“Peregrine” represents the craftsmanship and concepts developed by builders Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok over their combined 100 years of professional building.
The hull is Rollin’s 17’6″ Northwoods canoe the Atkinson Traveler, a proven wood and canvas design developed from a rich tradition of Maine canoes going back 150 years. She was built at the Northwoods canoe shop by the two builders and decorated at Island Falls Canoe. Planking and ribs are of premium vertical grain white cedar. The gunwales, rub rails, thwarts, and decks are Honduras mahogany harvested in 1958 for the historic Willets Brothers Canoe Co. in Seattle Washington.
Some of the special features include:
- Half Ribs
- Outside white oak stems
- Mahogany gunwales and rub rails
- D-shaped stern seat-vintage E.M. White, hand woven by Dennis King
- Bands of original artwork above the rub rails designed and hand painted by Jerry similar to his wildlife painting on the Millennium Sojourner canoes from 2000
“Peregrine” means wanderer – well suited to the falcon that goes by that name and suggests a spirit of courage and hope.
In this vein the side panel painting depicts animal and bird migrations which are among the great wonders of the natural world.
Peregrine was offered for sale by sealed bid. Bids were opened at noon October 1, 2025. The new owners of the Peregrine are a family of canoest from the Washington D.C. area. they intend to take loving care of it and would like to display Peregrine from time to time, in museums and shows. Jerry and I are very pleased that Peregrine is going to such a fine home.
Jerry and I would also like to thank all those that sent in bids and all the others that expressed interest in the whole process. This is a truly beautiful canoe, and a one-of-a-kind project for Jerry and myself. Thank you all for helping make this project even more special than we thought it would be.
The stem receives a splice and an inner laminate, both made of ash, to solidify the part of the stem that meets the deck.
We can splice the gunwale, as well, matching wood and grain. But sometimes, we simply have to replace the whole thing.
At the beginning of winter, before the snow flew, a crew from Kroka Expeditions in New Hampshire hauled up two of their 20-foot Voyagers for restoration. The boats needed several new ribs, gunwale repair and several pounds of sand cleaned out from under the canvas! For the use that these boats get, though, on river and lake trips with hundreds of students and campers, they were in remarkable shape. The three folks from Kroka began the job of getting them spiffed up by taking them apart. We enjoyed their visit and their energy.
Rollin practiced his chandelier-making abilities this winter! Elisa dropped off this beautiful Morris reconstruction in Everett, Mass. It now lights and decorates the great room in an apartment building there. LED lights line the underside of the gunwales and highlight the color of the northern white cedar inside.
Mr. Bateman’s square-stern canoe is coming along, with new oak inner gunwales and a new oak keelson. Rollin and Gail bent some new ribs for the canoe as well.
