'new' Bell Morningstar

[Tsuga8]

@BobMills did you ever move forward with your modifications?

I've paddled my Morningstar a bit more now, and have decided that I'm too short (5'6") to make good use of the center seat with the hull width there. I've soloed it a bit sitting in the bow seat facing backwards and feel like the boat performs well enough that way. I plan to remove the center seat and maybe even the stern seat to reduce weight. If I get really crazy I might try to take the bow seat off the sliding track and just hard mount it. I suspect I need to put in a thwart where the stern seat is for structural rigidity, maybe using the forward holes to try to center it along the length of the keel.

Hopefully a rear thwart and center yoke, along with the bow seat, is enough structural integrity for a 15'6" composite boat? Thoughts, anyone?

 

[Alan Gage]

Hopefully a rear thwart and center yoke, along with the bow seat, is enough structural integrity for a 15'6" composite boat? Thoughts, anyone?

I'd say that will be plenty strong.

Since it's an asymmetrical hull have you considered removing the front and center seats and then adjusting the position of the rear seat forward? This would be the same effective position as paddling in the bow seat backwards but the rocker would not be reversed.

Alan

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Tsuga8, did you ever do anything about the dry inside kev layer? I think this has been suggested as a treatment for "Bell blush" and should be good for that starved inner layer as well.

System Three Clear Coat

My primary poling canoe is a Millbrook Coho. I ordered it without seats, and it weighs just over 40 lbs empty. When I want to paddle it, I use this.


It just happens to wedge perfectly out of the way under the yoke when I'm not using it. And when I am using it, my weight and the texture of the floor keep it from moving around. I have no desire to ever mount a seat in that boat.

By the way - I am in need of a pole racing slalom boat that's a whitewater boat, highly rockered and snub-nosed and wanting to turn on a dime. If you ever decide to unload that Souhegan, we should talk.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Tsuga8, did you ever do anything about the dry inside kev layer? I think this has been suggested as a treatment for "Bell blush" and should be good for that starved inner layer as well.

System Three Clear Coat

Would that System Three epoxy be UV resistant? If not, you'd also probably have to slather varnish all over the canoe's interior, both the epoxy and varnish adding weight. Bell blush can be removed weightlessly with acetone, until it happens again.

I use Flood Penetrol on the outside and inside of my Bell canoe, which is a quick wipe-on/wipe-off procedure. The protection lasts about a season.

 

[Black_Fly]

I’d fill the gaps, sand smooth and call it good. Nice canoe. Please post a photo of the soloized version.

 

[Tsuga8]

Since it's an asymmetrical hull have you considered removing the front and center seats and then adjusting the position of the rear seat forward? This would be the same effective position as paddling in the bow seat backwards but the rocker would not be reversed.

A good point in theory, but I wonder how much difference it would make in practice. The rocker is an inch different according to these old specs, but since at this point I'm mostly planning on using the boat for solo day outings, often with pole, sometimes with mutt, it's likely it will be out of level trim for much of the time anyway. So I'm inclined to avoid drilling holes in thwarts at the moment. @Steve in Idaho 's pedestal might be a good solution, but the bow seat already provides some ability to adjust trim as is. I can move it about 2/3 of the way towards center and still kneel comfortably and feel like entrapment isn't an issue. Not the way to make the best use of a such a well-designed hull, I know.

As for the "Bell blush", I don't think I've heard that term before - what exactly does it refer to? I have to admit I haven't had time this year to do any of the maintenance discussed previously in the thread. Maybe I'll at least get to the wood work over the winter, but more pressing house projects keep getting in the way.

As for selling the Souhegan.... the Morningstar hull is in good enough shape that I can't bring myself to use it on my bony poling creek, and I actually managed to convince a couple friends (including a CT member) to come trying poling, so I've been using both the Souhegan and the Heron for moving-water poling this year. The Morningstar has been nice for swamps with variable depths - flatwater poling and paddling. But, if I do get a mind to sell the Souhegan, I'll be sure to let you know, @Steve in Idaho ! Meanwhile I should probably figure out how to maintain the hull, as it's picked up plenty of superficial scratches while I learn what's really too shallow and what isn't. Do you do much maintenance on your Coho hull?