out riggers on a canoe

[overkill]

SO, i have a colman 16' plastic canoe. I got it because i needed something light weight so i can get it ontop of and down from the roof of my camper by myself. it only weights about 40-50lbs.
problem is, when in the water its pretty top heavy with me sitting in the seat.
I got it to haul out to remote areas to fish, so if i have to fight in a good sized bass, i dont think i have a chance of staying up right.
so i have decided to build some outriggers for it. plan is to use 5-8" PVC for the float body and 90 degree pipe ends with caps for ends.

question i have is, how deep should i set the floats to the water line?
not sure if i should push them down in a bit for more stability, or have them just touch the water so there is less drag.

please let me know if you guys have any ideas on the matter
thanx

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: out riggers on a canoe

lower your center of gravity: sit on the floor. or kneel.
This is why kayaks are more stable than canoes.
When you are solo, sit in the front seat, facing backwards.

 

[rbh]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

YES, A true paddler will not sit on the seat, but kneel down, if you have not done alot of paddling, please take a one/two day course.
You need to learn your strokes, self recovery, positioning ETC.
There is a lot more to it than hopping in and paddling.
As a young man I did alot of paddling (3000km+-) and up to class 4/5 in places.
But there is nothing like being single in your canoe out on a mountain lake and whippen out that fly, AH good memories.

EDIT!!!
NO you do not want or need an outrigger.

 

[overkill]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

yes, i can sit on the floor and its more stable, but i'd like to be able to use the seat. I used to have a fiberglass canoe that was much more stable, but i couldnt move it by myself.
i'v done plenty of canoeing, know how to recover, and how to paddle. even got the canoeing merit badge when i was in Boy scouts years ago.
please do not assume that because i asked a question that i am some jokal that just hopped on the lake for the first time.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

How about a set of sponsons attached to the sides...

http://www.castlecraft.com/sportspal_double-end.htm

We used a canoe with something lite that when I was a kid and it was very stable, though the sponsons on the canoe we had were 1/2 round and bigger.

If you make out riggers, make sure they are sturdy, sturdy enough to take your weight if you shift all your weight onto them. We plucked a couple drunk canoer's out of the drink one night... One of them though it would be funny to rock the boat when another guy was taking a leak, all 3 of them wound up in the river after their home-grown out riggers failed.

 

[saildan]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

SO, i have a colman 16' plastic canoe,... when in the water its pretty top heavy with me sitting in the seat.

i have decided to build some outriggers for it. plan is to use 5-8" PVC for the float body and 90 degree pipe ends with caps for ends.

I see a couple of ideas out there -

Homemade Canoe Stabilizer By Tom King
http://www.ehow.com/way_5486458_homemade-canoe-stabilizer.html

http://www.sailboatstogo.com/v_page.php?content=stabilizer_length

http://www.nielsensoutriggercompany.com/

 

[rbh]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

yes, i can sit on the floor and its more stable, but i'd like to be able to use the seat. I used to have a fiberglass canoe that was much more stable, but i couldnt move it by myself.
i'v done plenty of canoeing, know how to recover, and how to paddle. even got the canoeing merit badge when i was in Boy scouts years ago.
please do not assume that because i asked a question that i am some jokal that just hopped on the lake for the first time.

Not trying to push any buttons here, should of asked how much experience you have first.
Way to many accidents this year due to no experience.

 

[Shrike]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

Outriggers would limit places you could get into.
I think Sponsons would be better

 

[overkill]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

i dont know if the Sponsons will work for my canoe. its a thin plastic with an alluminum pole running the lenght of the keel providing the only reenforcment of the body shape. so if your sitting in the seat and are not perfectly centered, it starts to roll and the body gives a bit on the down side so you dont have the secondary stability point like a more ridged canoe would have.
by the time they would start to provide any floatation i think i would be past the point of no return.

i still think that an outrigger would be the best option, i know that it will limit my access a little. but i think that if i kept the outriggers close enough to the canoe that it wont be too bad.
has anyone ever used an out rigger? i see that some of the ones listed adjust up and down. just wondering how much extra drag there is.

