Gorilla Tape Skid Plates: Granted we wet-foot every landing and pay close attention however I am still amazed at how well it performed and stuck firm with the bow strip just barely beginning to "peel" back at the top. Only one layer of tape applied the stearn and 2 layers on the bow. I cut slits in the tape to help it round the contours making certain the folds layer/fold in the direction as to not go against grain/travel. Does not appear I have any damage to the gel coat. If any, it will be very minimal.
Well, they served their sacrificial purpose, and the slit application job was neatly done. I’m not sure about replacing them or adding more Gorilla tape every couple hundred miles. All of our canoes have fabric and epoxy skid plates, and even the never-again kevlar felt fuglies have lasted for years and many miles
Getting all the tape residue off to install a fabric and epoxy skid plate would not be fun, but would be once and done worth it. Dynel fabric, over bias cut fiberglass if you want to go all in, covered and compressed with peel ply. Add some graphite powder if you like the black.
Ed's Canoe Contoured Seats. I am soooooo glad to have spent the $ to get these seats as I have never been so comfortable in a canoe. Absolutely zero butt-fatigue which is a first for me.
As far as installation goes...it was not easy. For whatever reason, the seat hanger spacing on this canoe varied for each seat side. Since I did not want to drill additional holes in the gunwales (so I can quickly swap seats) I asked Ed's not to drill the profiled hangers, which I ordered as well; thinking I could drill them out myself with varying hole centers. Screwed up the first attempt so I put the original peg hangers back and mounted seats to them. Some pegs sit a bit cock-eyed due to the original build (varying hole distances) but they performed rock-solid.
I am also a huge fan of Ed’s Contour seats, especially the wide contour seat for my fat arse, enough to have replaced perfectly sound flat bench seats in some canoes.
Even with a drill press, vice and exact locations/spacing marked on the drops through the inwale holes, getting seat drops drilled is tricky, especially truss drops.
If you decide to replace the old OEM pegs with something simple, but much sturdier and easy to DIY, just take a piece of dimensional lumber, ripped to the desired drop depth, and cut out some wedges \_/. Wide part seats under the inwale, narrow seat-frame-sized end at the bottom.
Cut four simple wedges, the last angle cut starts the next. Maybe cut 5 or 6 wedges while you are at it to have some oops misdrilled spares. Mark the hole locations through the inwales and drill. I drill 1/32 larger than the hardware, so I can swab varnish inside the holes, and have a little slop to accommodate oddly angled hardware.
Test fit them, take them back out and lay on a couple coats of spar urethane. Done, much sturdier than peg drops, especially at that length, and not unattractive.
Nose Cone: In an earlier post I was deliberating on how to protect the nose as often times I rest it on the ground/rocks when shouldering the boat.With this boat being heavy, this method of shouldering was used often. Clear, vinyl tubing being the answer for me as the existing gunwale fasteners/screws were used so no additional holes/modifications were needed.
Those are some really attractive and well fitted outwales at the stem; I’d hate to grind them up against the ground in that style shouldering. I do that type lift with our vinyl decked canoes, and the deck plate tips show the scars.
I used a piece of clear Tygon tubing as painter loop grab handles on one canoe. With a spray cover installed and the stem carry thwart inaccessible I needed something more hand kindly than just a rope loop to grab.
Worked great as a comfy hand hold, except it grew fugly with mold and bacteria inside the tubing. The transparency of the tubing may have added to the microbial growth; I now use opaque tubing; at least I don’t want to vomit when I see the mold spores.
P1220469 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
That kind of bacterial growth would not be good for wood. Not sure how much different a metal deck cap would be, although I believe copper and brass both have antimicrobial properties.
EDIT: dang, I re-read this and didn’t mean to sound critical, just offer some thoughts and ideas. I really want to hear about big water/twisty water, the Astro van racks and slugs rolled up in wet tents.
