Seat and thwarts in a solo canoe

[Glenn MacGrady]

My suggestion: Find the empty canoe trim spot with a water puddle and then relocate that puddle while on a temporary movable seat. Thusly:

1. Put the thwarts in position. Take out the tandem seats or leave them in, however you're going to paddle it.

2. Float the empty canoe in shallow water. Pour a glass of water in the bottom. Wherever it puddles is the center of buoyancy of the empty canoe. Mark the center of that puddle with a pen or marker.

3. Get in the canoe on some sort of temporary movable seat (e.g., milk crate). Sit or kneel, whichever you mostly do. Pour a glass of water in the bottom. Move your temporary seat fore and aft until the puddle is centered on the mark.

4. Put the permanent seat at the location of the temporary seat.

This procedure should cause your canoe to be trimmed precisely at the empty canoe's design waterline when you are positioned on your solo seat. Of course, once you add an ounce of gear in front or behind you, you'll go out of trim, but c'est le canoë.

 

[Will Derness]

Wherever it puddles is the center of buoyancy of the empty canoe.

I've never used this technique but I like the elegant simplicity of it. I'm curious about several things. For a symmetrical hull wouldn't that puddle be centered at the carry yoke? If not, is there a lot of variability amongst canoes where the COB is located? If you lived next to body of water, this would be easy and fun to play with - take the whole fleet to the waters edge.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Originally posted by Glenn MacGrady

Wherever it puddles is the center of buoyancy of the empty canoe.

I've never used this technique but I like the elegant simplicity of it. I'm curious about several things. For a symmetrical hull wouldn't that puddle be centered at the carry yoke? If not, is there a lot of variability amongst canoes where the COB is located?

The carry thwart on any canoe would be placed at the upside-down canoe's center of gravity (COG). I'd guess for most traditionally shaped hulls the center of buoyancy (COB) of an empty hull would be just about under a properly balanced carry thwart. However, if the thwart or seats are moved or removed, that will change the canoe's COG and the original carry thwart position may not quite be at the COG balance point anymore. In that case, the COB may be further from the carry thwart position than originally.

As a paddler moves fore and aft or heels the canoe, the COG of the canoe+paddler mass will move, and the COB will also move so it remains directly under the changing COG of the canoe+paddler. What my method tries to do is to make sure that the COG of the empty canoe+paddler is in such a position that the COB, directly under the COG, will be in the same place as it was with an empty canoe -- and that the empty canoe+paddler, therefore, will be trimmed on the design waterline.

What happens when you move the canoe+paddler COG farther aft, such as by paddling from the bow seat backwards or -- good golly, Miss Molly -- from the stern seat? The COB will move under the new COG, but the waterline of the canoe will bear no resemblance to that designed, after long and expert effort, by Henry Rushton, Mike Galt, Dave Yost or John Winters. The bow will elevate and the canoe will plow through the water on some sort of misshapen Frankenstein waterline, designed by no one. Not very efficient. This is one of the arguments in favor of a centralized solo seat.

QUIZ: If you move from kneeling off the front of a central solo seat to sitting on it with your legs extended, will your COG move fore or aft? Stated differently, will the bow go down or up?

 

[lowangle al]

Typically going from kneeling to sitting shifts my COG aft, but by sitting towards the leading edge of the seat and shifting weight onto your feet you can bring your trim back to where it was while kneeling.

 

[Guest]

The carry thwart on any canoe would be placed at the upside-down canoe's center of gravity (COG). I'd guess for most traditionally shaped hulls the center of buoyancy (COB) of an empty hull would be just about under a properly balanced carry thwart. However, if the thwart or seats are moved or removed, that will change the canoe's COG and the original carry thwart position may not quite be at the COG balance point anymore. In that case, the COB may be further from the carry thwart position than originally.

When I am working on rehabbing or retrofitting a canoe the last thing I do, after the seat(s) and drops, thwarts, carry handles, bungee, minicel, webbing loops, D-rings, usual painter line lengths affixed, and 3oz Dynel skid plates have been installed is to hang the canoe from a single webbing strap and mark the exact balance point for a yoke or strap yoke.

