Canoe Rigging

[Daniel Madrigal]

Hey everyone I just got my first canoe after having a kayak for many years. It is an Indian River 19 foot double, with a keel. I am wondering about what kind of rigs you all have put on yours. It is fiberglass so I don't want to damage the hull. Anyone want to post pictures and share what kind of things they have done for fishing, photography, storage, and others? Thanks!

[toofaraway]

gorgeous!  are you sure you don't want to glue a piece of cutting board on it :)

[Jay]

:) - I actually have got some leads and have started discussion about a bungee system.  I can always make some small wood fittings that match the color of the dark wood to hook on to.  Thanks for the suggestions.

[vivian]

To be honest, I think a low profile brass snap would look better.  Space the snaps apart 14 - 16"

[Kim Gass]

You may be able to get away with no spray skirt. For sure they are not found on Everglades rental canoes.

I have a partial for my RapidFire and a full for my Nomad/Peregrine and in seven weeks of Everglades touring have used them two days. I have found that the wind does not quite make big enough waves for those particular boats to pierce. They all have very good wave shedding via hull design. 

I am thinking  of simply not bringing them in the future, though they take little room.

[Jay]

Thanks for that input Kim.

[Xavier Becquer]

Jay that is a beautiful boat.  I strongly considered building a cedar strip myself but ended up making a kevlar/glass canoe for my own use. I used a beat up sawyer 222 (18.5' long ) as a male plug to do my layup and recycled the original flotation foam and aluminum rails and twarts on the new boat. check out the pics here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.454000750145.250808.699185...  I would never drill holes for the snaps on a cedar strip. Although the snaps can be installed carefully by overdrilling each screw hole then bedding each waxed fastner in an epoxy with high density filler mix; i think this would ruin the look of your boat.  Glueing starboard with 5200 is crazy too and it doesnt work very well since bond that is achieved sucks.  You obviously have very good skills so i would sugest something a little bit slicker maybe an adaptation of this http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/Uploads/Makingyourownsoftpadeye...

 

good luck.

[Jay]

Thanks for that input.  I am working with Sue on a design.  She has some ideas.  I might put a couple of loop fasteners on the exterior - but I will make them out of wood and I think they will be hardly noticeable.

Out to check the steam box and see how the gunnels are doing.  Not quite at the end of the project...but I think I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

I guess one good thing about the warm weather is that I have not been too tempted to head down to the park in the kayak.  Looks like I will get another weekend of work in.

[Kim Gass]

I  never would use a tandem..the length to waterline width ratio is all wrong and the increased skin friction literally a real drag.

Capacity is of course a plus.  The issue is it takes a lot of horsepower to move a big boat. Sure use it if you have it.

Its been warm? What do you guys term as warm or too warm.  

Sue Audette is a neat lady to work with. I worked on a kneeling pad with her once.

[Rob Stevens]

Once again I'm going to rely on my very faulty memory.

There is a rule that displacement hulls maximum speed is 1.3 times the square root of the waterline. Therefore a 16 foot waterline canoe should not be able to go faster than 5.2 knots. (I think knots and not miles per hour but I'm not sure.) That said I have heard that very narrow hulls are not affected by this rule. A regular displacement hull once it reaches this limit then has to climb its bow wave.

My memory is that in "Canoesport Journal", a great magazine that only lasted a few years, a designer said that a lot of scratches on the bottom negate the increased speed of a good design, so take care.

One story I love about Kayak speed was in "Baidarka". The author relates that Russian seafarers were recording great speeds for Inuit kayaks which many people poo-poo. But the author feels that since these Russians had just sailed half way around the world by dead reckoning and besides are racist that therefore were not likely to credit the Inuit with faster than real speeds.

This is just academic to me because I write my name in my wake. In block letters.

[Kim Gass]

John Winters wrote a great deal in his book available on  line "The Shape of the Canoe". 1.34 x the waterline length is the theoretical top hull speed in knots. Its irrelevant though in shallow water where hull shape matters more. Delta shapes do better in shallow water. Narrow hulls have the same theoretical limitations though L/W ratios do affect how easily that boats gets there.  A narrow hull is still a displacement hull.

Skin friction is paramount  per John Winters. A big boat cannot be driven effectively by a smaller person due to skin friction. Thats why you see smaller soloists keep up with bigger soloists only when their boat is sized for them. That skin friction is also enhanced by scratches. Boats slow but as its over time that scratches accumulate, we don't notice.

[Jay]

By the way....very nice job pulling that hull off the Sawyer.

What did the canoe end up weighing?

[Amazon Bill]

So all this friction talk has me thinking.   Is there anyway to smoothen the big scratches on the bottom of my 1998 14.5' tandem Ole Town Guide, poly-bottom canoe?