John and his wife Cindy became seriously interested in wooden boats in 1991 when they purchased a 1962, 25 ft. Chris-Craft. Although they had previously owned a few "plastic" boats, the Chris-Craft was their first wooden boat.

 

John, being a licenced carpenter and cabinet maker, has always found working with wood interesting, challenging, and rewarding. Mastering the restoration and construction of wooden boats vs. designing and building custom cabinetry became an easy and logical transition. This hobby quickly grew, and acquaintances who also had an interest in wooden boats started asking John to do repairs and restorations for them after they saw the completion of the Hendren's second wooden boat - Meandering On.

 

Since launching Meandering On, a 1935 Richardson, in June of 2000, the requests have been steady and continual. Retired from the Board of Education where he was a supervisor with the property department, John is now 'in the shop' full time, fulfilling his passion and instinctive creations with wood boats for personal and clients' use!

​

The Boat Shop recently proudly took over the reigns of new boat construction of Bear Mountain Boats' Sprint Racing Canoes.  

Bear Mountain Boats have been very involved in the making of these since 1979. The following announcement was made in the fall of 2022:

​

Bear Mountain Sprint Canoes has a new builder!

 

  There have been some pretty major changes around our workshop in 2022. After 40 years of building sprint canoes, it is time for Ted to pass on his molds to a younger builder... our friend John Hendren is the new builder of Bear Mountain Sprint Canoes. John is an old friend, excellent boat builder and very familiar with our building method, as he has helped Ted build sprint boats over the years. His company is located just outside of Peterborough, where Bear Mountain Boats was also previously located.

 

We would like to thank the sprint clubs for their loyalty in buying Bear Mountain canoes and to assure them that John Hendren (johnslittleboatshop.ca) will continue to build Bear Mountain C4’s and C15’s that will win races and make us all proud.