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PostPosted: September 27th, 2022, 3:43 pm 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
One boat goes out, another boat comes in. 1996 glass Sawyer Loon. I’m not sure we will do much to the Loon, not my call. But here is what a slightly modified 26 year old glass Loon looks like in un-pristine glory.

Some of the inside fittings and seat supports are old school crude, the kevlar Loon’s showed better attention to detail. It does have a height adjustable sliding seat, and I doubt we will do much more seat wise than scrub the accumulated salt grime off the aluminum tubes and supports, and maybe paint the discolored attachment resin smutch more of an interior grey.

ImageP9230006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The two previous owner’s ID’s can likewise be grey painted over.

ImageP9230007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Only two owners; one Texas area code, one Florida. Paddled to church by a little old lady on Sunday. And raced in Watertribe events, and possibly the Texas Water Safari as well.

The bottom and gel coat are in astoundingly good shape throughout, not even any chips or spider cracks; old school gel coat was truly amazing stuff. The Loon may eventually need Dynel skid plates, but right now the stems are damn near immaculate.

The weird wavering line coaming “caulk” could be excised, and replaced with modern marine caulk or thickened epoxy.

ImageP9230010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Or not. That stuff is still well attached and I wonder if it was applied that way; a wobbly Friday afternoon long “lunch” build in the Sawyer factory.

The rope rudder lines could stand to be replaced, or, actually, re-replaced, those are not original. The SS rudder cable may be OEM 26 years old, and was run unsleeved through epoxied tubes in old school inelegance. New SS cable, run through a plastic sleeve and P-clips, so it doesn’t saw through dry bags, may be in order eventually.

ImageP9230014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Yakima/Werner/Mohawk foot brace pedals, previous owner installed to replace the original clunkier Sawyer pedals, while effective enough, are also old-school, and heavy. And bomb proof, so they may stay.

ImageP9230016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The previous owner(s) did not bother to plug the through-hull holes left from replacing the original foot pedals. Located just below the cockpit coaming those holes are well above the waterline, but could weep in side swept waves.

I went ahead and plugged them with some G/flex. I love 20 second boatwork tasks. Done for the day, one hour minimum labor charges apply.

I will do nothing more to the Loon without some shop partner present. Well, not “nothing”, I can weigh it first, stripped of everything removable.

ImageP9230020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

71.5 lbs. Joel guessed in the low 80’s. I guessed 78. It was an exceedingly awkward removal from his high roofed Transit van, even with Hully Rollers on the rear crossbar, and felt heavier. Even with Joel at the stern I couldn’t get to the front carry handle, and had the bow balanced on my head like I was carrying a heavy basket of eggplant to market atop my noggin. I apparently lack the requisite spine.

Still hurting, I am never moving the Loon in that manner again. Or maybe, just maybe, we are getting old.

I did not mark the single strap balance point for future reference. Eventually the Loon will get some improved outfitting, maybe even a utility thwart for Joel’s downwind sail. We will want a finished weight, and that balance point may change slightly.

I even removed the sad but sentimental seat pad, junk ropes corroded and beener before the weigh in. That pad was declared by Joel to be a family heirloom, “My mom’s butt sat on this for many years in different canoes”. I was stunned to find that it still held air, with no leakage. Maybe we (not me “we”, someone else “we”) can make a new cover for it, with some strappage better than Zing-it cord.

ImageP9230008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That is it for Loon work anytime soon. I’ll await Joel’s shop return before even planning a sequence of possible tasks.

Or perhaps just leave it as it is; everything still works acceptably, and for ease of dawn paddling the Loon is usually kept suspended, in-water floating from dockside davits, with pulleys and counterweights, so it rises and falls with the tide and is always in-water ready to paddle. Only Joel would come up with such a dawn dockside getaway scheme.

He did report needing to scrape the barnacles off every few weeks. That is some damn tough old school gel coat.


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2022, 1:50 pm 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
There was a multi-day pause in finishing the NorthStar outfitting. After 15,000 words of overly descriptive outfitting blather that may be a relief to some.

