Decked Canoe Conversion

[PortlandBCS]

I paddle a lot of big, open water such as the lower Columbia River and some of the large lakes in Oregon and Washington and have always coveted a decked canoe such as a Kruger Sea Wind. Those, however, are ridiculously expensive, so I decided to build my own. Two summers ago I built my first wood strip canoe, a solo of my own design roughly based on a Mad River Malecite/Independence. I kinda, sorta planned to convert that into a decked canoe if the hull proved to be what I wanted. After a year of paddling I was quite satisfied with the hull, and decided to make the conversion. Here are pictures of the original and finished conversion.

 

[PortlandBCS]

I stripped off the woodwork and carefully measured and marked the hull where I wanted to cut down the shear line. Oh my goodness did this make me nervous - the point of no return. It took me a whole day to decide where to cut and actually saw into the hull.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Next came bulkheads and deck supports, as well as in-wales. The bulkheads and supports were fully glassed. I planed and sanded the in-wales to get them as close to the angle for the decks as I could.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Next came the decks. I used quarter inch finish plywood. I should have made stripped decks but was pressed for time. I taped the deck halves nearly together and used the hull to set the angle. Then I glued the halves together with a bead of thickened epoxy. When dry, I carefully removed the decks and glassed their undersides. When set, they held their angle. I cut hatches into the decks, built up spacers for foam seals and glassed everything.

 

[PortlandBCS]

I epoxied the decks to the hull and had to add center sections as two 8' plywood decks do not cover a 17'+ hull. It was a bit finicky but turned out well. After the epoxy set I cut out the cockpit, sanded the edges flush with the hull (actually rounded over) and glassed everything in place.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Next came the coaming. This was tricky as I had to build it to fit a specific spray deck. Spray decks for kayaks are rare for large open cockpits, and I didn't want to pay for a custom one. Turned out pretty good - fits the deck I bought just right. Gotta love a $1 sale on 3" spring clamps. Sanded and glassed the coaming inside and out.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Added a seat, hatch seals and straps, deck hardware and too much deck rigging. She turned out just like I wanted. Paddles like the original hull - great sit-and-switch with a bent shaft, great one sided tipped up slightly Canadian style, great with a long double blade - but is nearly impervious to the wind and sheds waves like a duck. She's about 60lbs, not bad for 17'+ with fully glassed decks and bulkheaded compartments. The only down side is that she's not as easy to carry or car top - just more awkward.

 

[alsg]

What's the difference between a decked canoe and a kayak?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Terrific project and very nice looking. Is the seat on the bottom or elevated off the bottom?

You'll need a rudder to be really Sea Windy.

 

[PortlandBCS]

A decked canoe is wider than a sea kayak so that it is stable with a raised seat. It also has a larger cockpit so that one's legs can move around. Having tried a number of different sea kayaks with a variety of seats, I find that my knees and legs are always in agony within about 45 minutes. Also, having worked with my hands all my life, I have a tendency for carpal tunnel. Paddling sit-n-switch with a bent shaft puts the least stress on my wrists, which is possible with some canoe hull designs. Double paddles tend to really stress my wrists. The down side is that a decked canoe cannot be rolled.
The seat is elevated about 6 inches off the bottom. I think I'll modify it so that it can be higher and lower. I'd like to be able to kneel and rest my bottom on the seat from time to time. As it is now, I can cross my legs and tuck my knees under the decks for a secure fit when the water is rough.

 

[Jim Dodd]

It looks Great ! The real important thing, is You made it ! Well worth a Pat on the back !
At the beginning, I thought NO he's cutting up a stripper ! But in the end, you have what you wanted !
Congratulations !



Jim

 

[latremorej]

Very nice!

 

[stripperguy]

PBCS,
Nice work, and nice solution to your needs.
Did you weigh your boat just before the mods and added decks? I'm curious what penalty you paid for those decks...

 

[Cruiser]

I have to admit I winced at your pic of cutting the hull ... but you pulled it off, looks really good.

How much do you think the plywood cost you in weight versus stripping the top?


Brian

 

[Guest]

I paddle a lot of big, open water such as the lower Columbia River and some of the large lakes in Oregon and Washington and have always coveted a decked canoe such as a Kruger Sea Wind. Those, however, are ridiculously expensive, so I decided to build my own. Two summers ago I built my first wood strip canoe, a solo of my own design roughly based on a Mad River Malecite/Independence. I kinda, sorta planned to convert that into a decked canoe if the hull proved to be what I wanted. After a year of paddling I was quite satisfied with the hull, and decided to make the conversion. Here are pictures of the original and finished conversion.

That is awesome. We have a modern Malecite, and an old glass Indy, and except for the shallow sheerline I have always loved the way those hulls paddled, especially in wind and wave.

About the large spray decks, it is surprising how many of the rec kayak spray decks fit various decked canoes with large cockpit openings. I believe DougD has a Wilderness Pamlico skirt that fits both his Optima and his Rob Roy.

Of course that large a skirt would implode in a real wave without some additional support, but for rain, splash and spray they do the trick.

It is hard to resist deck rigging. Map, compass and spare paddle restraints at least. If I need space for anything bulkier than that on the decks it goes behind me, most often a lightweight but bulky sleeping pad in narrow dry bag strapped tightly to the rear deck. Stuff on the front deck can be a deflected splash pain in the face with wave spray coming over the bow.

