I wanted to do a little work on the Monarch. I’ve been spending more time in open canoes, which are easier for my aging knees to exit. As usual the first step was to wash the hull.

P5230006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Such a wonderful, capable hull, outfitted for my specifics, I needed to dress it up to see if it needed other maintenance attentions.

Utility thwart with Spirit Sail mount, open cleat to hold the bow painter in reach, deck compass hooks and dual paddle keeps.

P5230012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P5230018 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Spirit Sail for downwind sailing.

P5230009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Or, for lighter winds, a larger Pacific Action Sail, with sheets, cleats and fairleads.

P5240024 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Monarch will haul ass with that larger, more easily adjustable sail. The Pacific Action sail is strapped to a custom shaped minicel wedge cushion. covered with neoprene and Melco tape. Releasing the taut bungees deploys the sail in a split second.

When pulled down via the sheets the furled sail tucks out of the way under the cockpit coaming, held by one of the double-duty paddle keep bungees.

P5240029 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The foot brace heel pedals are original, the rudder pedals were replaced in the original tracks by something more adjustable; the OEM rudder pedals were not easily location changeable.

P5230014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Any pad eye atop the decks is paired with an underdeck pad eye, a Verlan Kruger outfitting trick that provides under-deck tie points without drilling more holes.

P5230017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And all the usual creature comfort suspects, Surf-to-Summit back band and RidgeRest padded seat pan, with padded knee brace bumpers.

P5230019 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P5230020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And, for in-camp use, where I am loath to turn a ruddered boat upside down, a storage cover.

P5240035 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That is a Pamilco 145T (or 160T? I forget) cover. The back band, left in place, creates a perfect drainage arch, and with the storage cover hooked to the deck bungees it can’t go anywhere.

P5240036 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Monarch, pristine when I bought it used, has a thousand superficial bottom scratches; dozens of trips and 90% of the scratches were scrapes from just two very challenging and abusive episodes. Both memorable, no regrets.

P5250041 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

There is one deep gel coat chip missing, later smeared semi-protectively with epoxy.

P5250039 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Hint: When solo loading a 17’ Kevlar boat in fierce winds at the landing after a coastal trip it is worth moving the truck and canoe to a less wind exposed spot. I got the Monarch on the crossbars. It did not stay there in time for me to get a belly line around it.

Hint II: Trying to “catch” a 50+ lb boat when it takes flight from the roof racks is an exercise in futility. At least I managed to break its fall. And only slightly hurt myself.

What the Monarch does not have, what every other boat we own has, is skid plates. Specifically, 1 ½” Dynel sleeve skid plates, with the usual 105/206, G/flex, black pigment and graphite powder mix.

I am getting better at Dynel skid plate installation every time, glad I saved the Monarch ‘til now; it deserves my best efforts.

I've never paddled the Monarch but I'd love to. I really like the idea of the Monarch and other similar craft.

The seat and yoke is also intriguing. I've always wondered about a good solo whitewater tripping canoe portaging seat and yoke system.

_________________
Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 

The Monarch is an amazing boat in open water wind and wave. It is a better boat than I am paddler and has allowed me to be out in stuff that would have kept me ashore in an open canoe.

Missed a photo, timed out to edit. The minicel and neoprene wedge that cushions the Pacific Action Sail.

P5240028 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Before installing the skid plates I wanted to fill in the missing gel coat on the stern, a pinkie-nail sized chip out of both sides, the Monarch must have bounced when it hit. I know I said bad words when the stern hit the parking lot.

Since that area will be covered by the black pigment and graphite powder skid plate PC-7 epoxy paste was the filler of choice. A little dab mixed up, smeared over the hollows, covered with a scrap of release treated peel ply and hand compressed.

P5260001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Peel ply off the next day, sanded smooth and ready for skid plates.

P5270006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The skid plate material is 1 ½” wide “lightweight” Dynel sleeve. I wanted the sleeve cut with a vee end to better fit the curve at the stem tips. The easiest solo cutting method was to anchor the far end of the sleeve and cut the vee out in tension.

Laid out and perimeter taped.

