Nearly one dozen wooden antique boats glided gracefully across the cool glistening waters of Trout Lake on a beautiful June Saturday, slowly making their way to the shores of Olmsted Beach in North Bay.
The boat owners are members of a club known as the Dispro Owners Association, formed in 1979, explained a former club president.
“These boats are called Dispros. We have about 220 members and there are about 300 boats that we know of in existence, but there were originally about 3,000 manufactured,” explained Association past-president Robert Clipsham.
The Association’s mandate is to “preserve the Disappearing Propeller Motor Boat and offer fellowship and technical information to all Dispro boat owners and enthusiasts.”
The boat and its patented device were invented in Ontario.
“Originally, the patent goes back to 1916 and the boat that we have is a 1920. The boats were made initially in Port Carling and then Gravenhurst, but they were also made in Tonawanda, New York and in Lindsay, Ontario,” Clipsham added.
The legendary Disappearing Propeller Motor Boat is powered with a 3 hp. inboard marine motor, 3,100 boats were produced by four different companies over a 44-year time period.
“I like the antique boat and I like keeping the antique motor in the boat going. My wife owns the boat and so she’s the skipper and I’m the engineer,” Clipsham grinned.
Mike Windsor is a member from Gravenhurst.
Windsor and his passenger were touring Trout Lake on board his boat built in 1923.
“I bought this boat from somebody on Lake Muskoka about 15 years ago. On the inside of the boat is a mechanism called a ‘device’ and the propeller. If you hit a rock, the propeller comes up inside of the boat so you actually only need about six inches of water and you can pull it up manually, like when I beach the boat I just pull it up with the handle so it doesn’t hurt the prop. The technical name of this boat is Disappearing Propeller Motor Boat, but some people call them Dippys or other people call them Dispros,” Windsor explained.
”There is a little two-cylinder engine in this one, but some of them have one-cylinder engines. This boat, in particular, is made out of Cyprus wood which is a southern wood. It grows in swamps and is very decay resistant.”
Windsor notes the boats don’t get up to great speeds.
“At six miles an hour, there’s not a lot of thrill. Why do I do it then? What’s the big hurry,?” laughed Windsor.
This was not the first trip to the area for Lorraine Human, who is a club member from Peterborough.
“We’ve travelled all over Ontario to different lakes. It is the second time we’ve been on this lake (Trout Lake) in North Bay, and I love it. It is a nice lake,” Human noted.
“This is a Greavette Disappearing Propeller Boat. It is a 1950 and Greavette’s were made in Gravenhurst. We’ve had this boat since 1994.”
Human receives a great deal of pleasure in spending time out on the lake in her antique boat with other club members.
“We have an annual regatta and we do these. These are unorganized trips, you don’t register for them, you just show up. We’re doing three lakes this year plus the Fall one in Gananaque, 1000 Islands.”
Jenn Matthews helped to organize the Trout Lake trip.
“I don’t own a boat myself, but my dad Jim Onions has had his boat for probably 15 years and I’m his first mate. So, he drives and I’m the helper,” Matthews shared.
The Trout Lake trip attracted members came from across the province.
“Today they’re mostly from the Muskoka area, because they are a Muskoka boat. Some have come from Toronto for the weekend to their cottages but mostly from down around there. We have somebody from Sault Ste. Marie and one family own a boat and live on the south shore of Lake Nipissing,” explained Matthews.
“Today is called a UUMMT, unorganized, unofficial, members misery trip. There are usually three of them in the season and this is the first one of the season this year, and then in September, there is an annual regatta that is at a different place each year. This year it will be down on the St. Lawrence River in Gananoque.”
To learn more about dispro boats, or to get information on how to join the club, simply go to disproboats.ca.
