Lowering Thwarts?

[Canerodz]

Is it possible to drop the thwarts in a W/C canoe 2" with spacers such as are used on seats? My reason for asking is that when fishing and floating down a river in those "exciting" moments most rivers provide occasionally I'm really worried that a branch might grab and mangle on of my fly rods. If I could quickly lie it down on the thwarts and have it lower than the gunnels it would be protected to a large degree.

Alternatively I suppose I could carve new thwarts with built-in rod holders.

 

[Ed Moses]

Flyrod retention in canoe

Brian,

I have come up with a system where I tie two 10' 6" pieces of 1" PVC pipe ( a 21' piece cut in half) along each inwale, starting under the front seat, and the thwarts which places the opening of the other end right in front of the rear seat where it is convenient to insert and withdraw a flyrod when you need to.

I drill a hole in the PVC where I need to place a tie and it is very securely attached. The PVC conforms easily to the curvature of the inwale, if you elect to tie it between the inwale and outwale. This curvature adds to rod retention when you do not tie the rod at the reel end. At the end where I insert a rod I have another tie to secure the reel so that the rod cannot come out if the canoe bottom goes skyward. while running rapids. I've even transported the canoe with the built up rods in their pipes. This avoids need to break rods down each time.

Try it, you'll like it and then you can forget about dropping thwarts.

Photos of double end rowing canoes will be forthcoming.

Ed

 

[Canerodz]

Plastic?!?

Ed,

Sounds like it would work, but I don't want plastic pipes on my boat. I don't even feesh with plastic feeshin' poles!

Maybe I could use low grade bamboo and Tie it on with seat caning.

I'd still be afraid of messing up a guide or scraping the finish or bustin' something because, "Oh My GAWD! That tree wasn't there last time I came through here!!!"

Especially fishing the Hex hatch at night here in Michigan.

Can't wait to see the pictures!

 

[chris pearson]

Brian,
I know how those night Hex fishing trips can be, especially when hooked into an 18 or 20" brown! Things get exciting REAL quick! I think you can lower the thwart but be careful not to let the boat relax due to the spacers.
-Chris

 

[Paul Miller]

I don't think your standard seat spacer is going to work for a thwart. If you think about it, it's the thwart, tight to the inwale, that keeps the boat from spreading. Even older boats will show ware at the mountings as the wholes elongate from the stress. You can put space on the seats because the seats are not holding the canoe together.

I think you will find the gunnels will spread and the bolts and spacers will not remain at a 90 degree angle to the inwale but could be off 15 to 20 degrees. I don't know the technical terms, but the stress is perpendicular to the bolt not in line with it.

Maybe a metal "U" shaped bracket tight to the underside of the inwale and then the thwart tight to the bottom leg of the bracket.

Good luck,

Paul

 

[Splinter]

Bamboo

I think you should be able to rip bamboo available at garden centers in half lengthwise to resolve this. then just dremel out the nodes. Or you might make something like a PVC pipe that you apply birch bark to. It's already curled..... BTW, I have a great suggestion for a hex pattern. Very easy and it eliminates the tying of dear hair extended bodies. It's shown in the old Poul Jorgensen book "Modern Fly Dressings for the Practical Angler" ISBN 0-87691-224-2. It's shown on the cover of the book but not clearly. The instructions start on page 82. published in 1976 by Winchester Press. Intro by Lefty Kreh and Art Lee. I use nothing else besides this marvelous quick pattern. A joy to tie and you can also amaze your friends with it.

 

[Canerodz]

I think you should be able to rip bamboo available at garden centers in half lengthwise to resolve this. then just dremel out the nodes. Or you might make something like a PVC pipe that you apply birch bark to. It's already curled..... BTW, I have a great suggestion for a hex pattern. Very easy and it eliminates the tying of dear hair extended bodies. It's shown in the old Poul Jorgensen book "Modern Fly Dressings for the Practical Angler" ISBN 0-87691-224-2. It's shown on the cover of the book but not clearly. The instructions start on page 82. published in 1976 by Winchester Press. Intro by Lefty Kreh and Art Lee. I use nothing else besides this marvelous quick pattern. A joy to tie and you can also amaze your friends with it.

Jorgensen was a very talented and innovative tyer. I learned a lot from his books. I'll check this out.

I fish the hex hatch with either a Roberts Yellow Drake or a giant ball of fluff called a "Bird." You can't cast it far, but it's magnum size really helps when there are eleventy-million bugs on the river. I use others periodically, but these are my old standbys.

 

[Splinter]

Hatch

The Hex hatch here is off by about 3 weeks. Still coming off at about 10:15 pm though. When's your's?

 

[Canerodz]

About the same. Usually peaks last week of June. This year it's anyones guess. Still bugs on the colder streams.