P5270007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A bit of light sanding inside the tape box and the Monarch was ready for Dynel sleeve skid plates.

P5270010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Pre-cut Dynel sleeve, 1 ½” wide x 24” long, with a vee taper at one end, 3” wide peel ply cut to 26” length. The release treated peel ply got a slice up the stem curve end, so I can overlap it for less wrinkled or puckered ends.

P5270008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Paper masked to catch any epoxy drips of sags. To best saturate the two layers of sleeve the epoxy mix needs to be laid generously, which invariably means drips down the sides.

P5270011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Time to mix some epoxy. West 105/206 for the base coat, without pigment so I can see the unobscured tape box while laying the Dynel sleeve in place, there is not a lot of misaligned wiggle room inside the tape box. Gloved hand compressed to push some epoxy inside the sleeve and help hold it in place for the topcoat.

Then 105/206 with black pigment and a little graphite powder for a heavy, sleeve saturating top coat. I didn’t want too much graphite powder, not sure if the fine powder prevents some epoxy penetration, but I wanted graphite powder embedded in the Dynel weave for extra abrasion toughness.

P5270013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Wait for that epoxy to penetrate the sleeve layers and firm up a bit, ceasing to drip down the paper mask, then pull the tape and paper.

P5270015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Lay the release treated peel ply, with split ends folded over at the stems, and have at it with the hard roller atop the peel ply every 15 minutes until the epoxy becomes firm. The end of a tongue depressor works well to bevel down the sleeve edges as the epoxy sets up.

That roller and tongue depressor action always smushes a wavery line of black epoxy outside the perimeter. No worries, there is a light epoxy topcoat in the next morning’s future.

P5270016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Peel ply removed next morning there was one small wrinkle to file off at the stern tip where the split end peel ply didn’t quite do the trick. The Dynel proved its abrasion resistance; hard as hell to file off even that wee raised crinkle. Filing down that raised boo-boo proved the black pigmented epoxy had thoroughly saturated both layers of Dynel sleeve. I believe the hard roller compression and tongue blade edge beveling helps force the epoxy into the fabric.

Despite my best effort and attention with the hard roller and tongue depressor beveler there were a few spots along the edges standing unbeveled taller than I’d like. I wanted the edges smooth and flush. Teeny cup, teeny brush and a teeny batch of black pigmented G/flex 655 thickened applied along the edges to fill in the gaps where needed.

P5280017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Love those toothpaste tube squeeze keys for rolling up those tubes of product.

The thick G/flex 655 painted along the raised sleeve edges filled in nicely and doesn’t sag or run, but it also doesn’t self-level, leaving small lumps and bumps. I ran a narrow strip of peel ply (from a 3” wide roll, cut down the center) at the sleeve edge and gently beveled it flush with gloved hand.

Once the G/glex set up I sanded the epoxied sleeve to remove any remaining offenses.

P5280018 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Taped and papered (again).

P5290020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Lightly top coated with mixed 105/206 and G/flex 650, black pigment and a heavier (still less than 20% by volume) dose of graphite powder. And a heavier ratio of G/flex; I had nearly exhausted a couple 16oz tubes of 650 and used it up, at least 60% G/flex in the mix.

The epoxy and graphite powder topcoat could have been laid a little thicker for better hide, I used what I mixed and called it good.

P5290022 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Again, no worries; after the epoxy has had a chance to cure the Dynel skid plates will get lightly sanded (again), taped and papered (again) and top coated with black paint.

If you are keeping score at home when the paint goes on it will have been a four-day process to install skid plates. Which may explain why even some manufacturers install Kevlar felt skid plates at buyer’s request. Dynel fabric or sleeve skids plates are a finicky, attention to detain multi-day task, installing Kevlar felt skid plates is an easy couple hours at most.

Still doesn’t explain why manufacturers don’t at least pigment the epoxy so the felt better matches the hull color, or use lightly compressed peel ply to eliminate the felt’s rough surface.

With the skid plates curing I could flip the Monarch back upright for some minor maintenance attention.