PC170120 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Suspended from the hook on the hanging Taylor scale that also gives me a final outfitted weight. Now if I could just remember to weigh the canoes before starting the outfitting. Hey look, we did remember to weigh that Freedom Solo before commencing outfitting; I'm like three for twenty in remembering.

What happens when you move the canoe+paddler COG farther aft, such as by paddling from the bow seat backwards or -- good golly, Miss Molly -- from the stern seat? The COB will move under the new COG, but the waterline of the canoe will bear no resemblance to that designed, after long and expert effort, by Henry Rushton, Mike Galt, Dave Yost or John Winters. The bow will elevate and the canoe will plow through the water on some sort of misshapen Frankenstein waterline, designed by no one. Not very efficient. This is one of the arguments in favor of a centralized solo seat.

That does of course overlook trimming the canoe with the gear load when tripping. I wonder how folks prefer their canoes trimmed, excluding moving gear to be a bit more bow light in a tailwind/more neutral into a headwind, etc.

I prefer my canoes, with just me and a light dayload of gear, to be trimmed just a touch bow light. Not misshapen Frankenstein waterline with three feet of bow sticking out of the water, but just a little, an amount I can compensate for when desired by moving a single pack.

Other factors, like using a downwind sail towards the bow or always paddling with a dog up front, matter in solo seat placement.

I wonder as well about the design philosophy of different manufacturers regarding seat placement and hull trim. Some Wenonah solos seem to have the seat nearer to center hull. Other solo canoes, for design specific purposes, have the seat well aft, like the Nova Craft Super Nova.

One of our pollsters should ask:
“Where do you prefer a solo seat for hull trim?”
Bow heavy (0%?)
Neutral
A little bow light
A lot bow light
Depends on the canoe
I use a sliding seat

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

That does of course overlook trimming the canoe with the gear load when tripping.

I have excluded gear load from my method of trimming a solo paddled canoe onto the design waterline, for the simple reason that paddling empty on day trips is the way I use my solo canoes the vast majority of time. Yes, I do carry a small day pack that I can shift around on day trips, so I'm never perfectly on the design waterline, but no one ever is.

Sure, you could position the solo seat such that the canoe is trimmed on the waterline, or slightly bow light if that's your preference, with a typical load included. But who has a "typical load" most of the time a canoe is used? I mean, every pack would have to be exactly the same, in the same place, with the same weight. So would every cooler, food pack, photography kit, beer stash, and dog (which would have to be anesthetized so it doesn't move). Maybe some paddlers have such an an exactly identical gear load and placement most of the times they paddle a canoe. For them, placing a solo seat with the puddle method perhaps should be done with that exact load in the canoe.

But again, for me, the most common use of my solo canoes is to be paddled (almost) empty. So, that's the load condition I trim for. Yes, I might go slightly bow light to compensate for the day bag that is usually in front of me. Marc Ornstein used to have his day bag on a rope so he could toss it on the fly into the bow or stern to make subtle adjustments to trim. That also is the virtue of a sliding solo seat.

When I load my solo canoe for the much less common big overnight trip, I, like most trippers, try to equalize the fore and aft loads as much as possible. My SRT's adjustable (but not sliding) seat helps that process.

(P.S. to Mike McCrea: Your new font style is sensuous but too small, in my possibly unbalanced opinion.)

 

[ppine]

For portaging a solo canoe the balance point is important. I paddle empty sometimes, but often do overnight trips and use the dunnage and my dog to trim the boat. Into the wind I want the bow heavy. For big wave trains, I want the gear moved amidships as far as possible. I sometimes use my well trained Border Collie to fine tune the trim.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I sometimes use my well trained Border Collie to fine tune the trim.

Good idea. And he or she can even make a puddle if you want to check your trim with that method.

 

[Guest]

I have excluded gear load from my method of trimming a solo paddled canoe onto the design waterline, for the simple reason that paddling empty on day trips is the way I use my solo canoes the vast majority of time. Yes, I do carry a small day pack that I can shift around on day trips, so I'm never perfectly on the design waterline, but no one ever is.


But again, for me, the most common use of my solo canoes is to be paddled (almost) empty.

Glenn, we have very different strokes in day paddling gear. I’m trying to remember the last time I day paddled with minimal gear in the canoe. Probably when base camped on a lake, heading out briefly to paddle around a nearby point, ISO firewood. Even then I have my essentials bag, which contains the Silky saw and etc, plus a spare paddle and canteen. Maybe a beer in the canoe console. OK, not “maybe”, sawing wood is thirsty work and deserves a reward.

