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Motor Canoe project


Chick Ludwig

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Hey, Paul, she already has new counter tops and tile back splashes in the kitchen.You'd think that would be enough to earn two or three more boats! Actually, Miss Debbie is pretty good about my hobbies. If boat building was the only one, it wouldn't be so bad, but, along with boats is turtles, catching and housing, and r/c model planes, building and flying. (Did I get enough commas in that last sentence?)

 

We are on a pretty tight budget here. One of the problems with getting older and no longer bringing in that working income. Another problem is where to store all of these boats under cover. No flat land for more carports, and no money for another carport either.

 

Back to the real issue this week. Loading the canoe. I was shocked yesterday to discover that I had to struggle to lift MY end yesterday. Not long ago, I'd load a canoe like this by myself. Just lift er up, and shove er on. Age does have a detrimental affect on the old muscles! And each year adds another year's worth of detriment to that. I'm moving on to Plan-C now. Not only sliding the canoe on from the back, but carrying it right side up. I don't wanna have to roll it over on the rocks that cover all of the beach areas that we'll be going to. I'll have to add a drain to let the rain water out while carrying it this way---easy enough. I have a rack that I made to try to carry a previous, much heavier boat. It kinda hooks onto the luggage rack on the Explorer. I think I can modify it nicely.

 

Also gotta rig a couple of block and tackles in the car port to lift the canoe overhead. It'll have to be tight against the roof to leave room to pull Summer Breeze out under it. I already have to pull Turtler out of the way to get the Breeze out. Almost too much work to go sailing. (I'm getting lazier in my dotage, too.) I'm finding that I've used Turtler much more than the Breeze, and even the plastic kayaks. It's so easy to load and unload, and so much more suitable for the way I seem to want to boat these days. Little day trips to different lakes. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Miss Debbie or my turtlin' buddy. Sailing and cruising on the mountain lakes just doesn't compare to sailing on REAL water. You know, the kind with salt in it. The kind with sand beaches, sand dunes, tides, porpoises, sea turtles, limitless horizons, quaint old fishing villages and revolutionary era towns, etc., etc. Oh yeah, and sea breeze. Lotsa days with no or very little breeze up here. Summer Breeze was, after all, named after the summer breeze---sea breeze, that is. (The Don says...sharks, sting rays, stinging jelly fish, hurricanes...)

 

Well y'all it's time to walk the dog and get ready for church. Time to be reminded of what's really important, and give thanks to Him. See ya next time. I wonder what I can ramble on about then? It's been fun talkin' with ya. Heck, I gotta build another boat just so I'll have a place to editorialize on.

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Tiger, yes, some from scratch or plans, some from kits. But i actually prefer doing them the old school way---balsa. The model hobby has been on hold for awhile during the boat building frenzy. Now I gotta do a "make Miss Debbie happy house and yard improvement" frenzy.

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Lennie, glad you asked. Check this out.

https://www.flitetest.com/

 

Their simple foam kits are economical, easy to build, and fly well (Go for a trainer type first). Here's one I like. https://store.flitetest.com/ft-old-fogey-speed-build-kit/

Maybe even better to get started in the hobby. https://store.flitetest.com/ft-explorer-get-started-package/

 

Start to learn more on this page. (Scroll down to the Beginner series.) https://www.flitetest.com/articles#/textSearch=Series: beginner series

 

You may want to learn to fly with a ready to fly trainer. Read about them here. https://www.flitetest.com/get-started/airplanes

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Chick,

Sorry for the hijack, but here's a goofy little car top boat I built this week. Well, okay. It took 8 days. That thwart is moveable and removable. No stretchers yet, they will be installed to suit.

Now, its rough as mud, and painted with porch and floor, except the rails. They have polyurethane! Eek!

 

Anywho. Just wanted you all to know it ain't ALL guesswork on my part.

 

Oh, you might can see the holes in the rails for the thole pins. She uses the same oars as the Frolic. Which is living up to the "twice as long" adage nicely, thank you. :)

 

Peace,

Robert 

 

Oh. I just can't paddle anymore, but I HAVE to get on the water, so I built a rowboat. What? ;):)

 

IMG_2071.JPG

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry y'all, guess I never got back to you about this canoe thing. We've only had it (him, her) in the water once. Remember, it was made to be cartopped when camping and pulling our camper, and we've only been camping with it once. I've not finished my cartop carrier yet, but it's done enough to kinda work. I'll be adding a roller on the back so we can set the bow on the canoe and on. The final wight turned out to be 68#

