Why did I wait so long???

[stripperguy]

I have a short trip planned for mid October, and, there's an unknown amount of carrying where there are no trails.
I have an old portage thwart from one of my builds from 1984, it used to be a pretty cedar laminate, that fit my 30 year old physique perfectly.
Well, I ain't 30 any more, and that thwart ain't so pretty either.
Of late, I have been strapping it to whichever boat I happen to be carrying. Oh, it's ugly, a pair of deck screws jammed into the ends of the too wide thwart. It was slow to attach, prone to shifting, and slow to remove and stow until the next use.

Anyway, I figured I should at least improve the attachment somewhat. I can't discard the thwart, there's too many miles and too many memories attached to it...

My most recent builds have carbon fiber over foam gunnels, so I needed to add a couple of "lumps" to the gunnels, to allow some sort of fastener to hold the portage thwart in place.

Here's where I started, 3 small pieces of 3/8" thick H80 Divinycell, epoxied together. This pic shows the 3 pieces partially shaped to fit the inside of the gunnels.

Here's how the lump will fit, you can see it needs a bit more shaping to match the gunnel.

Then, after I adhered the lumps with Cabosil thickened epoxy, it was a quick wet out with some left over bias woven carbon tape.

After several iterations of sanding and filling, I drilled a 17/32" hole, and epoxied in a short piece of 1/2" OD aluminum tube (that you can see), and a 1/4"-20 nutsert in the bottom side (that you can't see).

You can see I'm almost finished, just needs a little more sand and fill. One more iteration should do it.

So all that needs to be done (except for the last bit of sand and fill) is to remove those fugly deck screws, drill a couple holes, purchase a couple 1/4-20 knobs, and sand and seal my faithful thwart.

All in all just a few hours effort, spread over a few days...what took me so long??? I should have done this years ago!!

 

[Mike McCrea]

I get the “wonder why I waited so long”, I’ve done likewise with little tweaks and improvements on canoe outfitting, although most often the couldawouldashoulda commences soon after I start paddling on the next trip. “Dang it, I meant to . . . . .” I keep a pocket note pad in my accessible gear for those kind of fix-this notes.

And I get the “few hours effort spread over a few days”. That’s my kind of boatwork tinkering, and when custom shaping, laminating and epoxying stuff that progress can’t be rushed. Well, it can, but that never works out very well.

I’ll be curious about your plan-to-stow the yoke when not in use. I recall that somewhere on this site Conk had illustrated a cunning way of attaching his yoke when not in service.

 

[stripperguy]

Mike,
I hate to admit it, but I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.
But even now, mulling this over with my morning coffee, I think I could simply add a couple strips of 3M Dual Lok in a strategic and inconspicuous location, to quickly and easily secure the thwart when not in use. Maybe someplace near the stems, tucked up high by the gunnels. I’ll have to see where it can fit best.
Thanks for the prompt.
As for the knobs, I should have room to just thread them back into their holes from the underside…I truly dislike loose hardware, especially so when in waist deep undergrowth.

 

[Mike McCrea]

Or parts and pieces fallen off into waist deep water.

 

[Cruiser]

I fit my yokes in a similar fashion, but using a helicoil in the gunnel hole.
If you counter bore the yoke hole from the bottom, you can use one of those nylon lined lock nuts to keep the knob/bolt combo from falling out of the hole when not in use

 

[Mike McCrea]

There is at least one thread on solo canoe yoke storage.

https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/solo-portage-yoke.1019/page-2#post-10671

By now I suspect that Conk is on the Mark X improved storage version. And yoke design; I’ve seen photos of his deeply sculpted, drum sanded yoke pads. Sweet shoulder cupping comfort Batman.

 

[stripperguy]

Mike,
I avoid looking at Conk's work...I always feel so inadequate afterwards.

Here's my faithful thwart, sanded and with a coat of poly on it, it's never gonna win any awards, but I'm a function over fashion guy anyway.

Now, off on a tangent.
How many of you are studying these photos, looking in the backgrounds to see what else is going on? I know I do that with most of the pics I see here. OK, maybe it's the voyeur in me.

So, to dispel any mystery, here's a few backstories.

1977 CJ5, 2,200 lbs, 300 lb-ft torque from the rebuilt and built 258 straight six. (Hedman headers, Weber 38/38, Comp Cams 252H), SOA with Wrangler springs, Hi-Steer linkage, both axles regeared to 4.56, fully welded trusses, alloy axle shafts, locking differentials, swapped in T5 trans and D300 xfer case, fiberglass tub, fenders and hood. Nearly unstoppable. All work done by stripperguy.

2010 Triumph Bonneville SE, 900 cc, with Triumph performance exhaust, air injection delete, air filter box mods, alternate tune for the fuel injection. This was an insurance wreck, had to straighten the forks to withing 0.005 inch, repair speedo, replace front fender, paint tank, replace shift lever, clutch lever, passenger pegs. All work done by stripperguy. Been riding all my life, 8 years on this little sweetie.

In the background of some of the earlier pics are leftover interior components from a 2015 CR-V insurance wreck that I bought to replace my aging Honda Element. I had to replace the doors, rear quarter, sills, B pillar, roof air curtain, seat air bag, passenger side seat belt, rear inner fender...maybe some other small stuff. Take a look.

Also not seen, but there's a 40 ft Damon Tuscany diesel pusher M/H that had a hard front hit. Been rebuilding it for a year now, nearly done.
Nearly done too is the new house and 28 x 40 detached garage, MDB and I did all the interior work, cabinets, flooring, tile, fixtures, wiring, plumbing, heating, trim, as well as the soffits, fascia and vinyl siding.

So, when I spend a little time on a boat spread over a few days, these are the sorts of things I use to make myself feel useful...OK, I make a little profit on the side too with some of the wrecks that I sell.