CLOSE YOUR EYES......

The canoe came complete with painter rings, whether they came stock from the factory, dealer, or the prior owner put them on, I don't know. But they come in handy, and I would have added them if it didn't have them. They are also know as tug eyes .
Both the bow and stern have them.
Bow;










Stern:




The problem is that they go through the hull of the boat. They go through the flotation chambers. These are the things that will keep the boat floating when it gets swamped, it keeps it from sinking, a good thing. If you look at Tug Eyes they have a tube that goes from on side of the hull to the other, this prevents water from getting into the float chambers. Even though the float chambers are filled with foam, I think it's a good idea to keep water out, if at all possible.

So, to remedy this situation, the decks had to be removed, you can see from previous posts that this isn't a big deal. Two quick saw cuts, and the half rotted decks are gone. Not really gone, until I make new ones, but off the boat.

There is an empty space between the flotation foam and the hull, bow and stern. The holes for the painter rings go through this space, hence the problem.

You would see it in a picture, but for some strange reason the camera didn't want to take a picture of it. I don't know why. You see, it's one of those digital cameras. And for an old celluloid guy like me, these cameras can be daunting when they don't work the way I want them too. It's also my wife's camera, she uses it a lot, I use it once in a while, when she is with me, so I never really felt the need to RTFM.
My first camera was a Kodak Brownie, which was kind of a generic name for several models from Kodak. It used 620 roll film, the negative was about 2 x 2 inches, but the camera had very little in the way of controls. The film went to the drug store to be developed, black and white of course. There is something to be said about not having to have film developed, and the easy image manipulation of the digital age. You take a picture, and can view it in seconds. No more trips to the drug store, or film processor, or one hour photo. And with some places where you can email an image and have it printed in any number of predetermined size, the balance is almost a landslide to digital. I guess I need to catch up.

Two kill to birds with one stone, I decided to fill the space with a wedge shaped block of wood, pressure treated of course so it will take longer to rot, and attached with thickened epoxy. The blocks are to be placed below the gunwales and deck plates. The stern should be OK, but the bow may have a problem, it may be too low. I'll find out when I drill through it. The filler for the epoxy is sawdust, I thought I had finer stuff than I used, but that's the way it goes, and I'm not making a show piece, and have nothing to lose. I'm also hoping that it adds a little more strength to the stems.

One of the wood blocks:














The bow, after filling.
















The flotation foam and the placement of the block.















Hey, now that I have my reading glasses, maybe I can catch up on some long put off camera manual reading.