Canoe ID and restoration

[Dana]

It floats! Well, it should. Much nicer than my old blue fiberglass beast, which I took out for one final paddle first.


It was a breezy day on the lake with swirling winds, but only once in a strong crosswind did I need to leave the seat and kneel amidships to paddle. I was also experimenting with four different paddles of various lengths, but that's a subject for another thread. All in all, I'm a happy paddler.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Great job, @Dana. The Mad River Explorer in Royelex was my first canoe and I did everything in it: solo, tandem, lakes, whitewater, poling, small outboard motor, and even made a rowing rig.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Nice work, Dana! I always enjoy seeing a good old neglected hull brought back to life.

 

[Dana]

And a year later, the final touch:

 

[BillC]

Hi Dana,
I'm a little late to this thread but wanted to first say terrific job. I just finished what I believe to be a MR Explorer and had similar issues with breaking scarfs. Here's my thought which I hope others will chime in on: Since even our best scarfs appear to have too much stress on them amidship, why not go with two scarfs 1/3 distance from bow and stern? Thus the middle solid gunnel would take most of the stress. One could steam it in a steam box or soak it overnight in the tub to gain flexibility at this high stress point. Okay team- let's hear some thoughts please. Cheers, Bill

 

[Dana]

I just finished what I believe to be a MR Explorer and had similar issues with breaking scarfs. Here's my thought which I hope others will chime in on: Since even our best scarfs appear to have too much stress on them amidship, why not go with two scarfs 1/3 distance from bow and stern?

Mine didn't break at the scarf. One inwale broke at a drain notch near but not at the midpoint (I omitted the centermost notch because I didn't want to compromise the scarf), and one outwale broke near the ⅓ point at a tiny wormhole.

Regardless, bending them into place was not easy. If I ever do it again I'll build a steam box to make it easier. And I'd radius the corners of the drain notched to reduce the stress concentration there (I cut them square because that's how the originals were done).

 

[Dana]

One more "final" tweak: I used the standard 32" contour seats from Ed's when I rebuilt the canoe, but since then I've gotten really into Canadian style paddling, sitting in the bow seat facing aft... and sitting off center to heel the boat means I had the wood seat frame jammed into my butt crack, not very comfortable. So I ordered one of their 40" center seats and swapped it out. It's a good bit wider but still fits (it would not fit in the stern seat position).



Got it installed this morning and went out to test it... it's a major improvement; I can sit with my hip right up against the gunwale and it's very comfortable.



Now it's really done.