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Posted on another board is response to a question about replacement gunwales: Shipping gunwales in the mail is difficult because they are so long. You can make wood ones. You can order vinyl or aluminum ones cut in half. WTF?

Liberty was my thought as well. I tend not to put a lot of stock in folks ability to use a tape measure correctly, but the kevlar Guide was 14’ 9”, 29 ½” at the gunwales and 43 lbs. The kevlar Courier was 14’ 7”, 32” at the gunwales and 45lbs. Give the listed dimensions maybe a Liberty; 14’...

It was time to reinstall the last of the brightwork. The bow seat, like the stern, had long ago* received the same crude webbing attachments. Apparently high quality webbing, cluelessly installed using brass brads holding the webbing in place. I tapped those brads firmly back in place, and added...

FWIW specification wise the Mad River “Trailblazer” was a special edition tie in with the Chevy Trailblazer. MRC wasn’t designing a new canoe and making a new mold just for a briefly offered commemorative canoe, so the Trailblazer was simply a rebadged Tahoe 14, one of Mad River’s “Sporting...

In the too-late-now realm, should you ever do more glass and epoxy work, release treated peel ply, laid atop the wet epoxy and lightly compressed, will eliminate 90% of the subsequent sanding work. With the use of peel ply a quick buzz with 220 is all that is needed for a topcoat. In end...

I have pulled in the gunwales on several canoes, mostly 16’ RX tandems I was soloizing, so that the gunwale width at center was reduced a bit for easier paddle strokes. I can confirm that reducing the gunwale width at center by two or even three inches did nothing to the hull speed except for...

Nice save, despite some early miscues. Do you have a painting plan or outfitting intentions?

YARR needed a little more cushion for the pushin’, or at least for heel resting. With thin water shoes, or summer barefoot, Royalex is a hard surface when resting my heels for long hours, and even light pressure on a foot brace makes it worse still. Some exercise flooring will serve as durable...

Brightwork reinstallation. With multiple coats of urethane on the stern seat and drops that brightwork could be reinstalled. Before the reinstall I installed loose “pad keeper straps” around seat the frame, and paid attention to which drops went where this time; I didn’t want to pull a Glenn and...

While I was making shop dust I wanted some plastic flanges to reduce the size of the hawser holes in the stems. I did not drill those oversized holes, and the massive bow rope loops, knotted inside the hull, were possibly Dreamboat or original owner installed. That was some beastly and long...

Stern seat cant correction and back band attachments Before proceeding any further the reverse cant angle of that stern seat needed to be corrected; 20 years of discomfort was enough. The long drops I had originally made proved to be, uh, jeeze, a whopping ¾” too long. Cut down to proper size...

I think I have a model ID on YARR. A first glance comment from an old school paddler – “That looks a lot like my ‘80’s Old Town Kennebec”. Not a lot of Kennebec photos or specs on the net, but yeah, kinda ‘80’s old school this...

As with the OOSOBO rebuild I needed to make another aluminum L-bracket and telescoping bar foot brace, adjustable old school style with wing nuts. I have 40” of aluminum L left; rather than have wastage I’ll cut that into four 10” lengths and make an extra set of foot brace side rails. 10”...

Regarding used composite canoes I have missed a couple incredible deals in just the past few months. A kevlar Souris River Quetico 16. Dimensionally almost identical to my beloved big boy tripper, a soloized Penobscot 16, but 20+ lbs lighter. It was significantly under priced and needed no...

I gave it a shot going upstream through a stretch of shallows, including ascending, or at least attempting to ascend, one rocky riffle. The push poles seemed to be a good length, but a couple things were quickly apparent. Macfarlane’s Lutra or Sylva are 30” wide at gunwales and the soloized...

Lots of outfitting still to do. Knee bumpers, but I have readymade minicel pieces (thanks as always Conk) for the bow and stern seats. With YARR on the shop floor pad and a sitter testing knee spread on the bow and stern seats there was, as expected, no decrease in width needed, so just a...

Tristan, I think I noticed something unusual about the canoe; whoever installed the kevlar felt skid plates kit appears to have put them on backwards, with the wider, more bulbous end high on the stems and the narrow tapered ends towards midships. Never seen that before either. I’m not sure I...

“What holes in particular are you talking about? The ones on the ends of the stems? Those are the only holes that I see that would likely reach the foam core. I'm certain that your eye sees something that I don't” The big drilled holes in the stems are (old school were) a different way of...

“McCrae well remebers the (wrong) aluminum gunwales Mad River sent me for the Fantasy. MR shipped them to a local canoe shop with a load of their canoes, and I imagine Wenonah will do the same. The shipping was free. I ordered through the local shop (Springriver, now defunct). I don’t think...

“I remember Dave Curtis (Hemlock Canoe) telling me he priced used boats at 60% of retail and slightly more for excellent condition” That is essentially the same cost at which I price used boats for sale, although usually 2/3 the retail cost for the year it was manufactured. With the caveat that...