STORY STORY - Real Muskoka

Above:
Wanda awaits restoration
Below: Heating to
remove the varnish
Right: Sanding Wanda III
Wanda III Gets A Makeover:
Caring For our Glamourous Girl
She will soon mark 100 years—and she has been looking old and tired. But
this summer, with the help of a small work team from the Beaver Creek
Institution, Wanda III is being returned to her former splendour reminiscent
of the years when she plied the waters of Muskoka in the early
1900s.
Bob Durrant, employee with the Muskoka Steamship and Historical Society
was given the task to oversee the restoration of the ship. “Wanda III is
really weather beaten and her mahogany and teak are in tough shape,”
said Durrant. “But with the work crews from Beaver Creek, we are working
on getting her shipshape again, ready for her 100th birthday in a couple
of years.” Durrant would like to see Wanda III back in service again and he
was very focussed on having the ship cleaned, stripped and re-varnished.
“ With the crews from Beaver Creek, we were able to get Wanda III
to her former glory again .” —Bob Durrant
Wanda III was built in 1915 by Polson Ironworks of Toronto for Mrs.
Timothy Eaton. Mrs. Eaton wanted a “fast” boat to bring her guests from
the Muskoka Wharf to her summer home at Ravenscrag on Lake Rosseau.
And Wanda III was the fastest boat on the lakes when she was put into
service. She was equipped with a state-of-the-art steam powerplant that
propelled her at nearly 40 kph—a remarkable speed at the time. Her
powerplant, a marine triple expansion steam engine, was the same used
to drive WWI Navy minesweepers.
Wanda III is 94 feet long and has a beam of 12 feet. Mrs. Eaton paid
almost $35,000 for her—a princely sum in 1915. The Muskoka Steamship
and Historical Society acquired the boat in 1993 and relaunched her in 1997 after
an extensive restoration. However, the boat is moored alongside Wenonah II and
Segwun and sits outside in all weather conditions. According to Durrant, she
needed a complete revarnishing this past summer because the wood had been
severely weathered over the past few years.
Durrant was very happy to have the work crews from Beaver Creek do the work on
Wanda III. “We had only a short timeframe to get it all done, and the guys from the
institution were good workers. I only had to show them what needed to be done,
and they worked to get the job done.”
14 Issue 83 • Fall 2012 The Real Muskoka Story