The bungee on the stern deck, good quality woven sheath stuff, is badly stretched out. An easy enough fix, retie the knot and cut off the bitter end excess. Bungee is one of those buy-once, cry-once things; if that had been poor quality bungee the whole thing would need to be replaced by now.

The cause of the stretched out bungee is a bit of a mystery. I don’t often use the stern bungee; I don’t trust it to hold anything on the deck behind me where I can’t keep an eye on it. I do sometimes put a dry-bagged sleeping pad on the back deck, but don’t want to risk “Ooops, didn’t see my sleeping pad wash away on wave”, so it gets webbing strapped in place.

One pair of strap connections was done using strap grommets.

P5300003 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

https://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_p ... cts_id=898

The other pair used webbing strap connections from Wenonah.

P5300005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Fail. “Stainless steel” my sweet patatooie. I used dozens of those to back up stud rivets on a spray covered canoe. Great concept, I could easily run lines or straps over gear. Crappy result; in short order every one of those 30 Wenonah connections had rusty badly, and that canoe saw little or no salt water action.

Still solid, but I hated shedding rust particles inside the canoe when I ran straps or ropes. I wasn’t drilling out all 30 snap rivets, so I cut (bolt cutters) off the rusty rectangles and ran Zing-it cord through the clasp openings. I can still tie-in near the sheerline with rope or webbing.

P3200679 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Monarch fix was much easier. Drill out the rusty junk, thanks Wenonah.

P5300007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And install two strap grommets in their place. There is a frustration-prevention trick when installing grommet straps on a deck. Flush is not good, the webbing opening needs to be elevated a wee bit so it is easier to pass the webbing strap ends through.

The strap grommets have an indent for the pop rivet head but the backside is flat/flush. A washer between the hull and strap grommet provides just enough elevation to thread the webbing. And another washer backing up the rivet pin inside the hull.

P5300008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P5300009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Not much left to do topsides. I’m going to use black Rustoleum enamel to top coat the skid plates, so it can be easily touched up with ubiquitous Rustoleum. The aluminum yoke pad braces could use black paint touch up. Best done with the seat removed.

P5300013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The seat has the OEM arrangement of bungee and hooks connected to pads eyes at the base of the seat brackets. I didn’t have full faith in that single thin bungee to hold the seat in place when the Monarch was roof racked upside down, and even bungee clipped the seat would rattle in place a bit, which might not be good for wear on the multi-position slotted seat brackets foam board and was annoying when driving with the truck windows open.

Belt and suspenders I added bungee balls to more firmly hold the seat in place.

P5300014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

All of those bungees need replacement as well.

It is a very clever and multi-functional hanger, seat and yoke design.

P5300019 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A little scraping at the black paint on the yoke frame took all the loose stuff off and a new coat of black could be painted on.

P5300020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

“It is a very clever and multi-functional hanger, seat and yoke design.”

I concur!

Do you, was it made in-house? Is there an aftermarket version?

_________________
Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 

That height adjustable seat/yoke was standard on the Mad River Monarch and Verlen Kruger’s Sea Wind. The Kruger designed Loon may have had a similar seat in later iterations but the Loons I’ve seen had a height adjustable sliding seat that was a bit more kludgy to raise or lower, and lacked the seat inverted yoke feature.

https://used-kayaks.com/not-specified/s ... yak-138639

I have not seen an aftermarket version of that seat sold by a manufacturer. Folks who have built stripper or composite decked canoes styled after the Monarch or Sea Wind have copied the slotted seat hanger brackets and yoke design with a bucket seat pan.

I used a square of that Kevlar foam board to make a light weight folding tabletop for a blue barrel, a backgammon tabletop. The checkerboard others are made from 1/4” birch plywood; the 30L birch version weighs 1lb 11oz.

P8033834 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The Kevlar foam board version weighs 1lb 2oz; the weight savings and limited availability of the Kevlar foam board for that application wasn’t worth it. Kruger-style seat hangers could probably be DIYed okoume marine plywood sheathed with glass and epoxy.

