Wood and Glory: Muskoka's Classic Launches

A pictorial tribute to hand-built recreational boats.

Not so very long ago, the best pleasure boats were built, not manufactured. They were hand-built to order, of the finest materials: oak, cedar and elm from the Boreal Forest; fir from the Pacific Coast; mahogany from the Honduras; the Philippines and the east coast of Africa. Many of these one-of-a-kind boats were built in the Muskoka Lakes district.

Wood and Glory takes readers back to that special era of boating that flowered before World War II. These classic center-drive displacement launches (many still in use today) constitute a distinguished part of the boating legacy on North American waters. Vintage-boat owners and boat-show enthusiasts will love the fine craftsmanship in this wonderful collection of photographs and classic boat history.

The book features text and photos on:

• Classic boats by renowned builders Ditchburn, Duke, Greavette and Minett-Shields
• The best hand-built boats from the turn of the century until World War II
• Unique cruisers, runabouts, streamliners, V-bottoms, hard-chines and more.

Wood and Glory is an excursion to a time of mechanical innovation and design elegance.