Expert Rushton Repair & Restoration

We've had this old Rushton Florida model pleasure rowboat in the family all my life, and along with our grand-uncle George's making canoe paddles for all the family (he sent a few to Abercrombie & Fitch in New York, too), this Rushton must be what got my brother and me into boatbuilding. We always dreamed of building such things, and in 1973 we did start making Rushton reproductions.

Our boats won prizes at early wooden boat shows, and we built a reproduction of the Vesper model decked sailing canoe (1886) which became somewhat famous, being featured in Sports Illustrated, the WoodenBoat Calendar, and Nautical Quarterly, and being sailed and shown all over New York and New England.But we were way ahead of the market, we didn't get enough orders to keep busy, and we went on to other sorts of boats.

But we've both been restoring Rushtons all these years, separately, and I guess we qualify as experts on them. With Everett's and Dan Sutherland, I'd say my shop is one of three best places to take an old Rushton for proper repair and restoration. (There are some places to beware of, both as to cost and quality of work.)

UGO model tandem all-wood canoe

An Indian Girl wood/canvas canoe

A very early Rushton guideboat