Search results

YARR Reassembly Before the center seat and new brightwork went back in YARR a minor attempt was made at removing the grunge left behind from under the kneeling thwart ankle blocks. Acetone and a sharp (but rounded corner) metal putty knife and elbow grease. P6040001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr...

Tristan, it is a Royalex canoe, so there is no fiberglass. Royalex is a five layer ||||| sandwich; the outer layers are vinyl covering a layer of ABS (hard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic), with a layer of foam as the core. The vinyl skin serves largely as a UV barrier. The things at...

“Hence, the only way you can prove anti-canting is to float the canoe and put a bubble level on the seat. Foreshortened photos in a foreboding shop, where many liquids have been decanned and decanted, can't prove anti-canting” When I thought the stern seat cant angle looked wrong that is...

Per the good folks at Mohawk, they manufactured the Intrepid from the early 1990's until 2015. I’m ruling out a 1984 HIN date, at least as an ‘80’s Intrepid model, and I still think it is an Intrepid. That Dreamboat HIN is so faulty missing numbers that it could well indicate an early ‘90’s...

Whatever was used I’m going to go with either poor prep work, or incompatible materials. “Can anyone think of a reason, or a rebuttal, as to why or when it would make sense to apply entire coats of epoxy+varnish rather than just varnish for superficial scratches/flakings on a composite hull?”...

I love the feel of compressed release treated peel ply in the morning, it pulls off clean and easy. The glass tape will need just a touch of RO sanding, but the selvage edges are flat instead of standing tall and rough. Some green pigment to tint the epoxy and color the cloth would have been...

Slice and dice Mallows Bay patching. The good news is that I had some 2” fiberglass tape, and some 6” peel ply in rolls. P5310002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr The OK news is that I can cover all of the slices with a strategic dozen longish strips of 2” glass tape, and a dozen strips of 6” rolled...

A primer on the types of foam (my thanks to Recped) https://canada.foambymail.com/closed-cell-foams.html Maybe minicel-L XLPE “a fine-celled closed cell cross linked polyethylene material that offers a durable, softer alternative to other cross linked polyethylene products”. Or you could buy...

Erica, that “Universal Portage Yoke” looks over engineered and under designed. We had, still have, a similar manufactured “universal” yoke, and I built another with some improvements. I didn’t care either one; the manufactured one had those plastic shoulder cups. They didn’t feel great on my...

I am jealous of your progress; I’m still patching the slice and dice on the bottom of YARR. Should be done today or tomorrow, and ready to turn the hull back right side up and install the new brightwork. How long to wait to install the newly finished brightwork? Assuming that you are lightly...

The Best Dry Bags article reminded me of this savvy piece of advice and research; The Ten Best Lake and River Canoes: https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-canoes-4160275 “Top Ten” choices include a Dick’s Sporting Goods Emotion Wasatch, a Pelican 15.5, Sevylor Madison, Sun Dolphin Scout and Lifetime...

“The registration says it’s a Discovery 164, but I thought the plastic seats meant it wasn’t. Maybe I will add a utility thwart” I would, but then I’m Batman dammit; I want utility! A straight edged platform, wider than a shapely slender traditional thwart, has innumerable advantages. Even...

“I'm with Mem, grind that abomination of a keel off completely, re-glass the keel line on the inside, build up enough layers on the outside to reinforce it, stiffen it, and build up proper stems(one 10", one 8", one 6", and so on), slice off the rim completely and fit ash or cherry gunwales and...

Mohawk responded to my “Is it an Intrepid?” query. Twice; after a preliminary e-mail with Intrepid matching dimensions the Production Manager, and a follow up with photo, he asked the current owner. “I was able to share your photo and canoe info with our owner, and here's what he had to say...

It looks like a well rockered kneeler of some sort. Hyperform produced Lettmann designs under license in the US, and the internal keelson sure looks like a Hyperform/Lettmann feature. It could be some Hyperform downriver or slalom tandem, or an imported German-made Lettmann. Lettmann is still...

Old Town made a dumbfounding variety of numerically monikered Discovery models, and a lot of them had those awful plastic seats. The one benefit of those seats was that, on a floppy hulled poly canoe with only a yoke, they added considerable lateral stiffness. If you are adding bench seats...

There were a lot of weird kit boats sold back in the sixties, often in Popular Mechanics and the like. We had a Trailcraft frame, intended to be a fabric colored skeleton that was started by a Boy Scout troop and left abandoned in a church basement for 20 years. And a pair of similar...

“They said the father had built this canoe but he never finished it or used it” I’m going to guess it was a kit boat, possibly sold as left & right halves to be joined together and outfitted by the purchaser. Despite a predilection for refurbishing dumpster ready canoes I’d be hesitant to sink...

Ash, used Kruger Sea Winds are out of my price range. As are Mad River Monarch; I was lucky to grab out for $1000 and a drove across three States to get it. Even Sawyer Loons are pricey. Rudders are very much a matter of personal preference, including whether to have one at all. But since I...

Minimalist Dreamboat rebuild; two seats, one yoke Explorer-style. P5290007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr Dream on. I’m not weighing it; I don’t care, it isn’t staying that way. Once the newly urethaned brightwork goes back in the old bow and stern seats and drops can come out to be refinished and...