There are lots of times when paddle or oar power is simply not enough to get you to that productive fishing spot in time, or to get all that cargo to an isolated island cottage. Island Falls offers two seaworthy wood and canvas designs that lend themselves perfectly for use with modest outboard motors, and still retain the unique flavor of this traditionalwood & canvas construction.

At times during his varied life,the late Francis E."Mick" Fahey was a respected Maine Guide, boatbuider, and manager of Hinkley Yacht Yard, as well as an engineer at the Jackson Laboratory on Mount Desert Island. A perfectionist in everything he did, Mick designed what he called Voyager for provisioning the Fahey summer residence at Chesuncook Village, 18 miles up the often windy lake from Ripogenus Dam. The seaworthiness, great handling qualities, and enormous capacity of this beautiful square stern canoe puts in in a class by itself, and we've chosen to call it the Moosehead Laker after New England's largest lake.

The basic Moosehead Laker includes: Short Deck, Half Ribs, Floor Rack, Keel, Spray Rails, Mahogany Transom, and Trim, Two canoe seats and Thwarts, Transom handles and an outside stem. Some of the extras pictured are: 42" long decks with coaming, solid fan seats bow and stern plus two bench seats. Bench seats along sides, one pair of oarlocks, bilge keels, and battery box. The Moosehead Laker is an ideal craft for all fishing and sporting purposes and has a generous capacity of 1400+pounds. We recommend a 4 stroke motor of 4-6 h.p. a 2 stroke motor of 6-7.7h.p. or an electric.

The 20" Y-stern is an adaptation of the famous E.M. White 20' Guide canoe we have been building for thirty years.

Besides adding the small transom, we changed the configuration of the after section of the canoe, retaining the original fine exit below the water line, and flaring the sides for a drier boat and to accommodate the "transom". The result is a Y-sterned canoe that appears to be designed from scratch instead of one that simply had a transom stuck onto it. The West Branch is an inch deeper than the original White and three inches broader, making it an excellent rowing canoe. It has moderate rocker for ease of maneuvering and the half ribs, keelson, and outside keel stiffen the boat when used with a small outboard or electric motor. Because little has changed below the waterline the West Branch can be paddled or poled as handily as the original 20 footer.

Standard features include: Half ribs, internal keelson, outside keel, one set of oarlocks, fore and aft caned canoe seats, bench seat midships and bow ring. Some optional features are a 36" deck with coaming, solid fan seats fore and aft, two sets of oarlocks or outrigger oarlocks brackets, spray rails, outside stem, Shaw & Tenney oars, floor rack, and bilge keels.

The West Branch is 20' long 13 1/2" deep at midships 24" at the bow. She has a beam of 42" and weights in at between 110 and 130 pounds.