Thank you for a fantastic Boat Show!

The Muskoka Lakes Association Boat Show is back. On August 13th after a three year wait it returned to Port Carling.

The MLA Antique Boat Show began in 1971 and has been held bi-annually since, honouring boats that have been built in Muskoka or have spent most of their life in Muskoka waters. This show is a tribute to our Muskoka boat building heritage.

The theme was Moving Forward and features a selection of beautiful 1930s boats. 1930 turned out to be a pivotal year in boat designs. In Muskoka, the heritage of long deck launches with vertical windshields and a steering station located midship and behind the engine hatches gave way to “forward drive” configurations with steering ahead of the engine and behind stylishly sloping windshields. Some owners actually had their old-fashioned launches converted to “forward drive” which helped to kept boatbuilders busy through the depression.

This years poster features Caprice, a unique 26’ triple cockpit MinettShields built in 1936 and featured at the New York Boat Show in the same year. Caprice is owned by Jonathon Blair who acquired it from his Grandfather, Alf Mortimer, founder and long-time proprietor of the Port Sandfield Marina.

August 13th showed off many finely crafted boats demonstrating the evolution of Muskoka boat building from the 1800s.