MRC made Monarchs from 1982 to 1995. Mine is one of the last made, with a ’96 HIN. Early Monarchs used thinner Kevlar foam board for the seat brackets and the slots sometimes deformed from paddler weight on the seat. That was the case with a friend’s early ‘80’s Monarch; we epoxied Dynel cord in the hanger slots to prevent further deformation.

A final inspection of the decks and everything there was good to go. The webbing loop bungee connections on the back deck, strap grommets and etc were chosen to be as low-profile as possible.

P5290002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

If I ever needed to cowboy reentry straddling the stern deck (knock wood) I didn’t want any nut-grabbers standing tall. T’aint a concern on the front deck, unless I’m attempting the rare “reverse cowboy”, which begins to sound Texas Rodeo Kama Sutra-ish. The tall standing pad eyes and SS fairleads for the Pacific Action sail are a non-issue on the front deck.

Time for a different perspective on Monarch maintenance. I’ve seen the bottom. I’ve seen the top. I haven’t yet had a close look under the decks and know there is a rudder pedal issue that needs adjustment.

I retrofitted the rudder pedals with self-centering bungee, pulling them evenly forward with pedals foot released. That bungee, installed years ago, is stretched out, leaving the rudder pedals and cable floppy loose. Not good.

That bungee is attached at the front of the pedal slider track and passes through cord locks on the backside of the OEM rudder line pulleys. As originally manufactured a length of cord ran from one rudder pedal, forward through a pully wheel, across under the deck, through another pulley and back to the pedal on the other side.

It worked to move both pedals equally and prevented the pedal sliders from accidentally falling off the back of the track, but it was not self-centering and I didn’t like the traverse underdeck line when stuffing in dry bags.

P5300010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Lacking a giraffe’s neck that bungee inspection and any underdeck work will be easiest with the Monarch elevated on tall sawhorses, so I can scoot underneath and face my work. Time to stick my head inside the Monarch. God bless the 4’ tall sawhorses.

P5300021 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

And bless the wheeled shop chair. Travelling from workbench to under the decks I barely need to duck. Push off from the bench with tool in hand and roll under the hull facing my work at a comfortable height.

Need a different tool or part? Push off and glide back to the bench while still seated. I work no harder than needed; perfecting a flying 180 degree pivot while enroute came naturally.

That inspection proved maintenance was needed. I gave a tug one rudder bungee and it did a bad thing; the 30 year old pop rivet broke, and the bungee whapped the metal pulley back at my face. The deck pad eye above that pulley was barely held in place, better to discover that now in the shop than out on the water.

P5310026 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Can’t complain, the Monarch is a 1992 hull. Can complain a little; the 31 year old pulley wheels are in surprisingly excellent condition, the OEM pulley installation, backing up SS pad eyes on the bow deck, was not well factory executed. Even the intact pulley was pop riveted cockeyed. Easy enough to drill out and replace the suspect pop rivets, and I don’t really need the pulleys.

I drilled them out but couldn’t execute an improved rudder bungee concept I was envisioning; I had a variety of leftover cord locks in shop, none strong enough to firmly hold the new self-centering bungee concept..

I know Sgt Knots crown spring cord locks have the grip necessary, I tested a half dozen different cord locks for grip strength and saltwater corrosion resistance, and the Sgt Knots crown spring cord locks were by far grip superior, and more corrosion resistant, than any others tested. And many of the tested cord locks tested were a never-again useless joke.

https://myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=48736

But I used the last of those uber-strong Sgt Knots cord locks on the “universal” spray cover, actually ordered a 10 pack to finish that job.

https://myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic. ... ts#p447191

Life is too short to suffer bad cord locks. Another buy once-cry once purchase.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6 ... UTF8&psc=1

I originally bought a 25 pack, found many uses including friend’s stuff, and bought a 10 pack to finish off the spray cover. I came up two short on the spray cover and settled for lesser cord locks at two attachment points. Seriously man, think ahead. I ordered 50 this time.

40 cents apiece? Worth it to never again be crappy cord lock frustrated.

Not arriving for a couple days, time to step away from the elevated and inverted Monarch and think about a redesign of tension-able rudder pedal bungees.

