Very nice. I had to replace my wood cross members with aluminum, my gunnel “L” aluminum reinforcement did not allow enough end distance for scews in wood, so they were pulling out.
I love all the work that you have done. Just wondering what product you used to get that lovely satin finish on the yolk and drink holder thwart. Very nice. I'm inspired.
@TheRobertsams I do not have any complete seat plans drawn up. If I were to do it again, I would probably use flat webbing instead and stainless staples to attach it to the wood frame. The paracord works ok but after a full day on the seat you can get some "waffle butt" going.
@phrayzar I used spar varnish because from what I could find, it's the best finish for wood that is going to be wet and in the sun a lot (other than maybe an epoxy based finish). It has a higher oil content than poly which gives it more flex and thus less likelyhood for cracking/peeling.
Actually I just today got back from a 3 day on the Buffalo River in AR (water was high, rapids were great). Anyway, they have held up fine other than needing some refinishing. I go on 8-10 trips a year, so roughly 60-80 days on the water maybe in that time. They are a little heavy though, I probably should have thinned them down a bit more to reduce weight. I don't really carry it by the thwart either so I may redesign that for weight and cargo carry improvements.
@Woodenarrows It's heavy, but the canoe is heavy from the factory (87 lbs I think). I would guess its around 95-100 lbs now with the extra stuff in it. Not something I would want to portage much.
The smaller rivers I generally float wouldn't work with an outrigger, it would get smashed up against rocks or snagged in strainers, but if I used it on lakes more or bigger rivers, it would be an interesting idea.
