The shop Gogetch was applied by my artist-in-residence.
PA240001 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
He does nice work.
PA240002 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
And yay, the next day my best shop partner arrived, after various travel travails. Joel had no idea that I had already fully installed the utility sail thwart. I had e-mailed him an installation schedule for us to “accomplish in the next week”, essentially a daily task list of what had already been done.
Day 1
Cut new utility sail thwart end angles.
Run it across the router table for rounded edges and sand smooth
Drill holes for thwart accessories and hardware.
Epoxy coat the thwart, including inside the holes. Let cure overnight
Day 2
Build a temporary riser platform on the canoe floor to hold thwart in place
Cut kevlar felt as edge gap filler and staple into place
Coat the kev felt with G5 (5-minute West epoxy) to quickly hold in place at the platform height
Fill the transition at the kevlar felt with a bead of G/flex (655 thickened)
G/flex (650 toughened) two inch glass tape across cockpit coaming edge and thwart on top
Peel ply and roller press
Day 3
Bring the tall sawhorses into the shop
Turn the Loon upside down and G/flex/glass tape/peel ply epoxy the bottom
Let sit for a few days to cure. Might need to run the radiant oil heater under the Loon to hasten the cure time.
Day 4+
Top coat with varnish or paint for UV protection. Let that cure (heater again)
Day 5
Install sail mount and etc hardware.
When Joel arrived I had the Loon upside down so he couldn’t see that the utility sail thwart was already installed, painted and dressed. By chance I had another piece of wood already made with cockpit angles cut, already run through the router. I was “busy” hand sanding the edges when Joel walked in and told him to take over, my arm was tired.
PA250003 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I watched him sand one edge, and started saying things like “That’s enough for now, let’s check how the thwart fits”.
“No, it’s still a little rough, just a couple more minutes on this side”
I finally had to insist “Good enough for now, let’s turn the Loon over and see how it fits”. It took him a good couple minutes to notice that there was a finished white utility sail thwart, with accessories, already installed. His bewildered expression was worth the tomfoolery.
Having gotten a week ahead by making “executive decisions” we could turn to other outfitting touches as desired.
Starting with “Yes Joel has that style deck compass, a couple of them in fact”. I managed to find my last two deck hooks. As easy as drilling two holes and installing a couple screws. So easy even Joel could do it.
PA250004 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
PA250005 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Next up, the most beneficial addition to the Loon:
Quote:
The Loon lives upright, floating docked in the water for half the year, with a clever counterweighted rope and pulley system so it can rise and fall with the tide, benefitting no fuss pre-dawn Everglades paddles.
As such the Loon is often dawn dewy inside. No one wants to start their morning paddle with a hot cup of coffee and a wet butt.
And. . . .
Quote:
the glass cockpit coaming is a bit flexible for roof racking cockpit down, which on the high-roofline Transit van involved loading it right side up via Hully Rollers on the rear crossbar, then climbing a ladder to turn it upside down in-situ.
That is a no-fun way to load the Loon on the high racked Transit. The sea kayaks have storage covers and get loaded upright, via Hully Rollers on the back crossbar, into cradles up front. If the Loon had a storage/transit cover that ladder & flip action could be eliminated.
Someone must make a cockpit storage cover sized for a Loon/Monarch sized opening. Sure enough, lots of manufacturers do; MRC, Harmony, Wilderness, Seals, etc. Sold out, sold out, sold out, sold out.
The storage cover I use on the Monarch is a Wilderness Pamilco 160 center cover.
P1050476 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I had two, one for the Monarch, and one for the P-160. A mutual friend of Joel’s and I is coming by next week to pick up the big-boy/big load soloized P-160, with sail and utility sail thwart. The storage cover was never part of that deal; sorry Steve, Joel beat you to it.
The P-160 cover fits the Loon perfectly. Beyond perfectly; for roof rack transit the cover could use two belly straps, and the P-160 cover already had two belly lash tabs. That cover came with attached straps to run underneath the hull and through those lash tabs. That system was a PITA to use in any guise, having to elevate the hull or move it on the ground atop the straps, so I cut them off.
A better solution, without the need to pass the straps under the hull, was as simple as a four webbing strap grommets and a couple tri-glides and ladder locks. I don’t know why, but orienting ladder locks and tri-glides on webbing baffles me every time. Put it together, nope, that’s not right. Put it together again, nope still not right.
