ppAround 1998 I was restoring a Lakefield Canoe under the mentorship of Will Ruch. At the time, in his barn was Wanton, which he intended to restore and had patiently stripped. I offered him first right of refusal should he decide not to complete the restoration, which is how I acquired the boat. In 2011, I seriously began the restoration, which would be completed in 2016. For me, a major aspect of restoring this boat was developing relationships withthose who shared the passion to see a mahogany boat run again on the lake./ppUnlike most of the furniture projects I had tackled before, there are few if any straight lines in a boat. Challengesincluded fixing cracked planks, filling holes in the bow, replacing part of the half-rotted curved transom, cleaning the oil-soaked floor, verifying the soundness of the ribs, carving the seven replacement planks, acquiring and nailing the copper clinch nails necessary for lap streak construction and finally, steaming and creating a jig for affixing the stern. Credit to James Osler for his mentoring assistance. Attached photos are from a family photo book created by Tim DuVernet.  All in all it all comes down to having fun with people and boats. /p/p