Image from Explorer Scouts Making Fiberglass Canoes. Courtesy of Chicago Film Archives
00:33:02
16mm
Colour
Silent
"Amateur silent film of a boy scout troop making a fiberglass canoe step by step from a mold, from start to finish. Boy scouts all help in each part of the process. They then take their finished canoes on a trip where they learn how to row their new canoes and camp out on the river." Chicago Film Archives
Part of the Margaret Conneely collection held by Chicago Film Archives
Margaret Conneely Collection, Chicago Film Archives
"00:00 - troop of boy scouts gathered around troop leaders in a classroom, looking over drawing plans of canoes 01:03 - boys wax a long half-section of a canoe mold with frame, gather around in circle as leader helps them mix the glue-like substance they apply to the canoe 03:57 - boy trims excess lining of material around canoe flush to edge with a knife, smoothing out glue coating, boys prepare fire in small furnace, sand down rough edges, apply second coat with paint brush 08:59 - exterior, black smoke bellows from roof smokestack, boys measure and cut fiberglass lining, interior, glue lining to inside of canoe mold, smooth surface 12:16 - MCU boys wash glue off their hands with Tide, CU glue covered Tide box 12:34 - lay out and glue another layer of fiberglass 15:38 - carry canoe half still in mold into yard, pull canoe free from mold, lay it in grass with other canoe halves, boys feel surface for smoothness, trim and sand down edges with manual and power tools 21:53 - fit two canoe halves together 22:14 - MLS troop leaders load trunk of antique Cadillac with two canoes strapped to roof, RA drive off, cut to troops getting out of cars with canoes, boy scouts stand at river’s edge behind canoes, little girl breaks bottle on canoe bow, lower two canoes into water, paddle away 24:25 - VS men paddling in canoes on river, rowing exercises 29:58 - Var LS river landscape from bank, boy scouts build a tree house 30:44-33:02 - troops row down river packed into multiple canoes, stop at a bank down river, dusk, campfire on bank with dark silhouettes of people rowing in canoes in far distance." Notes from Chicago Film Archives
Amateur Cinema