About Us/About Me

My name's Doug Ingram.  I'm often asked how I came to be building canoes, and I always say that canoe building chose me.  I never started out intending to have a career as a canoe builder.  Nobody in my family was a canoeist before me, in fact, my family never went camping at all!

As you can see, my first canoe wasn't a family heirloom!

After high school, I entered the Fine Arts program at the School of Art at the University of Manitoba.  I can't say why, as I never studied art in school.  I was doing an awful lot of photography, and thought that I'd go and study photo-journalism.  Just about the time that I needed to make a decision, I came to the solid realization that I wanted to be doing things myself, not reporting on what others were doing.  That, and the fact that I didn't want to go through life looking at everything as a photo opportunity. You can see some of my first canoe building efforts from that time here. 

I still do some painting, but work and family demands restrict my opportunity.  You can see some of my paintings and drawings here:  Art photo-gallery.  My creative energies are also being directed towards guitar building.

After leaving university, I worked for one year in a woodworking shop, Cormorant Custom Woodworking, and then returned to university to earn my Bachelor of Education.  I intended to teach art.  An economic downturn and a surplus of current teachers severely restricted the demand for new teachers and I was unable to find employment.   That left me needing to find other ways to support myself, so I started working on canoes professionally.  That was 1991.  Teaching work never did materialize in any meaningful way, and the canoe work just kept coming.  I went full time in 1995 and haven't been without work since.

The work that Red River Canoe & Paddle does is divided between canoe repair, new canoe building, and paddle making.  I also do a variety of composite work, special projects such as a Dragonboat or the Klondike canoe.  I made the decision long ago not to get into mass production.  I found that work was more interesting and rewarding, and I met nicer people, when I am doing custom work.

I hope that you enjoy reading through my web pages.  I've worked hard to ensure that it is accurate and answers your potential questions.  I've tried to imagine what I would want to see If I were shopping for a new canoe or a paddle.

Doug with the shop cat.