Throw bag always, it accessibly clipped around the stern thwart, even on solo lake trips. I have twice wanted a throw rope on essentially flatwater day trips and not had one. Never again, it is easier to always, always bring it.

More typically on an actual daytrip:
Spare paddle, and a short push pole closet rod for shallows
Essentials bag (saw, suntan lotion, bug spray, flashlight, sunglasses, pipe & tobacco, etc)
Throw Rope
Canteens, usually two, in the minicel “console”
Small cooler with food/beverages (insulated 20L dry bag in a day pack)
Back band & seat pad
Small dry bag with spare clothes (unless it is 95F, sometimes even then – I like dry clothes)
Camera
Downwind sail on lakes, bays or wide rivers
Bailer & sponge, add bilge pump in the decked canoes
Map/map case, even on familiar waters

It is usually the same stuff and same-ish weight, give or take a few ounces. I don’t pre-trim the seat position for a day paddling gear load, some stuff goes up front, some behind, some between my legs, habitually loaded in the same locations.

At times it seems a crazy amount of gear for a day trip; as much weight and volume as someone like Conk carries on multi-day pond hopping trips.

Or not; most of the friends I day paddle with carry much the same, some more. Some much more; folding table, gourmet lunch and large cooler with enough tasty food and drink for everyone. Salads and pastas need bowls and forks, and that pasta pairs well with this wine. Try this pickled asparagus.

Willie, Tom and etc, y’all know who you are, and I thank you. dang pickled asparagus is tasty, what are those spices? Please Sir, may I have another?

(P.S. to Mike McCrea: Your new font style is sensuous but too small, in my possibly unbalanced opinion.)

I have tried several different fonts and font sizes since the last forum update, and every one, cut and pasted from Word, came out tiny. An Arial font seems to do the trick.

As a test, how sensuous is this (cut and pasted in 8pt Arial)
Test: Getting Glenn unbalanced with arousal.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

All this talk about gear is a complete distraction from the simple questions of: Where is the optimal position for a centralized solo seat? How do you get it at that position?

The optimal position is the one that keeps the canoe on the design waterline (of the empty canoe) when the paddler is kneeling or sitting in his or her most usual position. I consider this principle to be inarguable, and it's the one that I believe all custom and mass manufacturers of solo canoes follow.

The harder question is how, practically, does one determine that optimal position. Canoe makers and paddlers have come up with several methods to answer that. Here they are:

1. The mass market arbitrary rule method. There are two I know of:

(a) An arbitrary number of inches aft of the COG of the canoe (determined by hanging the canoe), usually between 6"-10" aft.

(b) The torso method: The most protruding part of the average torso, whether chest or belly, should be just touching the plane of the COG when the paddler is kneeling or sitting.

2. The customized to an individual paddler's body method. Again two:

(a) Using a water puddle as I've described above.

(b) Using a small bubble level. Attach a very small bubble level to the inwale of the canoe at center, so that the bubble is leveled when the empty canoe is floating on its design waterline. When installing the center seat, move the temporary seat (milk crate) fore and aft until the bubble is leveled. Put the permanent seat there.

3. Mark the bow with a trim line when the canoe is floating empty on still water. Some manufacturers do this. Move the temporary seat fore and aft until the bow trim line is level with the water. This method requires a second person to observe the bow trim line. A bow trim line is useful to maintain the design waterline trim when different gear loads are put in the canoe. (So is a permanently installed bubble level.)

4. Install a sliding seat that will move over a range of about 4"-12" aft of the COG. This is the most versatile method and can be changed on the fly for different wind direction problems. It does add some weight and expense to the canoe. Sliding seats that can be easily removed from the rails are preferable to me, because they can be removed when cartopping, which will stop them from rattling while driving and will deter theft when parked. (Who wants to steal a seatless canoe?)

All the gear talk is irrelevant to the optimal initial placement of the solo seat. Whether you paddle a canoe empty for exercise two hours a day or take a bunch of day glamping gear, you can adjust the optimally positioned solo seat canoe trim however you want, bow light or stern light, by shifting your gear around. You can also alter trim by adding rocks or water bags in the bow of the canoe, as solo paddlers have done in tandem canoes forever when they paddle bow-seat-backwards or from the stern.