 

It's fairly easy for us to load and unload (At 70, I find lots of things harder to do than I used to, and Miss Debbie has had shoulder surgery 3 times, so has to be very careful.) We spent several hours motoring on Lake Douglas over near knoxville, Tenn. It handles very well with Mr. Zuki. I've not been in a canoe for several years, and felt a bit unstable at first, but soon got comfortable. The balance is ok with Miss Debbie on the front (cane-webbed) seat and me on the back. It took awhile to feel comfortable turning to pull the starter cord, or to tilt he motor, but was ok by the end of the day. The 2.5 hp motor is actually more than we need. The canoe won't plane as it's too narrow to get enough lift in the stern, so the bow tends to rise with too much power. The front seat would be better for balance a little further forward, but I wanted to leave plenty of foot room ahead of the seat. with a heavier person up front, I think it would be ok where it is.

 

It paddles quite well to my surprise. Remember that one reason I like to have a boat when camping is to get up into the coves looking for turkles (turtles). We motor along the lake until we get to a cove, then kick the motor back and paddle into the cove. It maneuvers about like you'd expect from any canoe. I can use the "J-stroke" to paddle straight, or turn right or left---oops, I mean, starboard or port. Miss Debbie is busy holding the turkle catching net while I paddle.

 

I've not tried solo motoring or paddling yet. It will require weight up forward to retain a decent trim. The plan is to use a couple of 5 gallon collapsible water bags that I can fill with lake water when I put in. In a regular non-square stern canoe, I'd sit sitting aft in the forward seat to trim better, but that just don't seem right with a flat-back. Besides, Mr. Zuki would be on the wrong end then! We wanted the canoe to qualify as a canoe according to coast guard specification so it wouldn't need upright and level flotation as required for an outboard boat. To do so, the transom width couldn't be more than 45% of the beam of the canoe. On hind sight (Isn't that always better?), it may have been better for trim and performance with a wider transom. I dunno. More time on the water will tell. All-in-all, I'm satisfied with the canoe for our purposes. Now it's time for you guys to talk with graham about getting plans or a kit for yourself.

 

I only have a couple of pictures for ya, and neither is with it in the water. We'll have to find someone to take pictures next time we go. Maybe I'll get the Don (Thrillsbe) to meet us at a local lake to take some pictures ---if he ever gets back from his many vacation trips.

 

A roller will replace the rolled up cushion on the aft end of the cartop carrier.

DSCN2824.thumb.JPG.e72b8ee6f2ebb2dc88bc8edfed6dcfbb.JPG

 

Still haven't made a pad where the motor clamps to the transom, so please excuse the piece of cardboard that's on there now.

DSCN2825.thumb.JPG.041bb4be0f739dc23149a2f04e1a998a.JPG

 

 

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Awesome looking boat. I really can see the utility of it.

 

I had an Old Town discovery Sport which is as close to a production equivalent as there may be. I found that the motor tilt was critical. If the motor is tipped forward a bit, the drive will lift the aft end a bit and prevent the behavior you speak of. I bought one of those plates that sits clips on the cavatation plate (I know that isn't really what it does) that made the motor into sort of a trim tab. A huge help.   Second, a tiller extension that allows you to use the twist grip throttle (I'm cheap and made mine) from a bit forward is the ticket. When I soloed, I would use a small bucket upside down to sit on and get my weight forward, or if I was going through the rougher stuff, just sit on the bottom with a cushion.

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6 hours ago, Chick Ludwig said:

Sorry y'all, guess I never got back to you about this canoe thing. We've only had it (him, her) in the water once. Remember, it was made to be cartopped when camping and pulling our camper, and we've only been camping with it once. I've not finished my cartop carrier yet, but it's done enough to kinda work. I'll be adding a roller on the back so we can set the bow on the canoe and on. The final wight turned out to be 68#

 

It's fairly easy for us to load and unload (At 70, I find lots of things harder to do than I used to, and Miss Debbie has had shoulder surgery 3 times, so has to be very careful.) We spent several hours motoring on Lake Douglas over near knoxville, Tenn. It handles very well with Mr. Zuki. I've not been in a canoe for several years, and felt a bit unstable at first, but soon got comfortable. The balance is ok with Miss Debbie on the front (cane-webbed) seat and me on the back. It took awhile to feel comfortable turning to pull the starter cord, or to tilt he motor, but was ok by the end of the day. The 2.5 hp motor is actually more than we need. The canoe won't plane as it's too narrow to get enough lift in the stern, so the bow tends to rise with too much power. The front seat would be better for balance a little further forward, but I wanted to leave plenty of foot room ahead of the seat. with a heavier person up front, I think it would be ok where it is.

