Thoughts on the Dragonfly 15

[Bill Fryer]

Well, I missed a lot during today. This thread has been wonderful for me to hear all this experience and discussion. I've been following the forums for years and have learned a lot, but this thread has addressed my particular issues well. Over the years I have also been comforted by all the discussions of getting old and the vicissitudes of orthopedic problems, of which I have had quite a few.

My conceptual plan to deal with the wind issue with my Dragonfly was to build a long pedestal for kneeling that would let me slide forward and back with a 12-in range, hoping that that would allow me to shift the balance enough without carrying and dealing with extra weight. I may yet try this even with a new Dragonfly 15. Has this been talked about in the past?

I talked with Bill Swift this morning, and he said that there was to be a demo day at Rutabaga on Saturday, May 2, if tariffs don't sabotage imports of canoes. There should be a Dragonfly 15 and Cirrus to try out. I really hope to get there for this. He mentioned that there have been changes in the technology of their canoes not on the website yet. As I understood it, they don't do gelcoat anymore! He thought an Expedition Kevlar Lite layup with the Carbon Kevlar trim, with the epoxy resin system and UV shield would come in around 30 lbs and be a really strong and durable construction.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

My conceptual plan to deal with the wind issue with my Dragonfly was to build a long pedestal for kneeling that would let me slide forward and back with a 12-in range, hoping that that would allow me to shift the balance enough without carrying and dealing with extra weight. I may yet try this even with a new Dragonfly 15. Has this been talked about in the past?

A long pedestal would be possible but sort of heavy and klutzy.

Sliding seats have been common for many decades, including ones that can slide over 12 inches or more. When you slide the seat off center, you will have moved your body weight fore or aft but, unless you adjust your gear load below the gunwales, you may end up out of trim with your bow or stern sticking up. This may make the windage problem worse.

That's because wind-cocking and lee-cocking are affected not only by the location of the center of gravity ("COG") of the canoe—i.e., the body+gear load fore or aft—but also by the wind profile above the gunwale line, which is mainly the paddler's body and, secondly, the canoe's bow and stern stems.

In wind, I believe the best boat/paddler profile is to have the paddler's body at the canoe's center of lateral resistance, or more informally, the canoe's pivot point. Additionally, all gear should be below the gunwale line, so it minimally affects the canoe's wind profile.

Gear should be movable fore or aft, below the gunwales, to try to have the COG of the canoe+gear+paddler compensate for wind-cocking or lee-cocking. Movable gear for a day paddle can be as simple as a heavy day pack on a rope that you can toss or pull fore or aft of your body, or a big dry bag full of water.

A combo of a sliding seat plus some moveable gear would probably allow you to reasonably compensate for wind conditions with some experimentation. Swift has built various sliding seats, and for a price I'm sure they could install one in a DF 15.

 

[Bill Fryer]

I kneel exclusively - it’s soothing for my back to straighten and stretch it (damaged lower back), and gives me good reach. I’ve had a paddling thwart in the boat for decades. Anyway, I have such long feet that won’t go under a seat low enough to be stable because of stiffness and cramping. Hence the pedestal - which would be minicell (pretty light) with a Hemlock/Deal kneeling seat sliding along the top. I just go out for casual paddles, not any tripping, and really didn’t want to deal with any substantial extra weight. I’ll think more about this.