If you can dream it,
we can build it.

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The sweetest solo canoes you’ll ever paddle.

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Custom Canoes for Sail

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Fiddles as Fit as Canoes

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Tumblehome, The Film

Winner LA Sun Film Fest

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If you can dream it,
we can build it.

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Living the Canadian Dream

When you’re paddling a wooden canoe down a river deep in the Ontario wilderness, you can’t help but feel a sense of belonging that you wouldn’t quite get in a Kevlar canoe. I hope that my work here at Cook Craft will help you to appreciate nature the way I do, whether it be from the deck of a restored wooden Muskoka boat or from your seat in a wooden canoe. It’s about living the Canadian dream.

Living the Canadian Dream

When you’re paddling a wooden canoe down a river deep in the Ontario wilderness, you can’t help but feel a sense of belonging that you wouldn’t quite get in a Kevlar canoe. I hope that my work here at Cook Craft will help you to appreciate nature the way I do, whether it be from the deck of a restored wooden Muskoka boat or from your seat in a wooden canoe. It’s about living the Canadian dream.

Custom Canoes

Every detail is considered when it comes to crafting custom canoes for your adventures.

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Canoe Restoration

I can bring your canoe back to its former glory with handcrafted and detailed canoe restoration.

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Canoe Restoration

I can bring your canoe back to its former glory with handcrafted and detailed canoe restoration.

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Classic Boat Restoration

Make her seaworthy once more with a careful and precise classic boat restoration.

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Testimonials

Brian did beautiful work on the restoration of our grandparents’ 1941 Peterborough rowing skiff. His workmanship was outstanding, replacing the gunwales and keel and restoring the decks. Very much appreciated, Brian. Thank you.

Doug, Lorraine, JoAnne, Allan and Nancy

Brian took our old, beat-up, much-loved canoe and transformed it into a classic beauty. We are thrilled with the results and are more than pleased with the timely and professional way in which it all happened. Thank you, Brian!

Sara & Dennis H.

Brian Cook is passionate about canoes. He did a really beautiful restoration of my old Tremblay canoe. Kept me updated on every step with no surprises. Excellent craftmanship. I couldn’t be happier about the end result in returning this canoe to its former glory.

J. Cockshutt

Brian recanvassed our 80-year-old canoe last winter. His workmanship was superb. He also replaced gunnels and a few ribs. Finding craftsmen who can restore cedarstrip canoes is becoming extremely difficult. Now our canoe has been restored to its original condition. I know that Brian spent many hours doing this work, and his compensation was very fair.

Bill F.

Brian’s expertise and in-depth knowledge of canoe building have been a truly rewarding and valuable experience. His professional assistance with my canoe project has been not only thoroughly enjoyable, but has also helped me finish my project with a professional level of construction. Of particular importance is his willingness and availability to help when required.

Blair F.

Brian is clearly very passionate about what he does and a pleasure to talk to.

Joanne

Great customer service and quality work on gunwales.

Trevor E.

He was very knowledgeable, eager to provide information, and clear on the process.

Brian R.

Brian has restored & refurbished two antique canoes for us, one a pre-1900 Gordon and a Peterborough sailing canoe from the 1920s. He did an outstanding job on making both of the canoes water-worthy, and we are thrilled to be able to use them. Brian kept us posted by email and with pictures throughout the process. The work was finished on time and on budget. Brian was a pleasure to work with. We recommend Cook Craft to anyone looking for someone to do repairs to a canoe or purchase a new custom one.

Mary Anne C.

Brian did beautiful work on the restoration of our grandparents’ 1941 Peterborough rowing skiff. His workmanship was outstanding, replacing the gunwales and keel and restoring the decks. Very much appreciated, Brian. Thank you.

Doug, Lorraine, JoAnne, Allan and Nancy

Tumblehome:
The Film by Cook Craft

Take a journey with Brian Cook, a master canoe builder in Dwight, Ontario. His life hasn’t always been so idyllic. Against the backdrop of the interiors of Algonquin Park, Cook’s poetic narration explains why he gave up his work as a stem cell biologist and returned home to Canada to paddle.

Tumblehome features a hand built, ornate wooden canoe being sailed whilst the canoeist plays ethereal music on a hand built lyre — music that is used directly as the score. The natural imagery is accompanied by poetic quotes and musings from Deep Ecology Writer Annie Dillard. In these times of technological overstimulation many people are yearning to connect with nature, and Tumblehome inspires people to do just that.

Custom Paddles

At Cook Craft, I take pride in making the most unique custom paddles on the planet.

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Fiddles and Lyres

Whether I am crafting canoes or fiddles and lyres, I always have a quality finished product in mind.

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Canvas Canoes

I would like to help you restore, repair or create your own one-of-a-kind canvas canoe.

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Recent Work

It's the wood that makes it good! #woodenboat #wo

Bit of a creative rebuild. All done and ready to f

Maple leaf inlay on new birdseye maple decks, by s

When the shop is only 11ft wide, you gotta get cre

Canoe shop the second. #canoe #canoeisttrade #cano

Some of our jobs are more interesting than others.

Added a second work space. Thanks @spottedskinsgui

Not my best work, but still satisfying. #canoe #wo

Sometimes you gotta get out of bed at 1am because

Abracadabra! #mirka #abranet @mirkacanada thanks t

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Cook Craft in the News

To residents of Cache Lake in Algonquin Park and those living on its western fringe, Clarence Bouges is a local legend. Bouges, who died in 1982, was a renowned eccentric who built superb canoes from the 1940s to 1981. From his shop near Dwight emerged remarkable handcrafted canvas canoes constructed on moulds passed to Bouges by fellow Lake of Bays canoe maker Vic Asbury. Fans of Bouges’ canoes revelled in the many tales generated by the life he shared with a one-winged raven called Joe.