mine looks like this one but green

 

[shrew]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

I've fished from canoes for almost 35 years. I solo'd a Coleman RAM-X 15 on a 70 mile canoe camping trip through a tone of whitewater. I've done extensive whitewater canoing in the same Coleman RAM-X 15 as well as a number of other canoes, including some Class 3+ waterfalls and some bigger water Class 3+ standing waves that were 3+ ft where I was burying the bow in the standing waves. I know that canoes can feel very tippy, quick to roll and slow to recover, however unless you're either not paying attention, have poor balance, or are drunk, it will be much harder to tip than you think.


Take the canoe to a shallow beachy area with 2-3 ft. water of and put on a bathing suit and a PFD. Adjust your weight around and try to tip the canoe. Basically, SLOWLY lean and keep leaning until you eventually roll. Empty it, flip it, climb in and try to tip it again. Then try to find the sweet spot where you can either hold, or recover from the roll without turtling. I would really have to try to tip a canoe to actually tip it.

I've never rolled a canoe accidentally before.

That being said, the seats are typically bolted to the gunnel, which puts the weight and center of gravity high on the canoe. Sitting or kneeling on the floor as suggested will put the weight and center of gravity on the keel. That makes a huge difference, but makes it tougher to fish from down there. Besides, you can only kneel so long before becoming uncomfortable.

However, that being said, take a look at these:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...xeIF&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:23,s:0


BTW- Are you solo in the canoe when you're fishing? If so, Are you sitting on the rear seat? The weight in a canoe really needs to be balanced both Port to Stbd as well as forward and aft. The rear seat is all the way aft, so this causes the bow to rise and the surface area of the water under the hull to decrease. The canoe is widest in the center. If the weight is raising the center out of the water, then you're also decreasing the effective beam of the canoe. If you have two people in the canoe, this helps, but solo will make the boat much more tippy. If this is the case, sit in the forward seat and sit backwards, so your'e facing the center of the canoe. The forward seat is much closer to center than the rear. This will put your weight much closer to center and help with stability, plus the forward seat is wider and a bit more comfy. However, if the canoe has a transom, then this won't work. If that is the case, then try to put some ballast forward in the canoe to get a more level trim from forward to aft. Be careful what you use for ballast......bowling balls, for example make horrible ballast. LOL

Just a thought.

 

[grneop]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

I install outriggers into my sit on top kayak, as I use it to fish for Striped Bass in open water in MA.
What I did (and I will post pics latter) was install couple of Scotty 250 RodMaster on each side of kayak, and use 1 1/4" x 3' PVC and couple of Lobster buoys for each side.
The reason for using the Scotty 250 is that I can set the right of the buoys in the water. When I'm paddling the outrigger sits high and barely touch the water and when I get to my fishing spot I drop the out rigger and if I want I can stand up in my Kayak.
Here is a youtube video of something similar to what I did to my kayak, and I'm sure you can use it for your canoe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TezklfNpSfs

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

..... I use it to fish for Stripper.......

Not to derail the thread, but what do you use for bait? I find Gulp! single dollar bills pretty effective, but might move up to the Chartreuse twenty's.

 

[grneop]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

Not to derail the thread, but what do you use for bait? I find Gulp! single dollar bills pretty effective, but might move up to the Chartreuse twenty's.

Opps!!!

get love the out correction on this phone!!!

 

[Fireman431]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

OK...I'll be the one to do it...

If you're gonna put outriggers on a canoe, they need to look like this:

 

[drrpm]

Re: out riggers on a canoe

You could add a kneeling thwart near the center of the canoe. Some canoes are much more stable than others. That Coleman looks like it has a fair amount of primary stability but not much secondary stability, which is where you really need it.
To answer the outrigger question, I'd say set them so they are just at the surface of the water when level. I've done a lot of canoeing, but mostly on whitewater rivers so the only canoes with outriggers that I have seen were on Hawaii 5 O.