Thanks Glenn! Sounds like a plan.
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Mad River TW Special Resurrection
- Thread starter Cheeseandbeans
- Start date
I installed these two inch spacers I made from the scraps when I made the trusses. That puts the bottom of the seat 9”s from the V in the hull. I am able to get my usual tripping boots out fairly easy when on pads/floor. I will adjust as needed after a water test. Thanks Glenn and Mike.
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“I installed these two inch spacers I made from the scraps when I made the trusses. That puts the bottom of the seat 9”s from the V in the hull. I am able to get my usual tripping boots out fairly easy when on pads/floor. I will adjust as needed after a water test”
I like the idea of installing (temporary) peg drops for test paddling, trimming and/or canting before install truss drops, and copying from the satisfactorily sized pegs. I don’t know how much shorter you can cut or reshape the truss drops you made, you can probably get away with an inch off the top and an inch off the bottom, going from 4” drops to 2” drops.
Full truss drops on a sturdy bench seat are almost like having 10” a wide thwart, they add rigidity along the sheerline and can’t wobble or sway as much as peg drops (not good for the hardware, or the holes). That could only be a good thing on a wood railed composite canoe.
We have truss or “half-truss” drops on most of our canoes. My son pinned our Freedom Solo, which has truss drops and a wider utility thwart. The FS has a small pin wrinkle on one chine, but it would have suffered much worse, or folded, with those extra lateral supports.
Full trusses are a bit tricky to get DIY cut and angled correctly, but for someone like me with limited woodworking skill, “half-truss” drops are almost as easy as pegs. Half-truss drops can be made dressier than a simple \_/ with some curves.
These are cut from dimensional 2 ½” and 3 ½” boards (the middle row are kneeling thwart drops).
P6263768 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
With \_/ or “Lazy S” curve wedges each cut forms the upside down start of the next, with no wasted wood.
I have the pattern for the Lazy-S shape saved in 2 ½” and 3 ½” depths; that repeatable curve was dang tricky to figure out.
If those Lazy-S drops are of interest to anyone let me know and I’ll stick templates for both depths in an envelope. Dimensional lumber easy to DIY, easy to custom trim or cant, and easier to drill individually than a full truss.
Trim the wide ends that goes under the inwale to desired depth; the short end is essentially seat frame width.
I like the idea of installing (temporary) peg drops for test paddling, trimming and/or canting before install truss drops, and copying from the satisfactorily sized pegs. I don’t know how much shorter you can cut or reshape the truss drops you made, you can probably get away with an inch off the top and an inch off the bottom, going from 4” drops to 2” drops.
Full truss drops on a sturdy bench seat are almost like having 10” a wide thwart, they add rigidity along the sheerline and can’t wobble or sway as much as peg drops (not good for the hardware, or the holes). That could only be a good thing on a wood railed composite canoe.
We have truss or “half-truss” drops on most of our canoes. My son pinned our Freedom Solo, which has truss drops and a wider utility thwart. The FS has a small pin wrinkle on one chine, but it would have suffered much worse, or folded, with those extra lateral supports.
Full trusses are a bit tricky to get DIY cut and angled correctly, but for someone like me with limited woodworking skill, “half-truss” drops are almost as easy as pegs. Half-truss drops can be made dressier than a simple \_/ with some curves.
These are cut from dimensional 2 ½” and 3 ½” boards (the middle row are kneeling thwart drops).
P6263768 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrWith \_/ or “Lazy S” curve wedges each cut forms the upside down start of the next, with no wasted wood.
I have the pattern for the Lazy-S shape saved in 2 ½” and 3 ½” depths; that repeatable curve was dang tricky to figure out.
If those Lazy-S drops are of interest to anyone let me know and I’ll stick templates for both depths in an envelope. Dimensional lumber easy to DIY, easy to custom trim or cant, and easier to drill individually than a full truss.
Trim the wide ends that goes under the inwale to desired depth; the short end is essentially seat frame width.
Test paddle went well today. Paddled about a mile in calm conditions. Stability was good, seat heights were fine, and no oil canning. The hull has great glide and felt fast. We hit a couple boat wakes and barely felt them. I am overall very happy. I don’t know if I will get to the permanent trusses by the time we leave in a couple weeks, but there is no lateral movement in the seats so should be fine. I still need to trim and cap some screws, attach some pad eyes for painter bungees and back support- for me anyway, and glue some pads. I will finish the outfitting this summer.
Very nice job! I'm happy to see that old relic brought back to life! With two paddlers at a good pace that hull is a rocket! Not so good at fast turns but a nice ride. Two thumbs up to you!
Thank you Doug. It was a fun project and I got a great canoe out of it. Thank you Matt and all that helped with suggestions and support.
