Too much time on hands!

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@Flyover You can call it cheating but many canoes come with sponsons built on just below the gunwales. Canoes have initial and secondary stability and one with a flat bottom has great initial but when they flip they flip without warning. Secondary stability is how controlled the lean can be and predictable but lack that easy to stand up feature. It has a lot to do with how you will be using it and skill level. I haven’t even had mine in the water yet, but from what I have been reading the design of my Guide 147 is to try and find a happy spot in the middle. Reviews from first timers talk about it being tippy and seasoned pros find it too flat and stable.



When I’m going down stream or across a lake I don’t think I want the drag of in the water pontoons but when sitting still trying to fish I would rather it not be overly rocky. The reason I’m thinking of a setup where I can leave them off when I want and add them when I want. also they will lift out of the water when paddling and depending on how loaded one or two in the boat up might be a different place. When I get where I want to fish I want to quickly set them just in the water for a stable platform. Part of all this will evolve as I get it in the water but I don’t see a need for the floats to be way outside like an outrigger on a sailing canoe might need. I really think a couple inches outside the gunwales should do it. I see a lot of people use the crab floats like oldog has on his old boat and maybe I will end up with them. To start off I ordered two jumbo pool noodles and I can rig them with PVC, I think.



@slownsteady Yep I’m trying to keep weight down and comfort high and the wooden bench seat is a little heavy for my liking. On the other hand the canoe has a 900 pound max rating and I will never be anywhere close to that. My biggest worry is the bench is at a good height but then I added a folding comfort stadium seat for the ride along princess and that pushed the seat height up a few inches that made it comfortable but also a higher CG. So version 2.0 of the bench might be lower and not a bench if all it does is hold another seat. I should be able to get 5 pounds out of it and lower also. We are planning on kayak paddles instead of being on opposite ends with nothing in the middle my thoughts are we can sit closer with better central balance. Weight difference between the two paddlers should be less of an issue that way.

Time will tell. But like I told the neighbor that keeps coming over to see what I’m up too, I told him if it never gets wet I’m having fun working on it. :)
 
I was joking.

I'm not an expert canoer by any stretch, but I did spend a lot of time in them as a kid and feel very comfortable in them, so I'm sure I'm biased.
 
I was joking.

I'm not an expert canoer by any stretch, but I did spend a lot of time in them as a kid and feel very comfortable in them, so I'm sure I'm biased.
I know you were.

I was once at a professional golf tournament and my son was caddying for a pro and they lost his clubs at the airport. He was in a jam and my son offered him his clubs with hopes the airlines would get his to him at least for the second day. After his first round he was tied for the lead and I said to him looks like the loaner clubs worked ok. He said something I always remembered. He said ya they are high quality amateur sticks but the problem is I can only hit them straight. He said what fun is that. I had spent my whole life trying to hit the ball straight and couldn’t and here these club are corrective he couldn’t hook the ball to save his life. Boats are a lot the same I think.
 
I’m making progress on the boat getting it where I want it. First thing I did was reverse the bow seat and move it 8” to become the new stern seat. (running backwards) then I removed the old stern seat from the new bow and added two thwarts 48” from each end and took out the center yoke and replaced it with a thwart. In front of the center thwart I built and added a drop block to each side and a removable bench seat. I also came off the drop blocks and added a footrest rail. Then I cut up a old neoprene sleeping pad and made a kneeling pad and covered the bench seat and the DIY seat back and seat. I should be locked in nicely. Then I bought 2 oblong yoga balls called peanut balls and blew them up for capsize floatation adding about 7 square feet of flotation. I put them inside Army surplus laundry bags. They get locked into each end and strapped down. One of the last things left is to drill the bow on each end and add a line loop.



I’m still working on the roof rack for the Kia Soul also because without that it’s not going nowhere.