When it comes to rudders, rudder cable, foot pedals, webbing & tri-glides I just hand Joel the parts and step aside. With the anchored straps the center of that 90 inch long cover was snugged down immovably amidships.
PA260007 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
PA260011 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
As belt & suspenders for roof racked transport the cover is SS beenered to some bungee between pad eyes. The front deck got a single run of bungee between pad eyes.
PA260010 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
The stern deck got the more traditional X bungee pattern.
PA260012 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
There was some discussion about bungee versus strap grommets on the rear deck. I dislike anything held on the back deck via bungee; I can’t see it back there and don’t trust the security of bungee corded gear when paddling. I have more confidence in tightened webbing and buckles run through strap grommets.
https://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_p ... cts_id=898When the stern deck bungee has crapped out instead of replacing it I have installed strap grommets instead.
P5010007 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Joel opted for pad eyes and bungee on both decks for a couple reasons. The bungee keeps the beeners from smacking against the gel coat in transport, doubly secures a spare paddle blade on the bow with the shaft held in the / \ keepers when paddling ocean waves, and even prevents the stern carry handle from rattling. Since the Loon is his boat I magnanimously acquiesced to his wishes.
Next day I realized I had neglected a Kruger decked canoe pad eye trick; we should have mated pad eyes under the decks everywhere we installed one on top; the holes are already drilled, all that’s needed are longer pop rivets. Too late now.
For dockside in-water storage the straps are superfluous; the cover rand is ideally sized, tight and snug, the beenered ends will assure it stays in place in windy bayside conditions, and the back band, left in place, provides an excellent arch for rain and dew drainage. Taking a large puddled cover off a boat and oopsie dumping a gallon of water on the seat negates the cover’s function.
After a few hours of shop work, feeling that he had accomplished five days work in an afternoon, Joel took a beer break.
PA260009 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Equally exhausted from my supervisory duties I joined him and had one as well. Might have been my third.
During this respite Joel finally noticed that the Loon had a Duckhead sticker, and a hand painted shop Gogetch. Happy with those flourishes Joel installed the DougD Dragon shop Gogetch on the bow deck, declaring “I love that guy”, and that he wanted to be able to see it as he paddled. He dithered for some time about the orientation and I pretended to care. Looks good to me.
PA260014 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Last decorative and safety flourishes, some prismatic reflective tape on the bow and stern.
PA250006 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Docked among power boats some “Caution: Boat Here” warning can’t hurt, and in camp just hit it with a flashlight for an “All’s well”.
Grade VI bucket seat pad in place, along with a Surf-to-Summit back band, and the Loon is one comfy decked canoe.
PA260016 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
It needed a final test sit on the shop floor pad to determine the locations for thin Conk heel pads and knee bumpers.
PA260015 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Contact cementing the knee bumpers and heel pads could wait for another day.
I will, yet again, sing praises for the wheeled shop cart. Since almost everything we installed was paired left/right symmetrically we loaded the cart with drill, pop rivets, washers and rivet tool, pad eyes or grommet straps and simply wheeled our way from end to end/side to side of the Loon. 17’ 2” plus another 7” for the rudder housing is a lot of hull to walk around.
At the end of the day the shop benches were as tidy as when Joel arrived; as usual I laid out the tools and parts needed, and put stuff away when we were done with it. Accustomed to working together we are amazingly efficient in that guise. A good shop partner is a treasure.
Usually a treasure. I did not put away the Handi-cut. We used that for various clean cuts, and I needed it the next day.
https://www.searshometownstores.com/pro ... 8-HandiCutThe Handi-cut is a frequently used tool, I know where it hangs. Not there. OK, let’s spend 20 minutes staring at every hook on 16’ of pegboard. Not there? Let’s stand and look at the pegboard again, more closely this time.
Nope. I moved everything that lives on the bench. Nope. Ah, inside the Loon?. Nope. Inside one of the other boats?. Nope. In one of the outfitting parts and pieces box, in with the stainless steel, pop rivets, webbing?. Nope, nope, nope, nope.
I had stopped looking when I thought “The last thing we cut was bungee cord”. Sure enough, in the box of bungee cord, which lives hidden under a low shelf in a closed shop cabinet.
I’m claiming that wasn’t me.