The Loon needed a utility sail thwart, and after a test sit Joel opted for a permanent, glassed in thwart.

ImagePA170017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Good call, 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. Plus, who wants to bother clamping on a removable utility sail thwart every trip.

As luck would have it, during that test-sit, I found an old clamp on utility sail thwart which miraculously fit the angle between the Loon’s coaming edges exactly at Joel’s desired reach to use as a template. This one, made for the Pamlico 145, since replaced by a permanent utility thwart. Again, to hell with the clamp-ons; the knobs can be knuckle bashers, and an always-there utility thwart is handier.

ImagePA250011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Equally miraculous I had a board in the shop that would work just dandy. Cut to coaming matching angles, edges run across the router table and sanded, drilled for various accoutrements and epoxy coated.

Next day that piece went in. I love having a utility sail thwart, have installed at least a dozen, and have a glassing process that works well:

Build a temporary platform to hold the utility thwart in place, shim up as required. First complication, the Loon coaming is wanky. I wanted the thwart slightly recessed, set at the bottom of the coaming edge so the thwart accessories were below the sheerline . Not happening; the bottom edge of the coaming is askew from side to side. The top edge was much more symmetrical, so up near the sheerline it goes.

The thwart needed to be held firmly in place before I epoxied glass tape across the edges, and some gap-filler material on the ends would assure a flush fit. Thin strips of (otherwise useless) kevlar felt, stapled to the thwart ends and saturated with G5 5-minute epoxy did the quick trick.

ImagePA190007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

In five minutes the thwart was firmly held in place and I laid a bead of thickened G/flex 655 along the coaming to thwart edge as a transition, ready to epoxy 2” glass tape from the edge of the cockpit trim onto the thwart.

ImagePA190006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Then peel ply, with the usual babysitting and hard rollering compression.

While the Loon was right side up the blotchy dark epoxy smears anchoring the seat frame were not aesthetically pleasing, nor were the previous owner’s stenciled names.

ImagePA200010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I had some grey Topside paint left over from the Rushton rebuild. Not quite the same shade of grey, but two minutes paint work was still 100% aesthetic improvement

ImagePA200013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA200019 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr


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PostPosted: October 25th, 2022, 10:36 am 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
Next day I put the Loon upside down on the tall sawhorses so I could work on the underside of the thwart, and laid glass tape across the bottom of the thwart and hull edge.

ImagePA200023 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Same epoxy and glass process as topside; a bead of thickened G/flex 655 atop the kevlar felt gap filler.

ImagePA200021 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA200025 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Then 2” glass tape across the hull edge and thwart, with peel ply compression.

ImagePA200026 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

When I say “permanent” utility sail thwart I mean permanent; that puppy is never budging.

The Loon rested upside down and elevated for a day, with a radiant oil heater underneath, set on low. Back underneath on the tall horses I filed down any sharp edges from the glass and epoxy and lightly sanded all of the new glass work.

ImagePA210028 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA210029 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A day later the underside got taped and painted

ImagePA220036 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA220038 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And then flipped back upright to paint the topsides. Yes, paint. The Loons 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.

I thought white paint on the utility thwart would look better on the all white Loon than varnished wood. With the thwart Florida UV exposed I used Topside paint.

ImagePA220040 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

As always with paint over epoxy the topside needed a second coat. So did the bottom side, but, meh, nobody really sees that side. A second coat of white paint on top, before the sail mount and etc went on, was wise UV and scrape/scratch prophylaxis.

The top of the thwart could have used a third coat of white paint, but that was not to be. I had plenty of white topside paint, but no decent quality foam brushes. My brush work is horrible, and for a better finish with anything, epoxy, varnish, urethane or paint, I tip out my bristle brush work with a foam brush.

I had a box of foam brushes. Cheap foam brushes bought from Amazon. Very cheap foam brushes that were as soft and smooth as a Brillo pad. Tipping out with those just made anything worse, streaky and irregular; I’ll never use those again for anything that shows. I had two higher quality foam brushes left, so two coats on top was all she wrote.

