheeler in, in 1887.

So it's, she's unique in Canada.

She's unique also because we're the only one that still uses coal, hand fired coal.

We're getting coal from Pennsylvania right now.

And, but getting coal or getting good coal is, is hard to come by.

Certainly must much of the world at one point used coal for, for ships.

There's us in, in Canada, there's the badger in, in the us but other than that, they're not.

I think the Swedes might have one that is also a coal burner.

So right down below is, so that's a scotch boiler.

She's a hundred years old this year.

She got two furnaces.

Don't know whether you can see it, but you'll get the coal bunker.

You're basically standing on the coal bunker as you speak.

Never goes out.

We, we try to keep her at a constant temperature and that, that's the success of, of this boiler.

And there's no ups and downs.

It, it basically goes up and at the beginning of the season, it goes down at the end of the season.

So it's, there's no stress on the boiler.

And that's what we're trying to do as much as possible.

As I indicated, we're testing feed pumps.

See the feed pump right there?

That's the, the pressure.

So the feed pump has to press, has to put more pressure than the boiler pressure to ensure that it's going in.

And we'll, we'll have a system of trials over the next four hours to ensure that both the pumps are working.

And at that point, at this point, that's what you can see.

I'll show you the people.

The way the system works is steam goes into ether, it goes through work in a high pressure and then a low pressure cylinder.

Then it goes through a series of pipes, comes along here to the, there's a series of co along there.

So this water comes out of the, the lake at lake temperature.

The engines by their exhaust heat it up than all the auxiliaries, for example.

So this is steam, it will exhaust through another auxiliary heater over there that puts water at a higher temperature.

And we, again, we don't want to stress the boiler.

So by the time everything is heated up, it's probably almost boiling.

When it goes into the wa it was when it goes into the boiler, which is what we want.

The way this works, this is an air and a jet condenser.

So the steam comes along here, we suck water in here.

The steam and the water mix drain down here, that creates a vacuum and that's part of the system of the steam engine.

It helps with the power.

Once it's created the vacuum, it just goes into this pump and the pump and it floats it over the side.

All right, chief down there, - I handle.

- We are on board the Ladu.

It was the houseboat built by George Bolt for his family in 1903.

After he passed away, it moved through the EJ Noble family and then to the McNally's who've generously donated to the Boat Museum in 2003.

And now it resides here for tours.

It's been restored both by the McNally's and by the Boat Museum.

This is Henry Fords Evangeline I think its 1924 Its a race boat.

He had a Liberty V-12 engine for it which is way over there on a rack - Vintage vessels is made possible in part by -Kozmiuk wooden boats.

Custom wooden boat builder of ore sail and power boats traditionally built with old world craftsmanship.

Born from knowledge passed down through generations.

Custom built and restoration service at kozmiukwoodenboats.com The Grundy Insurance Classic Boat program was born from their family sailing tradition, offering vessels full agreed value coverage, protection from uninsured boaters, marine environmental damage, and search and rescue.

online@grundy.com Pettit Paint Captain's Varnish, available in pints, courts, gallons and aerosol.

This marine grade spray on varnish is made to protect wood from ultraviolet light drying to an amber color.

More information is available online at pettitpaint.com ACBS celebrating 50 years of vintage boating in 2025.

Chapter locations across North America can be found at acbs.org Closed captioning support is provided by Peter Henkel incorporated.

online at chris-craft-parts.com