(Simply changing the Word font to this site's default Arial is optimal.)

 

[ppine]

thanks for all the great responses.

 

[Guest]

All this talk about gear is a complete distraction from the simple questions of: Where is the optimal position for a centralized solo seat? How do you get it at that position?


All the gear talk is irrelevant to the optimal initial placement of the solo seat. Whether you paddle a canoe empty for exercise two hours a day or take a bunch of day glamping gear, you can adjust the optimally positioned solo seat canoe trim however you want, bow light or stern light, by shifting your gear around. You can also alter trim by adding rocks or water bags in the bow of the canoe, as solo paddlers have done in tandem canoes forever when they paddle bow-seat-backwards or from the stern.

Obviously you need to have some gear in the canoe to do that, and I know where my usual day gear habitually goes in the canoe; the only thing way up in the bow is the blade end of a spare paddle. And I’d rather skip packing rocks or extraneous water bags while day paddling.

I fail to see how gear can be irrelevant, especially in discussions on a board with an emphasis on canoe tripping. A full barrel and 115L pack, even packed near as practical amidships, makes more of a difference than the ounces of a small day pack.

As a day tripping canoe I believe most paddlers, unless only out for an hour, take more than a single small day pack, but that could just be my sample size of paddling companions; almost 900 people (and 36 dogs) when I stopped keeping track 20 years ago (monthly club trips)

A spare paddle for variation or changing conditions, a canteen, maybe a bite to eat. Binocular and bird book? Fishing gear and tackle box? Pelican box with camera and lenses? Saw for strainer clearing? Ounces, ounces and more ounces out of optimal empty boat test-puddle trim.

Most of my day paddling trips are at least half-day outings, longer if I screw up the time, distance or misread a river gauge. I’m not portaging on day trips other than to drag the canoe over or around an occasional strainer, and the 99% of the time the gear is in a floating canoe, not being groaned under in a backpack. I wants what I wants to be safe, comfortable and happy, all in equal measure.

Of course, once you add an ounce of gear in front or behind you, you'll go out of trim

Yes, I do carry a small day pack that I can shift around on day trips, so I'm never perfectly on the design waterline, but no one ever is.

But again, for me, the most common use of my solo canoes is to be paddled (almost) empty. So, that's the load condition I trim for.

In canoe daytripping style one of us, maybe both of us, are outliers from the norm. Beyond whatever amount of day gear, minimal or day glamping, many avid paddlers do at least some aftermarket outfitting to their canoe; painter lines affixed, D-rings, minicel, attachable yoke carried in the bow or stern on solos. More ounces off a perfectly designed waterline, not to mention anything permanently installed impacting the location for a balanced yoke.

Float the empty canoe in shallow water. Pour a glass of water in the bottom. Wherever it puddles is the center of buoyancy of the empty canoe. Mark the center of that puddle with a pen or marker.

I am truly lost at the purpose of that puddle experiment. So the canoe will be in prefect trim when it accidentally blows into the lake and floats away empty? My least likely exclamation if that happens is “Jeepers, would ya look at that perfect trim!”

If that puddle test is to find the yoke position I’d much rather have the canoe, with permanent outfitting in place, hung suspended from a single strap, which better approximates a hull out of water on my shoulders than an empty canoe floating in the pond.

For locating a seat in a solo canoe, or even seats in a tandem if the paddler pair are of vastly different weights, I not saying one manufacturer or boat tinkerer’s method is right or wrong or better, just that everyone is different in height, weight, paddling style, gear load and trim preferences. One size or “optimal” location does not fit everyone.

I have moved most of my seats, even in manufactured solos; the manufacturer/designer isn’t me, nor is their optimal or preferred seat location necessarily mine (usually not).

To the original question, removing the bow and stern seats and adding a solo seat to an OT Canadienne, for day use paddling with a dog and small cooler, and for overnighters, I think the puddle tests and empty canoe optimization is irrelevant, even without knowing Ppine’s height, weight, paddling style and preferences. Or his dog and the contents of his cooler (though I suspect not a 30-pack of Bud Light).

Love ya Glenn, and missed our spirited discussions when you were absent.

