I love canoeing on the Minnesota River, but my canoe gets so full of sand. Hard not making a pit stop at a sand bar to have lunch and such. Hopping back in the canoe means a bunch of sand stuck to bottom of boots, now in the canoe. Now try washing that out when getting back home. The gunwales prevent the sand from washing out. Guess it is what it is..............
-
Happy National Paranormal Day! 🔮👻👽
River sand
- Thread starter meopilite
- Start date
We had many times in Algonquin PP a couple of weeks ago that we would have killed for a sandy beach.
Upside down on a canoe stand with a hose?
Upside down on a canoe stand with a hose?
Sand is tough to get out. We trained in the Mojave and kept finding it in our equipment.
VAC when dry?
VAC when dry?
Or even if you re-do your old aluminum canoe you can do decks that drains i you don't do scuppers.
Okay meopilite, today is your lucky day. I'm in a good mood. Tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna trade you your sand for my loonshit. What do ya say? You won't get a better offer than that. Why would I do that I hear ya say? Well, for starters, sand gets into every crack and crevice, you've been to the beach, right? Whereas loonshit sticks and smears to boots, legs and hulls. And paddles. But unlike sand it washes off fairly easily. As a bonus, it also stinks. That's so you can tell if you've washed it all off as you paddle away from the loonshit shore. So it sticks and stinks. That's a 2 for 1 offer, that's the best I can do.
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2013
- Messages
- 1,344
- Reaction score
- 341
A bit off topic but for that sand you can't get off your feet (or other body parts), rub on some talcum powder. I was given this trip from a friend down in SC and I was amazed at how quickly the sand dropped off my feet at the end of the day. Not sure what the chemical properties are that make this work, but it does and that's enough for me. Don't think this trick will work easily for your boat though 
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That sand in some of those Minnesota lakes and rivers can be some pretty annoying stuff. So fine it's almost like powder. I bought a surfski a few years back. It was a couple years old but had been used as a demo boat by the local distributor in Minneapolis. The rudder pedals were incredibly stiff making it nearly impossible to paddle. When I pulled the old cables out of the plastic runner tubes they both came out with a wad of sand that had collected. Worked smooth as butter after that.
As for how to clean out a boat without a draining gunwale profile I usually set it upside down on the ground (sawhorses are easier) and spray up into the boat from below while rocking it side to side.
Alan
As for how to clean out a boat without a draining gunwale profile I usually set it upside down on the ground (sawhorses are easier) and spray up into the boat from below while rocking it side to side.
Alan
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
- Messages
- 193
- Reaction score
- 26
Sand. It works its way into everything. Gear bags. Boats. Clothes. Food. Gaskets (yikes!). But still. Nice to sleep on. Nice to dig your feet into from a low chair overlooking the river. And once you get used to the sort of gritty texture of your sandwich its not too bad, really. If you're hungry enough.
G
Guest
Guest
Sand, Loon crap, pluff mud from marshes or that tenacious dust mud from desert rivers, it’s all a mess in the boat.
If I’m in an easy boat access launch or re-entry I try to get one foot in the canoe, sit down and rinse the other foot in the river beside the hull before bring that crud laden tootsie into the boat. Mukluks or booties with an aggressive tread are great for sure footed scrambling, but dang do they track mud. I’ll take my warm weather booties off in the boat and try to rinse/sponge the worst of the crud from the treads, and sometimes wish I had brought a small bristle brush.
I do use a sponge to gather up the gunk from the canoe, before the sand blows around or the mud hardens, but there is always some left, so I put the canoe on sawhorses and hose it out when I get home. The Jet setting on a hose nozzle is handy for blasting stuff out from between the gunwales and hull, especially with looser fitted vinyl or aluminum gunwales that offer a dirt collection gap.
I am always surprised at how much crud blasts out from between the hull and gunwale, even the outwales of boats that are simply stored outdoors. Same for the gap between the hull and the butt ends of wood yokes and thwarts.
I am convinced that dirt and mud are the enemy of the butt ends of brightwork like wood yokes and thwarts. A moist, bacteria laden layer of crud, trapped between the (often badly factory sealed) butt ends of those wood pieces seems a good way to hasten rot.
Shop vac with crevice tool. Sponges and the ilk do nothing to get the stuff in the cracks and joints. I use a shop vac then Q tips. Wood ribbed canoes are a beast to clean of sand and you really have to if you have a dacron boat cause the sand will work its way between the dacron ( or canvas) and the wood planking.
WIth a wood canvas canoe blasting it with water from the inside guarantees you will force the sand in harder and have a potential future problem.
WIth a wood canvas canoe blasting it with water from the inside guarantees you will force the sand in harder and have a potential future problem.
Last edited:
G
Guest
Guest
You are right. Once home I do dry-scrub loose and shop vac off the accessible bilge debris before hosing the canoe down, so that gunk doesn’t end up washed into the gunwales or thwart ends. Sadly I don’t have a long enough extension cord to reach most of the places I trip, so I do use a sponge in while in the canoe to remove the boot or barefoot crud I have tracked in before it creeps into bad places.
I have seen older composite boats with wear areas right at the heel foot brace or pedal area, sea kayaks especially, perhaps from grinding sand against the hull for years. I don’t own any Dacron or wood ribbed canoes. Or any wood & canvas, so thankfully I’ve never had to go full Q tip and tweezers..
But on plastic/composite canoes with vinyl or aluminum gunwales the amount of debris that loosens from between the gunwales and thwarts with the canoe set upright can be impressive, especially if you haven’t blasted that area for a while (or ever). Gunk dribbles down the outside and collects in the bilge in startling amounts.
The underside of deck plates too. Or maybe especially. I have large drain holes or scuppers in all of the deck plates, even a ½ inch drain hole can become occluded with hosed out debris. That is where the hosed crud collects, and it doesn’t help that the covered deck plate area of the canoes I store outside are incredibly attractive to wrens. They can build new twiggy nests in the deck plate recess as fast as I can remove them.
BTW, the cheapest outside storage bird occlusion I have found is stuffing a small, partially deflated Dollar Store beach ball in the stems. It’s worth a couple of bucks not to see eggs splatter on the windshield at the start of a trip. How’s your washer fluid?
I am not a gram weenie, but I have blasted out enough sand, dirt and even small pebbles to account for at least a few ounces, and it sure doesn’t hurt the butt end longevity of thwarts and yokes to rid that debris.
Integral carbon gunwales and thwarts have value there beyond just weight savings. Dammit, I really can’t afford a modern boat.
Similar threads