Lacking the means to apply a third coat of paint I could go ahead and “dress” the utility thwart. Scotty rod base/sail mount first.

ImagePA230042 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Then a run or over/under/over bungee with a tension adjustable cord lock on one end.

ImagePA230044 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

With all of the through-thwart holes pre-drilled and bungee holes chamfered that was but a few minutes work.

Then another advantage provided by a utility sail thwart in a decked canoe. There isn’t a good place to secure a paddle, spare paddle or furled sail in a decked canoe. With gear stored under the decks paddle storage becomes even more problematic.

But paddles or sail tuck nicely out of the way under the cockpit coaming lip, and a couple of pad eyes, a deck hook and some bungee will hold them securely in place.

ImagePA230046 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Same thing in the other side for a spare paddle or furled sail.

ImagePA230047 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Those downwind Spirit Sails have shock corded carbon battens, which plug into the Y receiver in seconds for easy up/easy down. In variable winds it’s handy to leave the two piece battens connected, with the furled sail tucked under the coaming and bungee.

ImagePA230049 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

There are a few final touches still to go on the Loon, but I will wait ‘til Joel is back in the shop. I have come to appreciate having a deck compass on the utility thwart, which need only two more deck hooks to secure. Joel is a map & compass guy, but I’m not sure he has that style deck compass, and I have only a single deck hook left in shop supply.

ImagePA230051 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

We have knee bumpers and heel pads in all of our decked canoes.

ImagePA230052 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I am a wuss when it comes to padded comfort. Joel is made of tougher stuff, and in any case I would need him to take another test sit to determine the locations.

With the installation of the utility thwart the front of the cockpit coaming is now much stiffer. The 30 inches behind the seat less so. A more traditional thwart glassed in place across the stern would rectify that flexibility.

ImagePA230055 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Old shortie thwart; no router table, sanding and varnishing needed, just glass it in place and paint it white.

The Loon still needs some reflective tape on the stems, which Joel has come to appreciate on other boats, and an increasingly rare Duckhead sticker.

And, what the hell, the shop Gogetch. Either my pipe smoking paddling crescent moon, or friend Doug’s Dragon.

ImagePA230054 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The crescent moon Gogetch would be facing the bow, and Joel is superstitious about that facing direction. If Joel wants the Doug shop sticker it may have to go on a deck somewhere.

I am eagerly awaiting Joel’s eventual arrival in the shop. Although we are efficient shop partners I couldn’t wait on him to get the Loon outfitting started. He, the Loon and the newly ruddered Wenonah Voyager are Everglades bound in a week, and I won’t see his boats again ‘til spring.


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PostPosted: October 27th, 2022, 11:45 am 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
The shop Gogetch was applied by my artist-in-residence.

ImagePA240001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

He does nice work.

ImagePA240002 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.

ImagePA250003 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.

ImagePA250004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA250005 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.

ImageP1050476 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.

ImagePA260007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

ImagePA260011 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.

ImagePA260010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The stern deck got the more traditional X bungee pattern.

ImagePA260012 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=898

When the stern deck bungee has crapped out instead of replacing it I have installed strap grommets instead.

ImageP5010007 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.

ImagePA260009 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.

ImagePA260014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Last decorative and safety flourishes, some prismatic reflective tape on the bow and stern.

ImagePA250006 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.

ImagePA260016 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.

ImagePA260015 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-HandiCut

The 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.


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PostPosted: October 30th, 2022, 9:19 am 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
Minicel heel pads and knee bumpers perimeter taped for contact cement and the usual yaddayadda technique.

ImagePA260001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Once the contact cement cured that minicel got the usual bead of E-6000 industrial adhesive sealant. Brand new tube of E-6000. I put the applicator nozzle on and gave it a gentle squeeze. The closed end of the tube blew open and vomited E-6000 all over my fingers. I have gone through dozens of E-6000 tubes, and that never happened before.

That stuff is excellent at sealing the edges of minicel (and vinyl pads) to the hull, preventing death by water, sand and grit infiltration. And it is damn near impossible to get off your skin, the only solution is to let it dry and peel it off like sunburned skin.