 

[ppine]

Okay 6'2" 215 pounds, long in the waist, formerly athletic build, my dog goes about 60 pounds. I usually just bring a small cooler and a dog for day trips, maybe some clothes and fishing equipment. I paddle with both a conventional paddle and a kayak paddle.

Compared to paddling a symmetrical canoe from the bow seat turned around, every one of these responses is the right answer. They will all accomplish what I am trying to do. The good rivers around here are mostly overnight trips, so I will be using dunnage for trim a lot of the time. I took the rear seat and center thwart out today, and it is amazing how much room there is now behind the rear thwart. I will kneel when paddling into the wind making the bow heavy. I will kneel for some rapids, and may move some dunnage aft to account for the change in COG. I came to the right place for answers. Thanks to All.

 

[Guest]

Okay 6'2" 215 pounds, long in the waist, formerly athletic build, my dog goes about 60 pounds. I usually just bring a small cooler and a dog for day trips, maybe some clothes and fishing equipment. I paddle with both a conventional paddle and a kayak paddle.

PPine, some random thoughts on soloizing a tandem canoe along those lines.

With a solo seat, in the wider area of a used-to-be tandem, I like full truss seat drops, they add some lateral stiffness near the widest part of the canoe, where the yoke once served that stiffening purpose.

If not full truss drops at least something beefier than the wobbly drilled dowel drops Old Town uses.

P5260005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That “lazy S” is a repeatable curve, each cut forming the side of the next (upside down) drop. Or just cut wedge drops \_/. In either case half as many saw cuts with no wood wasted; yes, I am both cheap and lazy.

I use some of the old holes from the bow and sometimes stern seats for new thwarts. In my tripping canoes the thwarts are positioned to best accommodate barrels or large packs, you may have dog space considerations.

On the old seat holes that I don’t use for thwarts I put a flange washer and short machine screw through the holes and stick a webbing loop under the washer and nut below the inwale. That is as secure a tie down point as can be had, and the otherwise empty inwale holes are already there.

I don’t know your preference in a solo seat. I like either a seat with a wider than usual frame, mostly for sailing purposes so I can slide over to one side, or a contour seat. In either case with a hint of forward cant angle in the drops, both to help keep me on the seat and for the rare times I go to my knees.

Always a foot brace, most often a Wenonah adjustable foot bar, which is especially useful when double blading. And the front thwart in every solo is always a wider “utility thwart” within lean-forward reach.

P3200676 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The J-hooks are for an easy to read deck compass, mostly for sailing purposes, but also for map reading orientation (not a GPS guy).

The open cleat is for a painter line, which I like closer than 8 feet away in a soloized tandem. With a dog up front you might use an open cleat on the rear thwart for the stern painter, I have both on some canoes. The lateral bungee cord is for miscellaneous keepage (map, hat, gloves, sunglasses, etc).

The odd black thing in the center is a Scotty Rod base that fits dozens of their different rod holder accessories.

http://scotty.com/product/no-241-com...or-deck-mount/

I don’t fish these days, that Scotty base mount fits my downwind sail, but even without a rod holder I’d think a wider thwart within reach would be handy for fishing purposes. Maybe with a piece of sacrificial minicel glued on to stick lures and hooks in. I made one of those for a fishing friend, a couple inches of narrow /_\ minicel glued on the thwart worked perfectly; from my fishing days I abhorred dealing with loose barbs oops-dropped-where-did-it-go in the bottom of the canoe when changing lures.

For a removable rod holder on a standard thwart friends use these, made from a plastic cutting board.

PA040044 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The trick there is to make the slot in the lower cutting board plastic less wide than the top slot, so the rod is held angled to the side, especially for trolling.

The utility thwart is double hung on short drops, so the rod base is below the sheerline when I slide the canoe on or roof or storage racks. Or, gulp, ya know, boat-over-boat rescues. Without the 1 ½” tall rod base sticking up that would be unnecessary.

This is very much personal preference, but I like being able to brace my knees against the inwales when seated. At 5’ 11” my legs don’t comfortably spread that far in a center-ish solo seat, even in designed solos, so I contact cement a piece of minicel below the inwale, just wide enough to hit a comfortably braced leg spread. The minicel is also a lot cushier to knee brace against than the hard inwale edges.

