Composite Bloodvein build

[Alan Gage]

Trip is less that 2 weeks away and I finally finished up (most) of the final touches. Varnished the exterior and trim, tie down points, and hull lacing. The varnish has finally sat long enough that I can get it back out on the water again. Took it out on the river tonight for the first time in about 3 weeks. Feels great.

20160717_008 by Alan, on Flickr

20160717_009 by Alan, on Flickr

Many of the tie downs are just to hold Sadie's foam pads in place via the method Peach mentioned about holding his kneeling pads in place.

20160717_010 by Alan, on Flickr

I added hard plastic tubing to the inside of the hull lacing. This keeps the cord away from the hull a little so it should be easier to thread the hole.

20160717_012 by Alan, on Flickr

I decided to do a partial front splash deck and full rear deck to keep the packs dry in the rain, keep paddle drips off the front pack, and hopefully provide better performance in the wind. The logical choice would be to tie into the hull lacing that's already present but unfortunately the lacing is too high up the hull to make that feasible. So I think I'll drill another set of holes and move it down. Hopefully they'll be done by the end of the week.

Alan

 

[latremorej]

Looking forward to seeing what you work out for the spray decks! I've said it before, you do nice work Alan.

Jason

 

[Alan Gage]

Trying to finish up all the last minute things. Hull lacing has been moved down to accommodate attachments for the spray decks; which have also been completed (thanks Mom!):

20160724_005 by Alan, on Flickr

There's even a porch for Sadie:

20160724_002 by Alan, on Flickr

Covering the 60L barrel in the stern:

20160724_003 by Alan, on Flickr

These aren't heavy duty or intended to fend off dumping waves. I mostly wanted them to keep the front pack dry from paddle trips and both packs (as well as the inside of the canoe) mostly dry from rain. Hoping the rear skirt will help in the wind as well. For that reason I used lightweight cloth (1.6oz SilPoly) and bungees with clips to attach to the existing hull lacing. I think it will work fine for the intended purpose.

20160724_004 by Alan, on Flickr

I also made a contoured carbon over foam yoke. The whole thing, with hardware, weighs just over 1.5lbs. Feels pretty comfy but I think I'm going to need to add some foam padding to keep it that way for longer carries. I painted it white so that it would be easier to find when it gets away and is floating down the river.

20160722_002 by Alan, on Flickr

20160723_004 by Alan, on Flickr

I need to make a list of what else needs to be done in the next 5 days. Should be pretty short; at least I hope it's pretty short!

Alan

 

[Guest]

Trying to finish up all the last minute things. Hull lacing has been moved down to accommodate attachments for the spray decks; which have also been completed

Covering the 60L barrel in the stern


These aren't heavy duty or intended to fend off dumping waves. I mostly wanted them to keep the front pack dry from paddle trips and both packs (as well as the inside of the canoe) mostly dry from rain. Hoping the rear skirt will help in the wind as well. For that reason I used lightweight cloth (1.6oz SilPoly) and bungees with clips to attach to the existing hull lacing. I think it will work fine for the intended purpose.


I also made a contoured carbon over foam yoke. The whole thing, with hardware, weighs just over 1.5lbs. Feels pretty comfy but I think I'm going to need to add some foam padding to keep it that way for longer carries. I painted it white so that it would be easier to find when it gets away and is floating down the river.


I need to make a list of what else needs to be done in the next 5 days. Should be pretty short; at least I hope it's pretty short!

Alan, wonderful outfitting touches; undergunwale lacing tie downs, Sadie pad keepers and especially the partial covers.

I think you will be happy with the partial covers and Sadie front porch. Having the food barrel covered, even given it’s waterproofieness, makes for a nice sun beaten heat shield. Trapping the cooler-than-air water temps under the covers works for me and I especially like the functionality of your light colored fabric, far more than my hull matching green or red.

The white painted hi-visibility yoke is a good idea. Black or dark colored gear have their hard to see issues, whether floating away post capsize or even just spotting them in camp . Maybe add some Hi-Intensity reflective tape to the yoke. And slap some on the stems of that hard to spot black boat.

That reflective tape application a 60 second task at most, and for finding a food barrel in dusk or dawn light, or just shining a flashlight on the yup-it’s-still-there canoe during some 2am out of tent windstorm check is a comfort.

I guess I need to start reading Sleeping Island.

Edit: I presume the two loops on the near edge of the center partial are to restrain your map case. Nice touch. Maybe a spare paddle pocket and velcro strap on the stern cover?

 

[Mihun09]

I suppose it is easier when you take something you personally built and drill a whole bunch of holes in it...

Do you have time to fill the old unwanted holes higher up?

 

[Alan Gage]

Do you have time to fill the old unwanted holes higher up?

Yes, but I'm not going to.

It wouldn't be a big deal but it was another iron in the already full fire. I realized having those holes there wouldn't hurt anything that that just maybe I'd find a reason to take advantage of them. I've already put the front ones to use by reversing the lacing pattern and putting D-rings on the inside for multiple front sail attachment points.

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

Spray decks, will also keep the snow from accumulating ! ​ Hope you won't have that to deal with !!!

I think they look great, as well as serve their function ! At a portage you shouldn't need to totally remove to load and unload gear. Like !

Are you comfortable with the waterproofness of the lacing ?

The adjustability of the yoke on the gunnel should make it useable for other things. Another Like !

Guessing the count down has started !

Good luck Alan !!!

Jim

 

[Iskweo]

Good job Alan. Looks like it will be just the ticket for this adventure.

