Canoe Mods

Taking stock of the canoe after the last outing it appears to be getting to look rather the worse for wear. Given that it’s only had a half dozen outings since it came back with me from the canoe factory, it’s beginning to show it’s age and I think that some tlc will have to be lavished on it when the weather gets to be a bit more predictably warm and dry. 

That’s been the trouble really, the weather, having to keep it outdoors in a slot between the house wall and next door’s fence, only protected by a tarpaulin to keep the rain off. There’s still no sign of a space at the clubhouse becoming available any time soon. I have the feeling that when it eventually does all I’ll have left is a pile of rotting planks attached to each other with mouldering rope.

Anyway, I had at least completed the jobs I wanted to do on it. I’ve fitted airbags front and rear. They came at quite a reasonable price and with fittings came in at just a bit under the £100 mark. They were easy enough to fit with just eyelets secured to the gunnels and a rot-proof cord holding them down below the gunnel level. Both bags are Ruc manafacture and seem quite light but robust. They are triangular in shape and fit into the wedge shaped prow and stern. They have eyelets at each of the three corners. Both have maintained their inflation pressure over a six week period. 

I was never happy with a couple of the aspects of the designed construction of the boat. One of them was that both prow and stern are drawn together with cable ties and glued with a fillet of epoxy run down the inside of the Vee and another fillet on the outside to round off the joint. There’s no other support than that. I wouldn’t say that this method was weak because it has clearly worked okay so far. It was also a quick method of securing the joint given the time constraints necessary in completing the build inside four days. 

The problem for me is that it doesn’t provide any substantial support for a front painter line that I also needed to install. So on fitting the airbags I removed the upper triangular plates to install a piece of wood shaved to fit as closely as possible behind the full depth of the prow. When epoxied into place I was then able to drill a hole through the planks behind the new prow support to pass the painter line behind. This effectively supported and strengthened the prow while making it practically impossible for the painter to pull through the unsupported plank of the hull. On the way through I also passed the painter through the front fixing eyelet of the airbag thus securing it in place fully forward. The back end points of the airbags I’ve secured with cable ties to the seat fittings.