P4060712 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

FWIW, yoga blocks at WallyWorld are the perfect ubiquitously available solution to cut/slice/shape for knee bumpers.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gaiam-Yog...Gray/553600532

Apologies for my usual verbosity (at least my font size is back to readable), I’m kind of envious. Custom soloizing a tandem is one of the funnest canoe projects possible. You are already taking stuff out and putting stuff in, might as well reassemble it for your exact wants and needs.

Please post when you get the Canadienne done, or even while in progress. And tet us know where the solo seat with 60lb dog ends up, ie front edge of seat X inches back of center boat.

 

[ppine]

thanks Mike,
I grew up in Maryland and left in 1972.
i have an over sized dowel that I am going to use to get the boat back in the water. I like your "full truss seat drops." Good idea. Need some better lumber.

 

[Guest]

have an over sized dowel that I am going to use to get the boat back in the water. I like your "full truss seat drops." Good idea. Need some better lumber.

Ed’s, and I suspect Essex, sell full truss seat hangers with holes drilled on-center at various canoe manufacturer seat sizes.

https://www.edscanoe.com/seathanger.html

I have DIY’ed my own, not as aesthetically pleasing as Ed’s, but they work, and I believe help stiffen the middle of a soloized tandem, certainly more than dowels.

P2160537 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Note the open cleat with stern painter on the truss drop. That is my soloized Penobscot 16, which has partial spray covers bow and stern. When landing at an awkward spot there isn’t a lot of uncovered gunwale edge to grab with the spray covers on, and the painter lines are a long un-grabbable distance away, coiled Velcro strapped to the ends of the covers.

I really like having a painter in hand as I step out. Or, with my knees, stumble out and fall to the ground. At least I still have hold of a painter line while I’m rolling around in the mud.

If you DIY your own I have found full truss drops more finicky about installation, maybe made worse with Old Town’s drilled dowel installation. Those Old Town drilled dowel drops had the manufacturer advantages of being cheap, and really easy to install, even if the gunwale holes, drops and seat holes didn’t match up exactly.

When I bought the Penobscot the dowel drops in both seats were cockeyed angled. Each a different cockeyed angle, not a one was straight down. The OEM installation was so messy it was comical to look at, and I had to drill ¼” holes for the 3/16” machine screws in order to have some slop in the truss assembly to get the machine screws through the new drops and OT seat frame.

That slop necessity may be why Ed’s drills their truss drops with ¼” holes. In that regard \_/ wedge drops are much easier to install individually, especially with a bit of forward seat cant.

If you like the more elegant look of those “Lazy S” drops I saved templates for those, for drops cut from 2 ½” and 3 ½” dimensional lumber. That repeatable S-curve was beyond my pea-brain cogitation; a pattern-maker Uncle took a piece of graph paper and traced out the shape first try. I did not get that gene.

Happy to stick paper templates in an envelope and mail them to you, or anyone else.

 

[boatstall]

To Mike McCrea,

Just wanted to say how much I have learned from your rigging posts on this fine forum. While enjoying all the other's posts regarding tripping, canoe design, and canoe building, and camping, etc., I have always enjoyed seeing how how your years of experience have exposed themselves in the methods of custom rigging.

Just saying Thanks for sharing.

Bill

 

[ppine]

Mike you are being generous with your time and I appreciate it. Good point about the painters being available from the middle of the boat when going solo. I like those little jam cleats. I used to have sailboats at Lake Tahoe. Sailing is a great way to learn about rigging and hardware.

Your design of the seat drops in the lowest photo with the seat back provides a perfect place to mount hardware.

 

[Guest]

I have always enjoyed seeing how how your years of experience have exposed themselves in the methods of custom rigging.

Bill, thanks for the kind words. I have my own, admittedly peculiar, preferences in canoe outfitting, especially with our tripping canoes. I know the stuff I want for increased function, safety and comfort, the latter being as important to me as anything.

I am a wuss when it comes to day long comfort in a canoe. Every place my body touches the boat is cushioned/padded. Back band, seat pad, inwale knee bumpers, split foam pipe insulation on the foot brace bar and minicel pads for my heels when barefoot. Big wuss.

