No advice is better than bad advice

[Mike McCrea]

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?

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Agree. It’s one thing for the OP to show what they are currently working on, right or wrongly done, but it’s quite another to tell someone looking for advice what they should do with no experience.

I have seen advice given to the unaware on other non-canoeing forums (engine building) that would have been costly and potentially dangerous.

Well intentioned suggestions or thinking out loud isn’t always helpful.

 

[Cruiser]

What i find annoying is when ppl who obviously don't know, post a response with far more certainty than the advice merits.

Also, those folks that post, seemingly, just to post "Never done that, good luck", "I haven't tried this, but yo could ......"

 

[yellowcanoe]

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?

That would be so funny if everyone understood how wrong that is.

 

[Tryin']

I usually cut mine into thirds to save even more freight...

 

[memaquay]

That pretty much describes every single Facebook group out there. On a winter camping facebook group, a fella was telling everyone that if they didnt have a carbon monoxide detector in a canvas tent with a wood stove, they would surely die. Several of us who have actually stayed in tents with stoves wrote in and told him it was not necessary, but if it makes you feel better, go for it. We were then accused of spreading fake news, or some such nonsense, and putting people in danger.

I asked him how he had arrived at his conclusion and he said "literally every single facebook group I belong to says to do that".

Therein is the problem, Facebook, and the newbs who believe the other newbs who pretend to be the experts.

 

[Mike McCrea]

I would love to hear that conversation when ordering replacement gunwales.

“I’d like to order a set of new aluminum gunwales”

“We have them in stock. Shipping will be $250”

“Please cut them in half for cheaper shipping”

Maybe it is the Dunning-Kruger Effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

 

[PaddlingPitt]

That pretty much describes every single Facebook group out there. On a winter camping facebook group, a fella was telling everyone that if they didnt have a carbon monoxide detector in a canvas tent with a wood stove, they would surely die. Several of us who have actually stayed in tents with stoves wrote in and told him it was not necessary, but if it makes you feel better, go for it. We were then accused of spreading fake news, or some such nonsense, and putting people in danger.

I asked him how he had arrived at his conclusion and he said "literally every single facebook group I belong to says to do that".

Therein is the problem, Facebook, and the newbs who believe the other newbs who pretend to be the experts.

I googled the following words: “canvas tent wood stove carbon monoxide poisoning” Pretty much all hits indicated that carbon monoxide poisonog was a significant concern, and that people should use co detectors. This surprised, in fact stunned me. People have been using canvas tents with wood stoves for a very long time. I have never heard of anyone suffering co poisoning. Perhaps it’s a functipn of our increasingly over-cautious age. It would be interesting to ask these FBs to provide specific examples. I think that most canvas tent set ups are not sufficiently air tight to trap enough co.
.

 

[scratchypants]

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?

I read your title wrong, as in: "There is no better advice than bad advice", in which case all of those Facebookista's would be right.

 

[Woodpuppy]

There have been a number of CO poisoning deaths in the news this past year, but iirc a propane stove in an un-vented test was the culprit. Ventilation is the solution.

On the cut down gunwales to shave shipping, that’s just pure genius

 

[PaddlingPitt]

There have been a number of CO poisoning deaths in the news this past year, but iirc a propane stove in an un-vented test was the culprit. Ventilation is the solution.

On the cut down gunwales to shave shipping, that’s just pure genius

I read one article on tent safety and CO poisoning that recommended that you should never go to sleep in your canvas tent while the wood stove is still going. Rather, wait until the stove has gone out, and then go to bed. This suggestion essentially blows the whole rationale of wood stoves and hot tents clean out of the water. I‘m thinking that the author of this advice has never camped out at -35 C (-31F) as Kathleen and I have done on numerous occasions.

 

[Mike McCrea]

“I read your title wrong, as in: "There is no better advice than bad advice", in which case all of those Facebookista's would be right”

While I agree that “Good judgment comes from experience”, that experience doesn’t need to come from bad advice.

 

[alsg]

Just run the cut aluminum gunnel through your industrial extruder to bring it back to full length.

 

[sweeper]

“Please cut them in half for cheaper shipping”

and could you cut with a 'Scarf Joint'

 

[jffdejongh]

Just run the cut aluminum gunnel through your industrial extruder to bring it back to full length

Or maybe you can buy the dehydrated gunwales and then just add water when you've received them.

 

[alsg]

Or maybe you can buy the dehydrated gunwales and then just add water when you've received them.

Hmmmm, Mike's got that aluminum powder already so worth a try!