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Thule Rack review and a Tremblay canoe

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The weather forecast was for a nice day, light winds and some sun in the afternoon. Thought I would take the opportunity to get in a paddle, and see if I could find any Moose.

Also decided to give an update on the Thule racks. I’m not sure they are worth the amount of money I paid for them, but they are handy. When not using them, they can be dropped down into the box, and out of the wind.



Adjustments are done using these big knobby things. I think the instructions said these could be set up in an hour or two, but it took me considerably longer.


These big crew cab trucks present some unique difficulties for carrying traditional canoes with high bow and stern stems. In order to clear the roof, you would have to push your canoe so far forward that it would almost need a front rack mounted on the truck cab. However, the adjustability of the Thule racks solves this problem nicely.



By lowering the rear rack, it is easy to accommodate any type of canoe. If this rack holds up for the next 15 years, I will considerate a good buy. Time will tell.

The canoe is my old Tremblay, built in the 70’s. It was originally covered in verolite. For you wood/canvas purists, stop reading now. The Tremblays from this period were pretty rough.
When I stripped the canvas off, the planking was no where near sanded on the exterior, it was very rough and uneven. Lots of gaps in the planks too. I guess this didn’t really matter, as the verolite was so heavy, it tended to cover all blemishes. Anyway, I took a belt sander to it and smoothed everything off. Think some of the planking might be white pine too. Then I took wide masking tape and covered every inch of the hull. I layed a ten ounce piece of fiberglass cloth over it, and wetted it out, then painted it red. That was about 12 or 13 years ago, and the canoe is still going strong. Satan didn’t pop out of the river and cut my winky off or anything.

Anyway, decided to take the Tremblay for a paddle today, it hasn’t been on the water for over a year. Paddled around looking for moose for about three hours, didn’t see any, but it was a heck of a nice paddle. The Tremblay is a barge, flared sides and a flat bottom, but everyone needs some loving once in a while!

 
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Fancy racks. I've never seen them before. Nice color match between boat and straps.

What was going to be used on the moose: gun, binocs, paddle, rope or axe?
 
Interesting looking racks. I may have to fab up something for the toyota. I concur with your assessment of Tremblay canoes. I have had the pleasure of trying to fair out two of them recently and it just never gets much better than ok.
We are thinking of a similar technique with mine....Canvas and polyester resin instead of traditional filler. At least you used tape as a barrier.

Christy
 
Ha ha Rippy, come on the Marshall Loop trip next summer, maybe you'll find out!

Glenn, everything there has a purpose, but you missed a couple of things. The rope attaches to a come-along that is buried in there. Moose are big critters, although in the area I was in today, I could only shoot a calf, but still, I might have had to drag him from the water's edge. There's a 12 gauge in there too, cause i went bird hunting on an old logging road after paddling for a couple of hours.

Hanz, the BLR was a christmas present from my wife, she's a good woman, it's a .308.

Christy, the tremblays bob like a cork and paddle like a bathtub. They are quite sea worthy, but not the finest w/c canoes built. I wouldn't have dome what I did to a nicer canoe, but since it was a tremblay, well….I've still got another in similar condition (pristine) that I can re-canvas.
 
I took mine out for an hour on my hunting trip and was impressed at how stable and fast it seemed. I like to kneel but because I had my big hunting boots on I sat and was surprised at how comfortable it was.
 
All of a sudden the Marshal Lake trip is sounding all duelling banjos and way too much bonding. If I bring enough beer and smokes, maybe I can bribe my way out of any uncomfortable show and tell round the campfire. Anyway,
I like the look of those racks. I used to play hide and seek with my pickup box...on goes the cap, off goes the cap...I had an extra cab, but a small truck. Even then the canoe (borrowed) would come oh so close to dinting my cab roof or putting a gnarly scratch down my windshield. These adjustable racks look great. Do they remove or are they more or less permanent? I was thinking in terms of you tarping the box. Maybe I'm overthinking things. Good luck with the moose. I'm looking forward to moose steaks next summer, to go along with the Bud Lite.
 
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No worries gents, there will be no Deliverance style shenanigans! Those racks can be fairly easily removed, but the clamps are a PITA to put on or off, so they would have to stay on. Also, there is a cheesy plastic locking device that goes on the bottom of the verticals to keep theives from stealing the racks. I'm fairly lazy, so they will probably stay on all of the time...plus they look kind of cool when they are lowered, like a 1970's spoiler.

Moose steaks next summer will probably come from where they usually do...one of my students who had a successful hunt. I'm not much of a moose hunter, prefer the bird hunt.
 
Gear theft. I never thought of that. Thieving b*st*rds will take anything. Those racks are an investment, so worth protecting. I once had planks stolen from my roof racks. 2 planks. 2 wooden planks?
Okay, next question...how do you adjust them? Do you need to turn both of those black paired wheel nuts at the same time, left and right?
 
Satan and penectomy... I guess that's a good enough reason to steer clear of w/c.
 
And FWIW, if you ever did lose your winky, at least you still have a nice rack...
 
Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and again... or so I'm told. :D
 
What's the length of that bad boy?(the canoe) It sure looks sturdy. I don't know much about WC canoes but the ribs seem thick in the picture. Anyway, it seems like a good work horse. So, grouse for supper?
 
Just got in from my nightly walk, got a big ruffie. The Tremblay is around 16 feet and was made extra tough. It's a work model, and will take a beating. It's heavy as heck too. Our club used to use them a lot in the 70's, they were very inexpensive. I actually think they were sold by Sears.
 
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