Today I applied for a Pa launch permit / sticker 25 bucks for two years I was in the sporting goods store for 2 hours and had to answer a 100 questions about how I came to own a canoe and of course I have no idea how many or who bought it new and other than a number pressed into the plastic side I had no info. He called the state 3 times and finally I told I could have got a number off any canoe or just made one up what difference would it make. While I was there I told him I also wanted a fishing license. He ran my drivers info again and said oh you are over 65 and can get a lifetime fishing license for this amount or one year for this amount. I did the math in my head and asked him do you think I will live 5 more years? He looked me over and said go for the lifetime. So I did. It’s good to know the sporting good guy has more faith in me than the young woman doctor I go see. Anyway now I have another reason to keep going. IMG_1134.jpgIMG_1135.jpgIMG_1137.jpgIMG_1138.jpgIMG_1145.jpg
 
I also bought a used kayak (Coleman) that is way to heavy to lift on my own - and my wife's back won't let her help - so I built a canoe loader, based on a youtube video, that uses "stairs" and carrier on top of our van. I just roll it off of the cart onto the lowest plastic pegs then, going back and forth, walk it to the top. When the center of gravity passes the pivot point, the stairs rotate up and I just push it to the center of the carrier and remove the stairs. I also built outriggers that make it so stable I can stand to cast. The system works great!
Tom:

Thanks again for the tip.



Got to try my DIY ladders on my DIY rack.

It went pretty good. I had the ladders pinned to the rack and I spaced my steps at 12” but I think I will change that to 6” tomorrow. I got it up there no damage to car or boat or me.IMG_1185.jpgIMG_1186.jpgIMG_1187.jpg
 
Ok, you got it loaded, did you get it to the water?
Not yet. I did drive around and scope out some nice inland fishing spots.

We got thrown a curve ball a couple days ago. Her car died in the city and we towed it to a nearby farm garage they use with the farm. That guy had it a couple days and he normally works on trucks and farm equipment and said it was out of his pay grade. So we towed it to my local garage he had it a few days and tells us it went out of time the pistons clobbered the valves bent them and the engine is toast. About 2000 bucks to fix a car worth 4-5k and we spent the last couple days car shopping. Last night I towed her car back home so now I have more lawn art.

Needless to say we are down to one car and my fishing takes a back seat to her going to work.

On a good note I have been finding how hard it is to find a kayak for her locally. I ordered her a Old Town Trip 10 Deluxe Kayak and it should be here in a couple weeks. So her new car might just need to have a good roof rack as well.
 
@bud16415 How do you like the Soul? If I get another vehicle I would like to be able to haul a sheet of plywood. If a Soul can haul a canoe it should be able to handle plywood.
 
Not yet. I did drive around and scope out some nice inland fishing spots.

We got thrown a curve ball a couple days ago. Her car died in the city and we towed it to a nearby farm garage they use with the farm. That guy had it a couple days and he normally works on trucks and farm equipment and said it was out of his pay grade. So we towed it to my local garage he had it a few days and tells us it went out of time the pistons clobbered the valves bent them and the engine is toast. About 2000 bucks to fix a car worth 4-5k and we spent the last couple days car shopping. Last night I towed her car back home so now I have more lawn art.

Needless to say we are down to one car and my fishing takes a back seat to her going to work.

On a good note I have been finding how hard it is to find a kayak for her locally. I ordered her a Old Town Trip 10 Deluxe Kayak and it should be here in a couple weeks. So her new car might just need to have a good roof rack as well.
Find a donor out of a junk yard with low miles and swap it over. Sounds like a timing belt failed. Interference engines don't like being out of time.
 
@bud16415 How do you like the Soul? If I get another vehicle I would like to be able to haul a sheet of plywood. If a Soul can haul a canoe it should be able to handle plywood.


I love the Soul and I never thought 30 years ago I would like something like this. We got the model with the larger engine and that made a huge difference in the feel of driving it. They come with 16-17-18” wheels and in the summer I run the low profile 18” that came with it and in the winter I switch to 16” snow tires with studs and it goes anyplace I need despite the weather. I added a spare and that moves the foam storage thing above the rear deck still lots of room for $150 worth of groceries. The rear seats fold flat and I often haul 2x4 eight footers inside believe it of not with the hatch closed.



When building the rack 4x8 sheets were on my mind also and I plan on using it for that. If you take it slow there should be no problem. The antenna sticks up in the way, but I found they unscrew and the rack is high enough to clear the base.