Shop confession. I could have sworn I bought a new pack of crown spring cord locks. I looked. I searched in every box of outfitting parts and pieces. Repeatedly, emptying the same boxes over and over and then searching places I would not have intentionally stored them. Nope, not in the epoxy box. Nope, not in the rope box. Nope, not in the refrigerator. But there was a cold beer; always check the fridge.

The same day the new supply arrived I found an unopened bag of 25 crown springs. In one of the outfitting boxes, the likeliest, most obvious one. A primary parts box I had checked a half dozen times. No wonder I didn’t see them, the bag was plainly visible, with a large font label “Sgt Knots Crown Spring Cord Lock, Black” facing out. I think the shop poltergeists are gaslighting me.

I won’t be needing high quality cord locks for a while and will be sending a handful to friends.

Waiting for the new (unnecessary) batch of cord locks to arrive provided an opportunity to ponder a better way to arrange that rudder pedal bungee. The ability to cord lock adjust the bungee tension is critical; too tight requires too much toe pressure on the rudder pedals, too loose and both pedals can slide back simultaneously, leaving the rudder cables droopy slack. That tension needs to be adjusted just right initially, but as the bungee stretches retightening is helpful.

The previous arrangement did not provide easy bungee tensioning; the cord locks were a long way up under the deck, necessitating arms-length awkward blind fumbling to readjust. That bungee arrangement was simply knotted and looped around a nut at the bow end of the slider rail, and stretched to cord locked behind OEM pulley wheels.

P5300010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Given a few extra days for design contemplation was helpful. I used a P-clip/cable clamp attached with that same nut to secure bungee to the slider rail. Those little clips are boatwork handy, but the typical hardware store electrical aisle type are too flimsy, and the hole is less than the common 3/16”. Rudder tube clamps (so many different names) intended for outfitting are vastly superior.

https://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_p ... cts_id=517

Slider rail attachments points done I installed pad eyes underdeck where the OEM pulleys were, paired with the pad eyes on the deck, and ran the bungee from the P-clip on the slider track through the underdeck pad eye and back through the clip, adjustably captured by a strong cord lock.

I intended to replace the SS pad eyes on the deck with black nylon ones.

https://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_p ... cts_id=137

But the hole spacing was significantly different and I wasn’t drilling new holes in the deck. Fortunately, I had a few hole-matching SS pad eyes in shop stock. The OEM pad eyes atop the deck are 30 years old and the Monarch has seen a lot of salt water use; there is “stainless”, and then there is marine grade stainless.

The new, more easily adjustable rudder pedal bungee is tough to explain, photos may help.

P-clip on slider track

P6030001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P6030002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Underdeck pad eyes

P6030005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Bungee loop with cord lock adjustability

P6030007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P6040011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The new bungee arrangement puts the tension-adjusting cord lock further aft, in an easier to reach, more visibly location at the front of the slider rails, no more stretch-as-far-underdeck as your arms reach and fumble blindly. Note: previously stretch and fumble blindly with both arms; can’t compress the cord lock and pull the bungee unless you have more than one thumb per hand. It was an awkward underdeck stretch standing below the Monarch elevated on tall sawhorses and damn near impossible in the field.

Getting the amount of tension on the bungees just right is Goldilocks finicky; too loose and the rudder doesn’t self-center, too tight and it requires excessive pressure to move the pedals.

The bungee diameter/stretch resistance matters too. I had some 3/16” woven sheath bungee that would pass twice through the Sgt Knots crown spring cord lock (love the secure grip of those cord locks, and the size of the aperture). I attached that bungee first and test pressed the foot pedals; self-centering yes, but a bit too stiff. The Monarch already has foot braces below the rudder pedals, I don’t need to apply that much pressure while steering with my toes/ball of foot.

P5230014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The black bungee with reflective tracer is 1/8” woven sheath, and when cord lock adjusted is (almost) perfect, and in the new configuration easy to re-tension, or even eventually replace.

Which I will; I need to find woven sheath bungee between 1/8” and 3/16” that will fit nicely through the wide Sgt Knots aperture, stopper knot it behind the pad eye, to the P-clip and back through a cork lock for a run of perfectly sized/strength bungee cord. That’ll be Plan X for the ideal self-centering, easily adjustable rudder pedal bungees.

