Tricking out an aluminum canoe

[Cog]

Hey guys,

 

I have an alumacraft canoe and am looking to do a bit more fishing with it on rivers and lakes. I have an old bedframe in the garage that I have been trying to think of a good project for and think I might have my idea.

• Cut a piece of angle iron long enough to mount an anchor winch and trolling motor to.
  • Angle iron will be attached to canoe by drilling a hole thru the iron and a hole thru the gunwales, the kept in place with a bolt on each side.
• Cut a piece of angle iron long enough to mount some outriggers.
  • I saw on Youtube a guy who got some big 20" dock bumpers from Wal-mart and attached them to a wood frame.
  • I'd have to probably bolt another piece of angle iron or some wood going down and then attach the bumpers to it. But that should not be hard to do.
• I have a portable fish finder, Humminbird Piranha 130. It runs on a battery.
  • I would mount the fish finder either to the angle iron with outriggers or to the yoke of the canoe.
  • The batteries for the fish finder and trolling motor would be up center in a rubbermaid tote with some holes drilled thru for wires.

What do y'all think? Any reason this wouldn't work out?

 

Anyone with a similar setup have trouble with line getting tangled up in the trolling motor or outriggers? I guess that's why it should be cut as close to the canoe as possible.

 

Also the angle iron might be heavy and could rust which may be a problem. But I feel like it is a lot sturdier than thin wood and probably more portable (smaller dimensions) than wood. Maybe give it a good coating of Rustoleum paint before taking it on the water.

 

Thanks

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

That will work. But if you have anyone near
you that works with aluminum, see if you can
buy a 2" square at what ever length you need.

I mounted a 55# thrust trolling motor to my old
aluminum Grumman this way and it was very
stable, but light.

[Cog]

Any idea what the aluminum stock for this project might run? There is a welding place a few miles from my home. Was trying to keep costs low and go DIY for fun.

 

I was looking at pics of other 'tricked out' canoes all morning and kinda took the ideas I liked to make it. The video on youtube was pretty helpful explaining the dock bumpers. Some of the canoes I saw on this website are crazy... but some mods are probably best left to 13-14' solo canoeinstead of a 17' tandem.

[Goose52]

A good design indeed ! 

When you get done, your boat will look something like this EXCEPT I purposely kept the outriggers behind me. Having the outriggers behind you does two things: 1) it keeps everything that might foul your line behind you, leaving about a 200+ degree arc in front of you clear for casting, retrieving, and landing fish and 2) gives you the option to paddle...although the end of the paddle stroke is somewhat limited by the outriggers.

As a result of this design, out of nearly 4,000 fish I've caught out of this boat, only two ended up fouled on anything, in both cases I was achored and they wrapped around the anchor line.

AND, WELCOME to BR !

 

[Kevin22]

Whats the length needed for the angle iron? Looks to be about 5 foot? 2x2x3/8 is about 5# per foot, pretty heavy stuff for what you are wanting. 

[Cog]

Goose- Your canoe was actually inspiration for my design. Lol. Thanks for the ideas. Have you tried your outriggers further ahead to compare what the stability is like when behind your seat? I'd prefer not to drill more holes than necessary. I'm not sure what sort of clamp would be a good alternative either when I am figuring a design out still either.

Kevin-- Sorry, it is just an old bed frame. I am just calling it angle iron since it is L shaped. The iron on it is like 1" x 1" probably. I am actually out of town for the weekend but it's the same thing that you have under your bed. Just figured it'd be an easy repurpose. It probably is not as heavy as that stuff and since I have it on hand... the extra weight probably won't make a huge difference when the canoe itself is already 70 lbs. I won't be portaging it, just dumping it off of my car and assembling at the boat launch. 

I have done many trips with the canoe b myself fishing and had no issues. Just fun to do the project and the stability to stand for farther casts would be nice. I enjoy paddling also, but being able to troll at a controlled speed wil also be nicer for fishing.

[Goose52]

15 hours ago, Cog said:

Goose- Your canoe was actually inspiration for my design. Lol. Thanks for the ideas. Have you tried your outriggers further ahead to compare what the stability is like when behind your seat? I'd prefer not to drill more holes than necessary. I'm not sure what sort of clamp would be a good alternative either when I am figuring a design out still either.

Nope - never tried the outriggers ahead of me - for the reasons I stated in my earlier post - they would be in the way up there for both fishing and for paddling.

And, no need to compare different positions for variance in stability. The boat cannot roll with the outriggers to the rear - it would still not roll in any other position. I stand in the boat nearly the entire time I'm on the water and there are no stability issues other than a little roll in primary stability. I have the floats adjusted to they are a couple inches off the water when the boat is trimmed laterally, so there is no drag from the floats when motoring. When  standing, I lean a bit to one side or the other until the boat rolls a few degrees and one float contacts the water and then it's rock-solid after that.

I've been on the water in this boat, with this rigging, for about 1,800 hours so far and the outrigger position seems to work...

[Cog]

10 hours ago, Goose52 said:

Nope - never tried the outriggers ahead of me - for the reasons I stated in my earlier post - they would be in the way up there for both fishing and for paddling.

I've been on the water in this boat, with this rigging, for about 1,800 hours so far and the outrigger position seems to work...

Cool, good to know. And your design of motor + anchor on the same beam as the outriggers makes it even easier to assemble. 

[Cog]

Since I'll be running this 17' tandem solo, do you think a folding camping chair would work if I put it near the middle, behind the yoke? I was thinking that:

1. Remove the back thwart

2. Attach outrigger/trolling motor mount in the same holes that the thwart uses

3. Put camping chair in front of it

I can see that the camping chair would be taller than a traditional canoe seat, which would make the canoe kinda wobbly and also make it harder to paddle efficiently. But I guess if I am going to be using the trolling motor paddling would be a back up in case of power failure. I just think it would be a lot more comfortable and the breathable fabric would be nice and comfy in the hot sun.

[Goose52]

How would you secure the seat to the boat?  I'm not sure I would want a loose chair sliding around in the bottom of the boat.

I am probably biased since I've lived with my design/rigging for so long, but your original drawing, with the modification of having the outriggers, motor, and anchor all on the same crossbar behind you, seems like the best bet. You drive the boat "backwards", sitting on what was the "front seat".  You can get a number of clamp-on/strap-on seats to put on that bench seat.  You run extension cables from the trolling motor to the other end of the boat and have your battery mounted as far forward as possible and the boat should trim nicely.  If you ever want to use the boat for two people again, you haven't made any permanent mods that would limit the boat to solo use...

If you are concerned about drilling holes in the top of the gunwales to mount your crossbars, there are a number of ways to clamp stuff to the boat and not have to drill holes. Look at the photo of my crossbar and note the "U"-type bolt and aluminum angle that forms the clamping mechanism - that's one way. (my outrigger set-up is store-bought by the way...).