Decked canoe weight poll

[Tom M.]

I weighed my 15'8" MacGregor canoe today. 67 pounds cartopping weight, without the rudder or floor. I'm curious about others who have built this, or a similar design. What does yours weigh?

I planked and decked mine with 4mm okume. Bulkheads are 6mm Russian birch ply, as are the mast boxes. The rest is either ash or white oak.

Funny thing (to me), is that I noticed a large increase in weight after I brushed on 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Marine Primer. I had no idea... that stuff is heavy.

[ishmael]

Sounds like it's closing in on a paddle and a sail.

Good to hear your report. I've got the plans, have had them for ten years. They don't weigh much at all. Beautiful little boat. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Steve Lansdowne]

You know we can't judge weight well without a picture! Given that you built the longer version and decked and fitted it with bulkheads for sailing, that doesn't sound overly heavy to me. If you're cartopping see if you can rig some type of roller arrangement so you just put the bow, inverted, over the rear roller with the stern on the ground, then lift the stern and roll the whole thing up on the car.

[Tom M.]

Awww, I need to post some pics somewhere so you can see them. I think. I'll work on that.

Ish, those plans weren't drawn so they could sit in a plan can forever. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Or maybe you're building something else. I don't know, I haven't been hanging around here long enough to know what everyone's up to. I have a paddle ferrule arriving tomorrow, and I will pick up some cedar as well. The sails, spars and rigging are going to wait until I make some more money

Steve, its a good idea for me to build some sort of roller loading system. I have to load it UP onto a Ford Econoline 250 van's ladder rack. It must be 7+ feet tall. Currently I'm using a stylish system of duct tape, bath towels, a sweatshirt and pipe insulation. The boat likes it, but I need my towels and clothes back.

Yes, I've launched it already, even though its unfinished. Three times. I don't recommend it! I learned about patience the hard way when I dropped it while unloading before the deck was on. I split the inner stem, which probably would not have happened had the deck been on. I was VERY fortunate that it happened to be an easy fix.

On the other hand, every time I launch it, it feels like the first time again, 'cause its a whole 'nother boat each time.

[Tom M.]

Here ya go. I'm still undecided as to whether to paint the sheerstrake a dark color or not. I bought dark green for it, but I hate to take attention away from that, that.... shape. I think white shows off shape the best.

album

[ 10-01-2003, 03:31 AM: Message edited by: Tom M. ]

[Steve Lansdowne]

The link to your album gets me to the Shutterfly home page but I'm unclear how to find your pictures.

Am curious to see how it looks when rigged. I'm half way through a 13' 7" Wee Rob built in cedar strip. I'm going to add deck-covered floatation chambers at each end, I think, but not cockpit decking as the plans show. Ideas still evolving.

At the boat show in Seattle this summer I took some pictures of a sail-rigged MacGregor with some "homemade" epoxy and metal pintels/gudgeons that didn't look too sturdy to me. If you want pictures I can e-mail them to you.

I'm still undecided about pintels and gudgeons for my Wee Rob. Classicmarine.co.uk has some that might work on their web site, or I met a Tom Regan from WA that could makes some up, or I could contact Springfield Fan Centerboard Co in MA. Tom just sent me pictures of what he had made that I need to study. My square-sided aft outer stem could take vertical gudgeons or strap gudgeons. Have you decided on how to get/make this hardware?

[ 10-01-2003, 08:06 AM: Message edited by: Steve Lansdowne ]

[Tom M.]

Steve, I think the best way is to use strap gudgeons and pintles. That way, you can adjust them easier so that each hinge pivots in the same plane. When I say "strap", I mean there should be a strap wrapping around the aft stem, just like what's common on rudders.

I made my own from brass stock, brazing the strap pintles together for the rudder, and drilling/hacksawing/filing vertical gudgeons for the stem. I'll be making strap gudgeons to replace them in the future.

[ 10-01-2003, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Tom M. ]

[Paul Scheuer]

The weight doesn't sound too bad, unless you were going for ultra-light. The thing I find with my decked boat is that there's no place to get a grip, like in an open canoe. I end up sliding it up over the rear rack on its bottom.

[Steve Lansdowne]

Tom, thanks for the pictures of your hardware. I think I'll try to make my own with some help from a friend. I have some brass plate and can get the rod. I like the look of the Willits Bros. gudgeons shown in Todd Bradshaws Canoe Rig book, and I think I saw one of those on display in the building next to the Seattle wooden boat show last summer.

My Wee Rob picture didn't make it into your mailbox - must have been full. Here it is.

[skuthorp]

My 15'7" lapstrake ply Mack is about the same weight. Around 75 lb with sail and spars, rudder, seating and a couple of paddles and I regularly haul it on and off the car like this. Mast and leeboard extra. [img]smile.gif[/img]