Alternatives to painter holes?

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Jeff in Farmington, MI
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

Kerry,
An eye bolt through the stem is kind of brutal, and probably eliminates the possibility of attaching a brass stem band. I have an alternative that is easier than you might imagine. If you constructed your canoe with inner and outer stems, you should have plenty of wood to drill through from side to side without the need for pipes, tubes or wooden dowels to seal the hole from the inside of the hull.

I did this with my canoe, and it has worked out very well. I used a forstner bit to bore a clean hole from each side. Locate the holes over the inner stem so that the holes meet up in the middle and are entirely contained within the inner stem. To trim out the holes, glue in an appropriately sized brass grommet using thickened epoxy. (You want the larger half of an unassembled grommet on each side; essentially, a flanged tube).

This is a very easy, strong, and attractive option. I located the holes somewhat low on the hull so that they could be used to "line" the canoe if necessary. The grommet opening is large enough to accommodate a heavy 5/16 inch diameter rope. I believe your canoe will be more secure on your car top if the lines are attached at the very ends of the canoe, rather than through the scuppers some distance back.

Jeff
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Patricks Dad
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Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Re:

Post by Patricks Dad »

Glen Smith wrote:Kerry, you started out looking for alternatives to a painter hole but now it seems that you might be contemplating this solution.
..snip...

Image

Glen, I swear that the photo referenced in your post above was there yesterday...

edit: It's still there, it's just that the "img" string is broken...


Image


Anyway, I do have a question for you. Did you drill your hole in the hull before or after glassing. I'm trying to decide how to approach this topic and am considering your approach (but of course I'm thinking this over at the last minute..)
Randy Pfeifer
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Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
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Glen Smith
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Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Re: Alternatives to painter holes?

Post by Glen Smith »

Randy, I drilled the hole using a Forstner bit after the glassing.
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Patricks Dad
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Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Re:

Post by Patricks Dad »

Jeff in Farmington, MI wrote:Kerry,
An eye bolt through the stem is kind of brutal, and probably eliminates the possibility of attaching a brass stem band.
snip

Jeff

A stem band and an eyebolt throughthe stem will work fine.
Image

But I like your idea of a grommet. I'll have to think some more about this approach for my current build.

thanks for the idea!
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
AlanWS
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Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Shorewood, WI

Re: Alternatives to painter holes?

Post by AlanWS »

If you want to put a painter hole through the hull, John Michne has a nice write up of one approach:
http://michneboat.com/Building%20the%20 ... ter%20hole
Alan
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Patricks Dad
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Re: Alternatives to painter holes?

Post by Patricks Dad »

Alan, I've read John's comments on this subject (very thorough as usual). In prior builds where I didn't have a painter hole and used the gunwale scuppers instead for tie-down to the top of my car, I found that the ropes chaffed the (cherry) scuppers more than I expected. This led me to want a more durable surface for the painter holes.

I ended up following Glen's lead and used a piece of brass pipe (3/8" Outside Diameter and 1/4" ID). I installed them last night. They came out looking fairly good. A couple pictures at links below. The holes are small enough so that they are entirely contained within the inner stem (No structures needed inside the hull).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6 ... =573157884

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6 ... =573157884

Image

I slightly rounded over the inside edge of the hole to minimze wear on the painter ropes...
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
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