Freighter plans?

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AkDan
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:19 pm

Freighter plans?

Post by AkDan »

Just looking to see whats out there. I have Gils book on the grand laker..is there any others?

Anyone with experience in the grand laker?

I'd be mainly using it on LARGE rivers, like the Yukon, to motor up and fish for pike and shee fish...

I do however plan on putting a lift on with a short shaft motor to get back into some of my hidy holes for salmon and maybe use on a hunting trip or three this fall on some not so huge rivers.

Cant afford to buy one, have the tools and now experience to build one after finishing my Seneca last winter. Hard to run in a metal boat anymore. Finaly going to have a summer where I get the chance to use my canoe...
AkDan
Posts: 172
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:19 pm

Post by AkDan »

How about this..just building a 16 or 17 foot stripper and using gil's side motor mount bracket? Has anyone used it? Would probably be better then what I was wanting to pull off with the freighter. Honestly I dont know how bad I really need a freighter as much as I want a power boat on some occasions to get up the yukon river 20 miles for some outstanding pike/sheefish/burbot fishing on a long weekend.

Soooo...any ideas? Thoughts? Deisgns that might work well as a paddling/side motor mount canoe?
Rick
Posts: 727
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 9:23 am
Location: Bancroft, Ontario

Post by Rick »

My motor mount bolts onto four holes drilled into the canoe's stern seat, through both crossmembers near the gunnels. The board that the motor attaches to is on top of both gunnels, so that when the bolts are tightened to the crossmembers further below, there's no danger of the forces cracking the hull. The motormount board extends out to the right, over the water.

The power of the motor tends to twist the board because the propeller is in the water some distance below it. It had to be reinforced to prevent cracking from the twisting forces..

I can kneel in the canoe with my butt against the seat-motormount, or sit on the motormount itself, which is a little high because it's about two inches over the seat, on top of the gunnels. The fiberglass canoe is a wide hull with plenty of stability so sitting that high up isn't a problem.

If I were using the motor a lot, I'd probably build a sunken combination seat-motormount, remove the regular seat and replace it, so that sitting would be at the normal height.

I haven't seen Gilpatrick's design, maybe he has something more refined... mine works well enough for occasional use.
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Woodchuck
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:56 am
Location: Garden City, MI

Post by Woodchuck »

I have a photo or two of motor mounts I can send to you. Send me an email... I am making mine out of Ash... :smile :smile
Joe "Woodchuck" Gledhill
Garden City, MI
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