Narrowing a Tripper

[Tryin']

So I have this Old Town Tripper that developes a bad case of oil can whenever it is taken out on the water unloaded. This got worse and worse as my little son developed into a strapping young man and put more and more weight out in the bow. It is almost to the point of being hog-backed, so I pulled the barge out yesterday for some experimental medicine before deciding whether or not to keep her.

I figure that a tighter cross section will stiffen the bottom a bit, so I pulled the yoke, thwart, and seats to shorten them all up. I chopped the yoke by three inches and the rear thwart by 1.5 inches. This matched up with the gunnel width at the bow seat after being moved rearward by about 8 inches. It really brought in the sides, giving some tumblehome to the hull. The bottom now has the shallowest of arches instead of the flat to negative arch from before. It does look like I lost about a quarter inch of rocker out near the stems.

I drilled double holes for hardware in the thwart and yoke, which will hopefully stiffen things up even more. I haven't decided what to do about the rear seat yet. I have a much more comfortable unit laying around gathering dust. I'm thinking about moving it way up to about where the thwart used to be so the boat can be used solo. Moving it up with the bow seat moving back should even further reduce the tendency to oil can. If it doesn't work, I can sell it to someone who wants a project. The hull was creased (wrapped?) before I bought it, so I'm not desecrating some pristine piece.

Your thoughts?

I can get some more pictures if someone wants them for whatever reason.

 

[goonstroke]

Trippers have such classic lines. It seems like big royalex boats always oil can with 2 men and no gear in them. They were obviously designed to have a heavy wannigan and/or cooler of beer in the middle.

Have you thought about going with wood/webbing seats for both ends? Then you'd have more flexibility about placement. I've never been a fan of those hard plastic butt-sweat seats, although they are zero maintenance.

I'm curious how it paddles. In theory it should pick up more splashes with less flare, but maybe it had more than it needed.

 

[Tryin']

Trippers have such classic lines. It seems like big royalex boats always oil can with 2 men and no gear in them. They were obviously designed to have a heavy wannigan and/or cooler of beer in the middle.

Have you thought about going with wood/webbing seats for both ends? Then you'd have more flexibility about placement. I've never been a fan of those hard plastic butt-sweat seats, although they are zero maintenance.

I'm curious how it paddles. In theory it should pick up more splashes with less flare, but maybe it had more than it needed.

I have the one seat waiting on some hardware. If I like how it paddles, I may replace the bow seat as well. The flare at the stems didn't change very much, but I can see where chop spray might climb amidships with less trouble.

 

[CaptainOllieWest]

Interesting experiment. My Tripper wiggles a little too when unloaded. Mine is an early version with only one thwart/yoke. Please let us know how it performs.

 

[Tsuga8]

I'll be interested to hear how it paddles as well. My Rx Wenonah Heron oil cans like nobody's business unloaded. At 15 ft it has no thwarts. I shorted the yoke by I think an inch when I replaced it due to some rot, but couldn't tell the difference in performance. Three inches sounds like a lot though, so maybe it'll be better. I think the Heron has particularly thin Rx compard to my Penobscot - I'd almost be nervous to take 3 in off the yoke on the Old Town, for fear of ruining what I presume should be a manufacturer-optimized shape. But...why not?! Esp with a boat that's been wrapped before.

 

[Tryin']

I have taken it out a couple of time now. It is still a huge boat for one paddler, even if that paddler is equally huge. The drawn-in gunnels are easier to work around without sliding oneself all the way to the side of the canoe. The oil-canning is reduced significantly, and honestly it paddles quite nicely for being the biggest solo barge on the river. I wouldnt want to take it out in a good wind. I bet the draft is less than 4" at the keel, which makes gravel beds a non-issue. Plenty of room, that's for sure!