The soul has 4 plastic caps you snap out and below that are 4 metric 6mm threaded holes. I cut some PT 2x4 blocks and tapered them to match the roof and added a screw hole painted them black and bolted them down. Then I made the cross bars PT 2x4 and drilled a bigger hole to access the bolts and attached them with 4 each 2.5” deck screws. It will outlast the car and is way stronger than the ones I see on line costing a lot. The on line ones IMO are made mostly for looks unless you get fancy ones made for cargo and when you start looking at the weight rating I think mine will do better. I can add two holes to the cross bars and add a second layer bar that sticks out for two boats or something wider. I kept the design to just 48” as I wanted to leave them on all the time and didn’t want a head knocker. So for a couple bucks I could make a set of bars just for 4x8 sheets with blocks to lock the sheets in.



Will also be nice to haul my extension ladder using the canoe end straps.



People have been doing this stuff in Europe for a long time with little cars.

My friend at work used to like and tell people that I have a “Black Soul”.
 
Find a donor out of a junk yard with low miles and swap it over. Sounds like a timing belt failed. Interference engines don't like being out of time.
I'm looking into it. The trouble with Honda products is there is no such thing as low miles. A really good find is 100-150 k. Then there is the re-manufactured engines that cost a bit more but at least you have an idea of what you are getting. The engine swap comes out the bottom so that rules out most of the shade tree mechanics around here and the people that do it charge between 1000-1500 and a decent engine will be at least 1000.

It would still be worth it as we could drive it or sell it and show some gain depending on what it needs next.

I talked to two different local garages that flip cars all the time and have used lots. Both told me a few years ago they would buy it do the engine and flip it and make a couple grand. They say now there are lots of cars they can put 8 hours of labor and parts in and make a couple grand They don't want to spend 40 hours to make the same profit. Can't say as I blame them.

She is kind of past it now and has the bug for a new car again. We like to keep one good car for trips and that was the KIA. So I don't know maybe it's time to list it as is and see if there is someone young and eager for a project. As a last resort send it down the road to the bone yard.
 
@bud16415 Thanks much! I didn't know about the bolt holes, my mind is already designing racks.

When I had a Toyota 22re pickup a 4x8 wouldn't fit so I used bars across to carry plywood sheets. Only about 7 miles to Lowes.
 
Ok to keep y’all updated on my endeavors with too much time on my hands. We bought Holly a new car, well as close to new as we could. We found her a 2020 Kia Sportage with just over 3000 miles on it. The dealer told me if it wasn’t for lease cars he wouldn’t have anything to sell. The car was leased by an older woman and she drove it for a while and wanted something smaller so she broke the lease after 3000 miles.



I also got her a kayak as she didn’t like being the copilot of the canoe. I thought I liked how I retrofitted the canoe to be a solo with the option of a tandem until last Saturday we went out on a good size lake near us with a dam and the wind was pretty strong coming over the dam and I saw how important weight distribution really is and my single seat location was not what I wanted. So like anyone with too much time to kill would do I stripped it all out and started from scratch building what is called a pack boat from a tandem canoe. I got rid of all the molded Old Town seats and even the bench seat I built and built a lighter frame to hold a lightweight stadium seat and positioned the weight just behind the center of the length. I set the seat just a smidge lower. Took out the center thwart and moved the rest around to make two cargo areas one behind the seat and one in front that holds a good size cooler. Place for fish and food and drinks that’s handy to reach. The boat now should keep the bow down and help with tracking in wind.



Her kayak I added bow flotation to with a 15” yoga ball under the deck and it has a sealed bulkhead and hatch in the stern. I couldn’t believe nor could she just how fast and straight and stable the OldTown Trip 10 Deluxe was. I almost wish I had bought 2 of them. I would recommend it with the mods I made for anyone looking for a sit inside rec kayak.

Here are a few pictures of where I am now.
IMG_1270.jpgIMG_1275.jpgIMG_1280.jpgIMG_1328.jpgIMG_1361.jpgIMG_1363.jpg
 
Yoga ball for flotation is a good idea. My son uses inflatable balls (beach?) to pop out dented plastic bumpers on his wife's Cherokee.
 

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