Aunt Mae

Aunt Mae is a 1924 Port Carling Uncle Sam model Dispro that wound up  In Schriber Ontario in about 1925 . I traveled several hundred miles north with Paul Dodington on a lead , after the original owners Grand daughter had called thinking that it was time for the boat to have a better home .  The boat was in a shed for years , but the shed collapsed and the boat wound up on the lawn at the camp for a few years . ( When you re north of the French river it isn’t a cottage —it’s a camp ). The boat had quite a history . It had helped the family to escape from a forest fire sometime in the 1930’s , but she had certainly seen better days .  My first reaction when seeing the boat was to harvest the hardware and leave the rest for the fire. Paul Dodington took a more optimistic view and we wound up loading her up and back to Port Carling where she found a most fitting owner . —Eric Luks who also happens to live in Billy Johnston’s house . Billy Johnston was the inventor of the Dispro and built his house in 1924 when things were at their peak at the DP company . Aunt Mae was a challenging restoration , as a lot of the bottom shape was left on the lawn in Scriber . She turned out exceptionally well and has acquired several awards under the stewardship of her enthusiastic new owner