Christy

 

[dogbrain]

Alan, nice looking decks. I've been drilling holes in my Kite recently too. It's a little painful at first, but once you get started it's fun. I was also thinking of using the 1.6oz sil-polyester for a wind/spray deck. I like the idea of poly since it doesn't stretch when wet and seems to be more UV resistant than nylon.

Mark

 

[Guest]

I was also thinking of using the 1.6oz sil-polyester for a wind/spray deck. I like the idea of poly since it doesn't stretch when wet and seems to be more UV resistant than nylon.

The choice between nylon and poly may be dictated to some degree by the attachment method used for the spray decks.

With a bungee & hook method such as Alan used, similar to the Northwater system, poly works well. The bungee provides for attachment adjustability or gear loads above the gunwales.

For snaps or other fixed attachment methods the sag of damp nylon may be preferable. Cook Custom Sewing uses nylon with rivet snaps and if the necessary precision of the initial male/female snap placement is a bit off, or the gear load protrudes above the gunwales, the nylon can be wetted out before the cover goes on to provide a bit of slop.

I have CCS covers on a couple of canoes, and in low humidity conditions or with high gear loads I need to dunk the spray cover stuff bag in the river and put the covers on with the nylon saggy. When the CCS covers dry they are tight as a drum. Bounce a quarter drum tight can be disconcerting if there is anything shaped sharp or pointy protruding above the sheerline.

Bungee and hooks are easier on/off, snaps leave the outside of the hull cleaner, without the hooks and cord exposed.

On DIY covers I have stayed with snaps, mostly because I had the snaps and modified rivet gun, while telling myself that system was less likely to get snagged while navigating some narrow twisty creek or to bring me to an unexpected halt while portaging through the bush with the covers in place.

In real world use I doubt there is much functional difference. Either system if properly designed will shed rain and provide shade inside the hull (an advantage I have come to appreciate on blazing sun trips).

I have no experience with the bungee and hook style covers in wave shedding. The CCS snap covers are pretty tight against the hull even when saggy wet, and I have plowed the bow of the Wenonah Wilderness through some standing waves with little forced flood leakage.

 

[Alan Gage]

Put on the final touches the other night. She's as ready as she'll ever be. Final weight was 43 pounds.

A few more hours of frantic packing and we hope to hit the road.

20160729_001 by Alan, on Flickr

20160729_002 by Alan, on Flickr

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

Hoping it makes it back looking that good ! Alan.
​The Graphics are Awesome !

Jim

 

[latremorej]

Looks good! Enjoy your trip, I'll be here patiently awaiting the trip report and pics

Jason

 

[Alan Gage]

I was a bit worried about the boat going into our big trip this summer/fall. It was bigger water (both lakes and rivers) than I'd originally designed it for and we were carrying 2 extra weeks' worth of food. It was noticeably a little piggish at the start of the trip but it performed very well overall. I was also a little concerned the layup might not be tough enough but, from what I could tell, it was about perfect. It's nowhere near as stiff as a woodstrip hull; probably close to the feel of Royalex. It was stiff enough not to oil can when paddling but deflected nicely when hitting rocks, which happened plenty. I was pretty tough on the old girl. She got drug over a lot of rocks as we lined our way up rapids and on days when I wanted to keep my boots mostly dry I'd load her up on the rocks along shore and then skid her into the water before stepping in. The result is that below the water line it's pretty much one giant scratch. But while some made it to the cloth none of them made it through. The dynel skid plates performed great.

The only change I made to this version of the boat was to add just a little rocker and soften the stems. It was a good design change; the biggest benefit being it was much more forgiving when crossing eddylines going upstream. The lighter weight (6 pounds) was welcome on the portages, especially at the end of a long day.

I would have preferred a higher volume boat for the large open water waves and big rapids but I knew those limitations going in. The original plan was to design a higher volume boat for this trip but when the trip got moved up by a year on short notice the Bloodvein was conscripted for the task. She did a great job and got us through some tough situations.

20161017_002 by Alan, on Flickr

20161017_001 by Alan, on Flickr

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

That is NASTY looking !

​ I remember adding powdered Graphite, from System Three to their Clear Coat resin to fill the weave on the bottoms of a few boats. While it provided scratch protection, it would bubble if left out in the hot Summer sun light for a month, as a friend found out !
That steared me away from it. I still have a few hulls with it on. It does slide over rocks much better than plain varnish coated epoxy !

​ Dynel, plus some Graphite mixed resin as a fill coat might be worthy of consideration.

Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

Good looking boat Alan!! A boat that have stories!! Good for you the build such a great boat that serve the purpose and more and to show that composite boats are not to fragile for the task!! And that you don't need Royalex to run rapids, and hit rocks!!

 

[dogbrain]

Alan, my Kite is pretty scratched up too after this summer, but not as bad as your boat. That's exactly how my dynel stems look after a month of being sanded down on the shield rock. Varnish and epoxy gone, but dynel perfectly intact. After a few weeks out I took a close look at the dynel and after that was much less kind to my canoe. I did manage to take a chip of epoxy and dynel out of the front above the waterline though.

Mark

 

[Jim Dodd]

One thing about those pics ! They really define where the wear is !

 

[Muskrat]

I went out poling on a local creek today. Scratches are a fact of life, but your pictures make me feel better after looking at the fresh scratches on the bottom while I was loading mine back on the truck. The beauty of building them is we know how to fix em! Remind me of your layup again. Looks like it served you well.

 

[lowangle al]

20161017_002 by Alan, on Flickr


It's a good thing only the first one hurts. I try to be kind to my boats but not at the expense of my back.