The Monarch deserves nothing less than perfection.

In order to install paired pad eyes under-deck I removed the lateral run of bungee from the front deck when drilling out the OEM pad eyes for new pop rivets. Pad eyes paired above and below is a no-brainer.

That deck bungee serves a functional purpose, not for holding gear, it is too far away. With the utility thwart’s paddle-keeps holding the shaft secure I can capture the blade up front when shoved under that deck bungee. With the deck pad eyes reinstalled I needed to put that bungee back in place.

Woven sheath marine bungee again, but with a ball spacer this time, quicker and easier to shove a paddle blade beneath when switching paddles.

P6040012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P6040013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Anyone else see the obvious mistake(s) there? I’m not reinstalling the bungee to correct that oversight now.

Last bit of work on the Monarch. Upside down again, the graphite powder in the un-peel plied topcoat always sets up a little rough.

P5290022 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Dynel sleeve and graphite powder skid plates sanded.

P6050014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Top coated with black Rustoleum enamel.

P6050016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

While the brush and Rustoleum were out I sanded and top coated the aluminum yoke brace.

P6050020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Pay no attention to that man with his head in the boat. And in the clouds.

My various rudder pedal bungee plans started with leaving the OEM pulleys in place and running a loop of bungee through them and back to the slider track. I nixed that concept when I discovered how poorly pop riveted those pulleys were, but somehow became fixated on the bungee loop idea.

I have been known to complain about simple things becoming over-engineered. Guilty as charged, keep it simple stupid. A single bungee line, stopper knotted behind the new underdeck pad eyes.

P6060002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Bungee run back through a P-clip on the bolt at the end of slider rail.

P6060003 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

(Geeze, I really need to clean the sand out of those tracks)

And tensioned with a crown spring cord lock

P6060004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That is KISS perfection and took all of 5 minutes to re-do. The bungee tension is now ideal to self-center the pedals without being too strenuous to toe push, and the cord lock is positioned as far aft as possible, making it easier to adjust as needed. Gimme a few days to think about something, and a couple attempts, and I’ll get it right eventually.



Pay no attention to that man with his head in the boat, he fails to observe things 12 inches from his eyes, things that he will later notice only in photographs. Like the sand in the rudder pedal tracks, I finally noticed something missing in this photograph.

P6030005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The pad eyes on the deck are my work, installed as fairleads for the Pacific Action sail.

P6060007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I used thick, smoothly rounded pad eyes bolted in place. Apparently not 316 marine grade stainless; they have a bit of saltwater corrosion. I did not think to pair them with below deck pad eyes, but I will, and I don’t even need to drill out pop rivets, just unscrew the nuts.

Eh, no I won’t, at least not today. I have three different types of pad eyes in the shop. None have the same center-to-center hole spacing as the ones I used as fairleads. I have black nylon pad eyes and a couple different stainless ones, all of which have 1 ½” C-to-C spacing.

P6060005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The center-to-center spacing on the beefy fairlead pad eyes is 1 3/8”. Added to my outfitter shopping list, I’ll need to bring the calipers to check.

Before I again took the Monarch off the tall sawhorses I cleaned the slider tracks and had one last, careful look inside. I could see nothing else in need of attention. Probably notice it in photographs later.

With the Monarch finished I hope to have another canoe in the shop tomorrow; my friend Jane’s little used 3-seat Mohawk Nova 16. She is looking to sell it and the thwarts need attention, provided “attention” means “replacement”; the ends are so decayed that one of the machine screws is through no wood.

I doubt I have finished thwarts the lengths I’ll need. I’ll have to make some. But no knee bumpers, D-rings, foot brace or skid plates, just back to a factory stock 3-seat Nova 16. Maybe some deck plate and thwart bungee, just ‘cause.

Thankfully the seats drops are aluminum brackets, and the seats have webbing, not 19 year old cane.

I can web a busted cane seat, I could web three of them, but I sure don’t feel much like doing so.