Friday, June 13, 2014

Thoughts on the outrigger design

I was thinking, essentially, all I need is a pair of flotation chambers, that are cylindrical, and angled higher in the front than the back.  So, how about a pair of 6'x6" sections of PVC pipe with the ends capped and glued, and the outrigger struts of 2" Heavy walled PVC, and attached to the boat at the aluminum crossbraces with zip ties.  The idea is to have them be securely mountable, but easily removable for trailering the canoe.

They will need to be wide enough from the rails to allow for oars, since I also have the boat set up with oarlocks for rowing like a single racing scull shell for exercise for nonpowered trolling on the ICW.  The width will also need to be there for stability with the outboard running....a  2 1/2 HP outboard will really kick a canoe along fast in relation to the hull design and it's not a Gheeno with planing chines for stability, but will be as fast as one.   My canoe isn't a flatback, it's a double ender classic canoe.

3 comments:

  1. Tom the PVC will work fine as the floats but for the struts I would use something much stiffer than PVC. Maybe electrical conduit.

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    1. Not a bad idea. My other thought was bamboo struts. I have a bamboo nursery about a mile from the house and they have culls up to 6" thick trunk sections and I'd use 3" Bamboo for the struts, themselves. My brother sent me some detail pictures on how the outriggers are secured on Banka Boats, and that's essentially what I'm converting my canoe into, anyway and I can treat the bamboo with a coat or 5 of epoxy base clear coat. I can also get slightly green " bamboo and "Fire bend it into a smooth curve like a native boat. Thoughts? I'm actually leaning pretty hard toward the bamboo, anyhoo, for the look.

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  2. Bamboo works well, I've used it for spars on a leg o mutton rig. It's cheap strong and renewable. I'm actually surprised it's not used in more applications.

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