I am a dedicated fan of decked canoes, for many of the same reasons. Increased sea worthiness on open water. Easier entry and exit from a large opening. More comfortable raised seat position. These are all 1970s decked tandems with rudders, bought used cheap and soloized.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Opt...hUjSN8KHerEDi8Q9QEIMTAB#imgrc=YcHfsCFSldcL9M:

Same boats with a Monarch in front for comparison.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Opt...hUjSN8KHerEDi8Q9QEIOzAG#imgrc=BmP4c6wJlobFnM:

Those ruddered hulls all downwind sail nicely, even without paddle in hand.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Opt...hUjSN8KHerEDi8Q9QEIOzAG#imgrc=iqb5tfnBliId8M:

The seat is elevated about 6 inches off the bottom. I think I'll modify it so that it can be higher and lower. I'd like to be able to kneel and rest my bottom on the seat from time to time.

The slotted seat hangers in Kruger designed decked canoes are a workable solution to that, and depending on the balance point you might be able to incorporate a similar reversible seat with yoke pads on the bottom to help with carries.

This style slotted seat hangers, with reversible seat underside yoke pads

https://www.google.com/search?q=Mad...#imgdii=fWnmv-cVFidr5M:&imgrc=aeuBcPKSMzMoOM:

As a fellow decked boatian I would be happy to trace out the side hangers in the Monarch and send you a copy to modify for the decked Indy. PM me if you want a paper tracing.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Thanks everyone.
Prior to the conversion the stripper itself, with ash woodwork came in around 50 lbs. I built it stout because I am not a small paddler and I like to be able to bang and drag my boats without worry. I think I added around 10-12 lbs in the conversion. I used 4oz glass, cedar for the in-wales, and of course, lost a lot of shear depth. I probably would have saved close to 5 lbs had I used wood strips for the decks.
Mr. McCrea, as a fellow decked canoe enthusiast I've been a fan of your posts in the past. A number of years ago I built a decked canoe from someone else's abandoned stripper project. It was a 16' tandem prospector that was glassed on the outside. I went through the same process as with this hull, but when I put on the decks I pulled in the sides to make it more solo friendly. This massively rounded the bottom. "Twitchy" doesn't come close. I had to sit nearly on the bottom and it was downright scary in rough water. Boy was it fast, though; fastest hull I've ever paddled. I sold it to a guy who wanted to add ballast and a sliding seat and oars. Never heard how that went for him. Anyway, I made a Kruger-esque adjustable seat for that boat and have been debating putting one in the new one; I've nearly decided to do so. Thanks for the offer of the pattern. I'll probably just do one to my own design as I'll have to adapt for the bottom and side profiles to set the seat heights. I'll add a couple of shots of the old project and the seat. I like using a standard web style seat - more range of movement. I used the seat on it's lowest setting for sit-n-switch, middle for single side cruising, and set on the highest in the back and middle in the front for kneeling.

 

[OFaceFul]

JEM Watercraft has a very nice design for solo decked canoe, North Wind model, 17'2" x 29". You can buy plans for either stich-n-glue or woodstrip construction. Last year I built the woodstrip JEM North Wind, my only adjustment to plans is slightly raising the pitch of the deck. This is not an ultra-light canoe. Larry.

 

[PortlandBCS]

Larry, that's a great looking North Wind. How do you like her?
Comically, I bought a set of those plans a couple of years ago, but I seem to have a mental deficiency that causes me to want to do things on my own, of my own plan and design. This has led me into deep waters a time or two, and undoubtedly cost me in numerous mistakes, or rather "learning opportunities". Honestly, I can't even remember why I decided to design and build my own hull after getting those plans. Everything I've seen of that boat, along with the reviews all seem to indicate that it is a great boat that achieves exactly what I was aiming for in the first place. I'm sure, absolutely sure, that with a few little modifications I could have used those plans to build exactly the boat I wanted. Like I said, mental deficiency.

 

[Guest]

JEM Watercraft has a very nice design for solo decked canoe, North Wind model, 17'2" x 29". You can buy plans for either stich-n-glue or woodstrip construction. Last year I built the woodstrip JEM North Wind, my only adjustment to plans is slightly raising the pitch of the deck. This is not an ultra-light canoe. Larry.

Despite knowing full well that I have no desire to build any hull from the ground up I have looked longingly at the JEM North Wind plans.

And at the Chesapeake Light Craft MicroBootlegger, 17.5 x 27

https://www.clcboats.com/modules/ca...cro-bootlegger-strip-planked-tandem-kayak-kit

I seem to have a mental deficiency that causes me to want to do things on my own, of my own plan and design. This has led me into deep waters a time or two, and undoubtedly cost me in numerous mistakes, or rather "learning opportunities".

That is one of the better mental conditions to have, and the learning opportunities are endless. Although I am fonder of starting with a hull that is mostly there already, and fitting my plans around that.

Even so I would have been sweating bullets about my deck plans while cutting that much sheerline off a sound and lovely stripper. The lower stern deck, sheer and stem is reminiscent of many decked canoe designs with rudders.

Out of curiosity, how high was the bow, stern and center on the stripper, and how much did you cut off at the deck seam?

None of our decked boats except the Monarch have a yoke, and I am not carrying any of them far, but without a yoke they are a PITA to load or unload solo. If the front edge of your seat is approximately at the balance point you could probably put Kruger style yoke pads under the seat and flip it over into the highest slot setting for yoke use.

 

[OFaceFul]

Regarding a carry yoke, for my North Wind I crafted a yoke of 15 layers carbon, fiberglass, Kevlar using a Canadian wood contour yoke as a mold. Added a little foam padding. Clamp it onto the cockpit coaming rim. Attach behind the seat when paddling. Works good once I get the canoe up on shoulders. That's the rub, after a long paddle it's a bear to lift without banging the bow down, especially with a little water weight in the boat. Very soon I will be buying a small wheels thing for the stern to ride, hopefully will make launching and pulling back to the car easier.