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“I use sleeping bag hangers from Marmot, made by whoever. I heard that the store I worked at was going out of business and I asked if I could snag a few of those before they get rid of them. I found some similar on Walmarts website that should work just as good. I’d sho around, there pretty...

Without a current rebuild in the shop it was time to turn my attentions to annual canoe inspection and maintenance on the family fleet. Blimney Crickets, that’s a bunch of boats to Futz with washing and inspecting. The Mohawk Odyssey 14 first. Sufferin’ Succotash that is my all time favorite...

SK, that simple compact “downwind” Spirit Sail was discontinued 10 years ago. It was, and still is, my favorite; I don’t want to deal with mounting or dismounting a sticking-up mast, and have no desire to tack to and fro into the wind with leeboard and such, doubling my “get there” mileage; I...

Watching the weather forecast for a trip it occurred to me that we’ve never had it this good. I can go on-line and find an extended 5 to 10 day weather forecast for darn near anywhere on the planet. Or maybe that isn’t such a good thing. Back “in the day”, before all this on-line computer...

“A couple of weeks ago on the Suwannee I saw a snapper that was as large as a vehicle tire. This is not hyperbole” Common Snapper or Alligator Snapper? Alligator snappers can get huge; the record is close to 250lbs and 3 feet across. Common snappers usually max out at about 45lbs and 20...

The sides of the wood are sanded and fitted to precisely match the slight curve of the coaming edge. I staple a piece of kevlar felt (yay, an actual use for kevlar felt) to the butt ends, saturate the felt with epoxy and, resting the utility thwart atop a temporary platform (cardboard box and...

The Monarch is a great find, and you must have moved quickly on it. I have seen a few for sale vastly underpriced listed just that way, “Mad River Canoe Kayak”, because all the owner knew was that it said “MAD RIVER CANOE” in large letters on the side, and looked like a kayak. FWIW the typical...

“I used to only buy cheap polarized sunglasses for the already mentioned reason of not being upset when they break. Then I tried a friend’s Smith glasses fly fishing. I was hooked. I have gone through a couple pairs over the years and my current ones have a couple scratches, but they are...

“I did the spring cleanup of all my fasteners. They are in there by type and size. I had them in 3 different places” Love that 100+ cubby cabinet; what was it originally and where did you acquire it? Thus Sweeper inspired I continued with the shop reorganization, starting with organizing...

Gene, if you go the Styrofoam route there is an old school trick you can use to make the Styrofoam last longer and squeak less - paint the Styrofoam with latex house paint. I presume modern latex house paint will work the same; maybe paint a test piece first. Back in the ‘60’s my father used...

“Nicely done! How wide is it at the solo seat?” YARR is 30 ½” wide outwale edge to outwale edge at the front of the center seat. The original 1980’s specs on the Mohawk Whitewater: Length – 16’ 2” Width at gunwales – 35” Depth at center – 14” Stem depth – 21 ½” Weight – 76 to 78 lbs MSRP...

I continued searching for my precious hard roller, a search which provided the impetus for cleaning up after bad bench habits. I put dependably put tools away, sometimes before other folks are actually finished using them, and vaguely recall thinking “The roller wheel is a little epoxy damp...

“Yep, I guess a tarp doesn't always cut it” I have had parawing tarps up during sustained 40-50 mph winds. Unfortunately a true parabolic wing <> doesn’t provide much protection from horizontal rain. Some years ago, on a coastal trip, we had a weather radio forecast of a front moving over...

Wait, YARR isn’t done yet. I needed to put the yoke back in and hang YARR from the shop scale. P6220031 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr There is something levitation delightful about a canoe hanging perfectly balanced from a single strap. I snug up the cam strap, adjust as necessary and move the...

“Is there a benefit I am missing?” I was thinking the aluminum edges might be hard on roof racks when taking the canoe on and off. Maybe some aesthetics as well.

Bob, any plans to cap the top edge of the flat bar gunwales with something? The easiest, though not the least expensive, would be something like cockpit trim edge. https://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1606 Any skinny tubing, slit lengthwise, would work. I can...

The Oscodas were Sawyer’s economy line of canoes, built using mostly glass mat, so heavier and less expensive. There were at least 8 Oscoda models, identical to the higher end Sawyers and probably built on the same molds: Sport 16, Family 17, Solo 13, TS (tandem sport?) 13, 16 and 18, Rebel...

The High Intensity stuff was a watersports tape available in 1” rolls. I bought a roll at an outfitter, bought another outfitter roll and eventually bought a 5-color pack (yellow, red, green, blue and, if forget, maybe orange) from the manufacturer. That was a lucky buy; it was soon...

The tape reveal The funnest part of a taping and painting extravaganza is finally pulling the tape. All of the tape, and there was a lot to pull; tape wrapped around the gunwales, tape 5” below the gunwales and tape surrounding accent diamonds. Yay, I had thoughtfully laid all of the tapes in...

“I was gifted a Kevlar '16 foot Curtis Canoe. It is the best Ive ever paddled in. Trying to find out what model it is. Likely a Nomad or Northstar according to an old catalog” Birdnerd, I have a 1986 Curtis/Canoe Specialists catalog and a few other Curtis pages from that era. I do not have the...