The town of Ladysmith, British Columbia on Vancouver Island is apparently trying to attract boatbuilders to move there & set up shop (someone from there posted on another boat building forum I frequent).

Wilderness is quite close at hand, amazing coastal paddling right there I'm sure, with thousands of miles of coastline extending beyond the area, and many inland lakes not far away either. Lots of wales and other wildlife there too. Plus, the coastal areas of Vancouver Island don't know the meaning of winter. University of Victoria is not far away and Vancouver (with UBC & Simon Fraser Univ, and Orca Boats) is only a ferry passage away.

Oh yeah, one more thing - CEDAR! Lots & lots of cedar.

For more about area paddling, http://westcoastpaddler.com/ seems to be a pretty good resource.

Cheers,
Bryan

p.s. I was going to try to convince you to move up here to Saskatchewan but the whole less winter thing sorta conflicts with that move.