 

It paddles quite well to my surprise. Remember that one reason I like to have a boat when camping is to get up into the coves looking for turkles (turtles). We motor along the lake until we get to a cove, then kick the motor back and paddle into the cove. It maneuvers about like you'd expect from any canoe. I can use the "J-stroke" to paddle straight, or turn right or left---oops, I mean, starboard or port. Miss Debbie is busy holding the turkle catching net while I paddle.

 

I've not tried solo motoring or paddling yet. It will require weight up forward to retain a decent trim. The plan is to use a couple of 5 gallon collapsible water bags that I can fill with lake water when I put in. In a regular non-square stern canoe, I'd sit sitting aft in the forward seat to trim better, but that just don't seem right with a flat-back. Besides, Mr. Zuki would be on the wrong end then! We wanted the canoe to qualify as a canoe according to coast guard specification so it wouldn't need upright and level flotation as required for an outboard boat. To do so, the transom width couldn't be more than 45% of the beam of the canoe. On hind sight (Isn't that always better?), it may have been better for trim and performance with a wider transom. I dunno. More time on the water will tell. All-in-all, I'm satisfied with the canoe for our purposes. Now it's time for you guys to talk with graham about getting plans or a kit for yourself.

 

I only have a couple of pictures for ya, and neither is with it in the water. We'll have to find someone to take pictures next time we go. Maybe I'll get the Don (Thrillsbe) to meet us at a local lake to take some pictures ---if he ever gets back from his many vacation trips.

 

A roller will replace the rolled up cushion on the aft end of the cartop carrier.

DSCN2824.thumb.JPG.e72b8ee6f2ebb2dc88bc8edfed6dcfbb.JPG

 

Still haven't made a pad where the motor clamps to the transom, so please excuse the piece of cardboard that's on there now.

DSCN2825.thumb.JPG.041bb4be0f739dc23149a2f04e1a998a.JPG

 

 

This post, especially the bit about the proper way to paddle a canoe solo, made me love you even more than I did before, Chick, buddy.

 

You are an exemplary small boat messer.

 

Peace,

Robert 

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A ventilation plate foil (Dolfin, Stingray, etc.) will help keep the stern from squatting a bit, but you're right it's all about trim in small boats. A tiller extension will likely make the biggest difference, getting your butt closer to midship. A hose clamp and a piece of PVC pipe that's been slit on the end will do.

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shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcTi5W4SALXHi9msBA0mm

There's two types, one is a delta plan form and great for high speed boats. The other has more of a wing configuration which is better on lower speed boats, like yours.

 

For that matter, you can make a pretty good one at home, if it was me with a longer span, that can be chopped off to fine tune the attributes a bit.

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Thanks guys. I do have a tiller extension that I use when I solo Turtler, and I could probably scoot up to the next seat. But then to start the motor, shift in and out of neutral, tilt the motor, I'd have to move back again. I'm kinda "balance and co-ordination challenged" challenged when climbing around like that. probably end up wet---if ya know what i mean! I'll stick with weight in the bow, but maybe mess with an extension on the aft seat so I can sit a bit farther (further?) forward. 

 

I've considered the Dolfin. I've used them on other boats many times. I really don't think i need it for the kind of use I put the canoe to. No need to go faster. Matter of fact, I'll probably use an electric more often. We'll see.

 

Tiger, thanks. i love you, too. (Ok, y'all, quit that snickering!!!) I've always enjoyed the different canoe strokes. One of the favorite things when I was a scoutmaster was teaching the boys how to handle a canoe.

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The ventilation plate fin will not make you go faster, in fact the additional drag will shave a wee bit off the top end. What they do well is help the boat climb up on plane at lower speeds, hold a plane at lower speeds, better maneuverability and offer some anti-squat trim.

 

I think I'll be on the mountain in a week or two . . .

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Understood about the fin, Paul. The canoe moves well without squatting at the speeds I go. It is narrow enough that it operates well in the displacement "mode". It's only when mighty Mr. Zuki "pours it on" that it struggles. besides, I carry the motor lying in my van and the fin would make him uncomfortable. and I use him on Turtler, too, and ---on the rare occasion I sail---on the Breeze, when I don't need a fin. And, another and, I'm too lazy to take it on and off.

 

I'll look forward to see you "on the mountain". Be careful on the trip.

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