A big, comfortable wuss, operating on the theory that if I am going to spend long hours in the canoe it should be the most comfortable seat in the house. If you need to old-man moan and groan your way out of the canoe after only an hour or two something is wrong comfort-wise, and needs a day in the shop.

Beyond those comfort touches I want spray covers on our tripping canoes. Actually, again peculiarly, just partial spray covers bow and stern, leaving a wide open, easy access/egress “cockpit”. And a flat, non-tunnel “center cover” to snap over the open area at night, so I can leave all my paddling gear dry and inside the hull. Cooke Custom Sewing, note the “Custom” part in that name.

P2180693 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

With the spray covers snapped on the carry handles are awkwardly inaccessible, so a hand comfy toggle grip on the painter loops. Wuss.

P2160522 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

On spray cover-less canoes with teeny winky deck caps I want a little more space for painter bungees. For my purposes this teeny deck cap/painter arrangement sucks, and sucks even worse on narrow swamp runs where branches reach out to grab things.

P1160414 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

This minor addition to the unused vee stems is much better.

P1220438 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I like that the painter is held recessed below the sheerline, and when I pluck it out from between the bungees it can’t end up wrapped underneath on of them, as happens with a single bungee painter pulled out in the wrong direction. There is a single Z-run of bungee cord there, with one end through a beefy (thanks Conk) cord lock, so I can tighten the bungee as needed.

P1220443 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

So many wee little things. I have minicel wedges contact cemented in our tripping canoes to hold blue barrels in place without rolling around.

P2170546 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Those old thwarts have since been refinished. The front one is located in ex-tandem seat holes, and the front thwart & utility thwart are positioned to help trap a barrel (or 115L pack) near midships. Between the thwarts, the minicel wedge and a D-ring strap at least I know my barrel or large pack isn’t going anywhere.

FWIW one of my sons badly pinned a solo RX canoe, with full truss drops, stern thwart and a wide utility thwart up front. Both sides are Royalex wrinkled, but it didn’t fold up, and the gunwales are fine. I like some extra lateral stiffening, especially in a soloized tandem.

Webbing loops on all of the machine screw ends; that is the stoutest tie down point imaginable, and all I need do is propane torch the point of a 20 penny nail, melt a sealed 3/16” hole in some webbing and stick it under the existing washer and nut.

Canoes with snap rivet spray covers offer similar tie-down opportunities; the end of the snap rivet stud protrudes inside the hull, and needs a back-up washer. Or something, maybe some back up and a length of Zingit cord for tie downs every 6 inches.

P3200681 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

D-rings where I want them for float bags or gear, open jam cleats for painter lines, spare paddle keeps, compass mount J-hooks. Dynel skid plates once the stem wear areas are evident. Etc, etc, etc.

At the end of one trip on the Green the Jetboat driver called out “OK, gimme the ‘Inspector Gadget’ boat next”. I wore it as a badge of honor, and he hadn’t even seen it fully dressed.

He may have heard about it; one of the shuttle trailer monkeys at the launch was very attentive as I dunked the desert-dry stuff bag of shrunken coated-nylon spray covers in the river, set it wetly aside to loosen for snap installation, and began strapping in gear.

Even in the now-gone tandems, how about a “Utility Thwart” up front for the bowman, who has little enough flat, level surface between their feet on which to place things or work.

P7140007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

In a tandem that is useless, wasted stem space. I don’t paddle bow, but might as well throw them a bone while I’m outfitting.

OK, I know I am a little (lot) outfitting crazy. There are two kinds of paddlers in the world, folks who buy a canoe and never do any personalized outfitting, and folks who don’t know when to stop.

I always think of the 4-wheeler saying “You don’t buy a Jeep, you build a Jeep”. An LED light-bar, cow-catcher front bumpers and Warn winch are probably not in my canoe future, but you decide which outfitting choice is crazier; factory naked forever, or an outfitting day in the shop for years of function and comfort.

 

[ppine]

Got the OT back together. Stock rear thwart, new front thwart in the old holes of the front seat. New Essex curved seat 9 inches behind the balance point. The seat is about 3 inches in front of the rear thwart. Paddling this week. Hopefully a photo to follow.

Yesterday I was driving through a neighborhood on the way to the bank. I spied a Hyde drift boat sitting on a trailer. It followed me home. 70th birthday present. Yippee.