storage

[meopilite]

I've heard that storing a canoe such as the Old Town Discovery on sawhorses can cause the canoe to lose its shape. Mainly by the center, between the sawhorses, bending downward, causing the canoe to have a rocker opposite than what it should be.

Any suggestions??

 

[Guest]

Any canoe worth having will not get hog-backed on sawhorses. I can't imagine any Old Town would, considering how solidly they're built. Now, a Coleman/Pelican or something like a River Rogue might be a different story. Best bet would be to put the sawhorses a few feet from the ends. I've always stored all my boats in what amounts to the same fashion and have never seen such a thing.

 

[memaquay]

You could probably have some little kids use the Disco for a trampoline, and it would turn out OK. But on a serious note, poly canoes are prone to oil canning, which means that when you paddle, the water under the canoe will cause spots on the bottom of the hull to ripple or move up and down. Next time you take it out for a whirl, just have a look at the bottom and see if it moves. Not all of them do it, but it is not unusual. My Kineo, which is basically a Disco, does it. However, unless the trampoline artists get crazy, sawhorse storage is a tried and true and true method.

 

[meopilite]

thanks

 

[Seeker]

If you put the saw horses right next to each other, a couple feet apart, the weight of the ends MIGHT bend it out of shape... but most reasonable people would put them a few feet in from each end, intuitively, better distributing the weight.

An engineer friend of mine told me that if you put them at 1/4 to 1/3 in from the ends, keel up/gunnels down, they'll be fine. Here in LA, I have a 14.5' stitch and glue canoe and my supports are roughly 8' apart.

I also have an OT wood/canvas canoe that lives with my cousin and his two OT w/c canoes in NY... in his garage, each of them hangs from a cradle, keel down. We put four screw eyes up into the ceiling in pairs, about 3' apart across the thwarts, and about 8' apart along the keel. There is a rope tied to one eye which then goes across through the other eye, and is tied back on itself with a tautline hitch, creating a cradle. The canoe lays in the cradle, and then we tighten up the tautlines to raise them up out of the way of his cars. His two canoes (15' and 16') have been hanging that way since the 1960s without being deformed. Prior to my canoe becoming resident there, there was an 18' grumman aluminum canoe in that sling (it now resides outside.) Oh, and the various life jackets and most of the paddles are stowed inside the hanging/slung canoes as well.

 

[oldie moldy]

Just to round out all the good advice you've got so far:

If the canoe is outside on your sawhorses and it comes on to snow I'd take care to keep any accumulation off the canoe. Snow, especially if it is wet will really add weight and stress on the hull. I don't know what kind of weight would be required to deform a canoe but it sure would be stupid to find out.

Another factor to be thinking about is where the canoe on horses is placed; if in sunshine you might want to think about UV protection.

R

 

[pblanc]

I've heard that storing a canoe such as the Old Town Discovery on sawhorses can cause the canoe to lose its shape. Mainly by the center, between the sawhorses, bending downward, causing the canoe to have a rocker opposite than what it should be.

Any suggestions??

Many canoe liveries use Old Town Discovery canoes, or similar triple layer polyethylene canoes. These probably see rough usage on the water, and they are typically stored outdoors, gunwales down, on trailers exposed to the elements.

All I can say is that a very high percentage of these boats are hog-backed, often quite severely so.

 

[Guest]

Hogbacked

Hogbacked

Many canoe liveries use Old Town Discovery canoes, or similar triple layer polyethylene canoes. These probably see rough usage on the water, and they are typically stored outdoors, gunwales down, on trailers exposed to the elements.

All I can say is that a very high percentage of these boats are hog-backed, often quite severely so.

I believe that the hull shape, especially the bottom shape, is the single biggest contributor to the tendency of some makes/models of poly canoes going hogback (or even go wavey-bottomed).

Flat bottomed hulls, like many of the poly Old Towns, are among the worst. Years ago on a visit to OT I saw dozens of new Discos already hogged at the factory, awaiting delivery. (To Old Town’s credit I think that model Disco was short lived)

Wenonah’s brief entry into rotomolded poly, the flat bottomed Northfork, did the same thing in a year’s time.

*Note that those same basic OT hull shapes in Royalex did not hog. With the disappearance of Royalex it will be interesting to see how the replacement material(s) fair in the performance of different hull designs.

Poly hulls with some bottom arch are much less prone to hogging. A poly canoe with some arch and rocker, like the old Nova Craft SP3 (now outfitter Prospector), will make for a much stiffer bottom and be far less prone to hogging or distortion.

http://www.novacraft.com/canoe_sp3.shtml

Until some new material is proven not to hog I’d beware flat bottoms, and look to canoe designs with some arch and rocker.

Actually, I’d look for a good used composite canoe and not tote 80+ lbs around. And I wonder how the new material(s) will shape up weight-wise.

 

[Guest]

I believe that the hull shape, especially the bottom shape, is the single biggest contributor to the tendency of some makes/models of poly canoes going hogback (or even go wavey-bottomed).

Flat bottomed hulls, like many of the poly Old Towns, are among the worst. Years ago on a visit to OT I saw dozens of new Discos already hogged at the factory, awaiting delivery. (To Old Town’s credit I think that model Disco was short lived)
...
Poly hulls with some bottom arch are much less prone to hogging. A poly canoe with some arch and rocker, like the old Nova Craft SP3 (now outfitter Prospector), will make for a much stiffer bottom and be far less prone to hogging or distortion.
...

Coleman canoes have molded-in keels and most of the ones I've seen are hog-backed.

It's best to stay away from flat-bottomed canoes in general unless you need a boat with high initial stability, such as a fishing platform, in which case you'll probably also want a beamy craft, say, 38+". Otherwise, a shallow-arch or shallow-V is the best bet, and not because of structural integrity. Shallow-arch and -V hulls have less initial stability than flat bottoms but higher secondary stability, which comes into play when they're leaned or in wavy conditions. They also handle better.

 

[Guest]

It's best to stay away from flat-bottomed canoes in general unless you need a boat with high initial stability, such as a fishing platform, in which case you'll probably also want a beamy craft, say, 38+". Otherwise, a shallow-arch or shallow-V is the best bet, and not because of structural integrity. Shallow-arch and -V hulls have less initial stability than flat bottoms but higher secondary stability, which comes into play when they're leaned or in wavy conditions. They also handle better.

Secondary stability, general handling and structural integrity are all enhanced by having some shape (other than flat) on the bottom. The really wide-ride (length-to-width ratio) flat bottomed poly canoes may be the worst in hogging and going wave-bottomed. That’s simply too big a flat area to support itself in plastic without kiss-offs or additional stiffeners.

The initial stability of a flat bottom canoe design typically has a sharp transition lurking at the chines into poor secondary stability. Lurking for the unwary; lean it just a little too far and you better have a strong and ready brace, or good recovery and swimming technique.

It’s back to buying the right hull for what you want to do 90% of the time.