Re: A take-down canoe ? :o
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:38 pm
Shawn, that's fine. Thanks ! I will open a topic when I build it.
Jack, I realize that this boat will have the bulkheads to stiffen it, I also know that you did your canoe like that. But on a normal canoe or pirogue, I think that it is a bad idea to replace the thwart(s) with a rope. In any moving water, a boat could get pushed by the current into a solid object like a bridge piling, tree, or rock. This happens quite often especially with inexperienced paddlers and you will have compression forces on the hull. A solid thwart or two might prevent someone from getting pinned inside a collapsed boat wrapped around a piling. Water doesn't have to be moving all that fast to exert a lot of force. I don't think that the weight savings is worthwhile. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to people with unknown paddling abilities paddling in unknown places.Kayak Jack wrote:A thought for the thwarts. Primary stress on them would be tension, not compression. Rig a stout line across between the gunnels, with a trucker's hitch in. Draw it snug and it will serve well at a mere couple of ounces.