Go Sail a Canoe!

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Before setting the mast for good, our swabbies had to fasten a 3/16" block pulley to its uppermost end. Then they made a boom by welding two more pulleys to a 3/4 " X 10' section of conduit, one 12 inches and the other 38 inches from the same end, and finished up by tacking a 1- 1/4 "-diameter ring to the pole, at a point about 55 inches down the line from the centermost pulley.

The 3/4" X 10' E.M.T. yard-which was hinged to the boom with a 5/16" X 2-112" bolt-had a 1/2"-diameter eyebolt fastened through its body 3 feet from the unpivoted end. Once that assembly was completed, Robyn spread out a 10' X 12' reinforced poly tarp and laid the conduit frame on it to describe an equilateral triangle. By folding the edges around the tube, running rows of stitching along the scams, and trimming the extra material, he and Dennis were able to make themselves a pretty fair sail.

All that was left, then, was to slip the mast through the boom hoop and into its seat, fasten one 4-1/2" cleat to the center of the aft outrigger strut and another to the cradle frame behind the partner, and rig up the 3/16" line. The mainsheet required about 25 feet of cord, which was fastened to the canoe's stern shackle, and run through the two boom blocks and back to the aft strut cleat. The yard halyard needed the same amount of rope, but-when tied to the yard's eyebolt, strung through the pulley on the mast, and secured to the cradle cleatthat line is used to raise and lower the sail rather than to control the boom.

MOM's waterborne researchers have found their new hybrid "day sailer" to be a lot more maneuverable and stable than they ever imagined. In short, they feel that they've made their canoe a much more versatile vessel ... yet one which can still be converted back to its original trim in jig time.

WE WERE TROLLING ALONG

Once MOM's makeshift mariners had converted their canoe into a sailing vessel, they began to consider the possibility of coming up with an auxiliary motor for the craft. Naturally, they weren't about to actually purchase a conventional outboard motor (after all, there'd be little adventure involved in such an approach, and a new 3-horsepower model would cost at least $300) , , . so, they started prowling around for objects that could be modified-at minimal expense-to do the job. 

Their search led them to a weed trimmer in the maintenance building at the Eco-Village, and-its being winter-they fig ured no one would miss it ... for a while, at least. The Green Machine 4000 was equipped with a 37-cubic-centimeter twocycle engine rated at 2.7 horsepower ... and, with its long stem and angled output shaft, the trimmer seemed to beg for the addition of a propeller. 

To make the best use of the two-cycle motor's comparatively high spin rate, our puddle-jumping seamen settled on a homemade prop with a pitch of about 10 inches. In landlubber's terms, that means that the two blades are angled about 201 from perpendicular to the shaft ... and that, in one full revolution, the propeller should push the boat forward 10 inches (not considering slippage). The blades were cut to the shape shown, from 118" mild steel, and were welded to a 7/8"-Iong piece of 318" water pipe. Once the fused parts had cooled, the inside of the pipe was bored to 112 ", so that it would fit right onto the Green Machine's output shaft. That nut-and-stud assembly, which was formerly used to attach blades to the device, now holds the prop in place. (On our trimmer the fastener has left-hand threads. As this fitting suggests, the output shaft itself spins clockwise when viewed from behind . . . whereas all of the readymade propellers we checked were designed to turn counterclockwise. Screws of both types should be available, though.) 

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print