View topic - Mounting a GoPro on a canoe with a Spray Deck

I delayed but I finally bit the bullet and purchased a North Water spray deck. They should start making in Tomorrow or Monday. I'd forgotten but then it came to me. How will I mount a GoPro on the canoe when the spray deck is installed. I normally use one of the GoPro brand spring loaded clamps with the flex arm on it and clamp it on the gunnel at various locations or a thwart.

I was thinking I should get some extra flap added at some location that would still allow me to mount the GoPro on the gunnel or thwart without making putting a bunch of extra wear and tear on the deck material. Anyone have suggestions? I'll need them soon as the cutting and sewing starts soon.
Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave,
Congrats on the skirt! Northwater makes a great product.
See the following post on how I've attached my GoPro. It's crude, but cheap and effective.
https://myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=46378

Some footage taken from this mounting position:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mQkYNLtFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8seHU-xOy9c

David

Here's what I did:
1. Drilled two new holes on each side of the canoe near the stern thwart (above the ones for the skirt).
2. Glued a lashing patch (the ones NorthWater provides for their skirts) to each hole.
3. Cut a plank to fit the width of the canoe just ahead of the stern thwart.
4. Bungied the plank down through each lashing patch. This makes the plank easy to remove. (the pic shows a cord--I've now changed to a bungy).
5. Clipped the camera attachment to the board and move the camera as needed.

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I like having Northwater incorporate the little flap/hatch idea, especially if it could be done at a single location (reachable thwart maybe), with some Velcro on three sides |_| to keep it sealed closed when not in use.

With that flap you could DIY a little square of split fabric to cover the opening so that it surrounded the mounting base when the “hatch” is open and the camera mounted in place.

David & JeffSki
Good solutions that provide a variety of camera locations. This provides me with an idea. If I stick with the flap/hatch idea as Mike encourages me to do but put two flap/hatches on opposing sides along the gunnel that would allow me to attach a board when I want to use that approach. I think the flap/hatch idea allows me to go out and video with less gear if I'm in a minimalist mood.

Mike also brings us another point. Velcro or Zipper..... or both. Are both applied in the portage hatch?

The other thing that I'm trying to think about is whether the hatch/flap should just be a linear opening or more "C" shaped. I'm leaning towards the a linear opening along the gunnels because a clamp on the gunnel doesn't need much room.

I was thinking that I would put a flap/hatch on the bow handle. The trim on my boat is wood and there is enough room between the fore deck and the handle to position the clamp and camera (mounted directly on the clamp - see image) so that it is recessed into the gunnels. Found out the hard way that it is not a good idea to have anything protruding above the bow gunnels when running rapids. My bow paddler (my wife) almost knocked the camera off the boat when trying to quickly make a cross draw stroke. So for all the space required to recess camera I'm thinking of a "C" shaped zipper around the bow handle. It would also make it easier to grab the canoe from the handle instead of the bow grab strap/rope.

So I'm thinking two openings on the gunnels (opposing sides) roughly a foot/30 cm behind the bow seat and a hatch around the bow handle. I typically mount a GoPro on my helmet for shooting a forward looking angle on a rapids and I was thinking I could attach some rod mount for a camera on the aft deck that wouldn't interfere with the spray deck for some flat water forward looking shots. I'm thinking I create some plate mount on the bow deck to get that "close to the water" view point (not interfering with the bow paddler). Again that shouldn't interfere with the spray deck the way North Water makes them.

That's my thinking so far. Thoughts? Any film makers out there with suggestions?

That seems much. More secure than my method, but we don't use that for white water. What type of clamp is that, btw?

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It is a GoPro brand clamp. I just remove the flex arm and used just the clamp.