Persevering I taped up the bottom of the tube and perimeter beaded all of the new minicel and vinyl pads. Or almost all of the vinyl pads; I had an old vinyl pad D-ring left from my late friend Brian’s canoe. Joel was fond of Brian, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a bit of Brian stuff in his Loon to go along with the Doug and Conk items.

I overlooked one decked canoe trick when we installed the pad eyes on the decks. Marrying a second pad eye under the deck using the same holes needs only longer pop rivets. There can be a dearth of under-deck tie points for float bags or gear restraint, and pairing the pad eyes there resolves the issue.

I didn’t feel like drilling out the existing pad eye pop rivets, and instead added yet another pad eye, centered atop the deck, with another underneath in line with the Brian D-ring.

ImagePA290027 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

There isn’t a lot of exposed rivet pin on that under deck pad eye, but all of the other pins need thread protectors.


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PostPosted: October 31st, 2022, 1:16 pm 
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Joined: January 11th, 2005, 4:58 pm
Posts: 2283
Location: Manitoba
Oh no, the tube blew open all over my fingers--that was most unfortunate.

Great idea of "marrying a second pad eye under the deck using the same holes needs only longer pop rivets." There always seems to be a need for under-deck tie points, and as you said, "pairing the pad eyes there resolves the issue."

_________________
Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 


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PostPosted: November 1st, 2022, 7:56 am 
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Joined: June 28th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 2900
Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
The paired pad eyes in a decked canoe is a Kruger Sea Wind idea. If I’m going to copy outfitting tricks I’ll copy from the best.

The Loon went up on the tall sawhorses again. I really should make hash mark on the office whiteboard every time a hull goes upside down, sideways, the other sideways and etc. On a full outfitting job I bet a boat flips around 20 times.

ImagePA290021 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That prismatic tape does glare.

On the tall horses this (last!) time so I could epoxy thread protectors on the exposed pop rivet pins. At two per pad eye, counting sundry OEM pop rivet stuff, there were 28 exposed rivet pins that needed covers.

That is a boatload of exposed sharps, promising dry bag punctures, or worse.

ImagePA300006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The two in the center are nylocks from the stern carry handle, no thread protectors needed.

It was a brief shop visit, Joel is still hurting from a motorcycle accident a year ago and lacks the hand strength to even compress a rivet tool. We added a mini SS D-ring below the bow deck, the peak of the deck made even a single pad eye problematic. I squeeze the pop rivet tool while Joel held the washer in place.

Joel uses a two holer canoe consoles on every trip in every canoe, and decided that he wanted one to fit between the pedestal frame on his Voyager.

ImageP9090034 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Five inches between the pedestal frame, six inch wide yoga block*. A little band saw action and the yoga block fit squeezed and snug at the base of the seat frame.

ImagePA310008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A little hole saw action.

ImagePA310009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Perfectly fitted between the seat frame, with a skinny slice leftover to use as a future knee bumper. A little Dragonskin action so the 3 ½” hole better accommodate a Nalgene bottle and done.

The last task for the day was adding a webbing tie down loop under the front license tag holder bolt, which proved to be an easy (and should have been obvious) solution for the Transit van tie down issues.

ImagePA310012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The finished Loon did not go on the Transit van. The Loon is a beast, and with Joel’s non-functional wing I wanted to wait for friend Steve, who is taller and stronger, to arrive later in the week.

ImagePA310013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I want a test paddle in the Loon, and in the soloized NorthStar, before Joel heads south for the winter. I’ll grab one of my sons and take both boats off to a favored paddling venue tomorrow.

*I use Yoga blocks for a lot of boat outfitting applications beyond canoe consoles. Those are available at Walmart, sometimes only in blue, now nearly $8 apiece. Conk to the rescue again; he has been buying yoga blocks from Sunshine Yoga.

https://www.sunshineyoga.com/sunshine-y ... 3-x-6-x-9/

$5 apiece with a discount code and free shipping, it was worth buying ten. In black, better matching black vinyl gunwales, seat webbing and various outfitting parts and pieces.


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