Hi all
New to canoeing and finally received my first proper canoe, an Esquif Prospecteur 15. It’s olive with timber trim, and I love it to bits.
Had her out a few times now and working mostly on my flexibility, fitness and J stroke to begin with (all coming along nicely already)
I’m already looking at paddling further from the very protected shelving waterway I’ve been practicing in, and out into wider/bumpier waters. So I’m now keen to install buoyancy bags (and painters) to help in case a self recovery becomes a necessity.
I’ve sorted a nice pair of PBM bags both 32”, but am wondering about best installation method. It’s been suggested I drill holes in the hull just below the gunwales for the rope lashings (presumably running the ropes straight across, ie not crossing over as I’d prefer), but I’m curious if it’d be better/nicer to fit some sort of clips to the timber work for this instead. My concern if going this route is weakening/splitting the thin timber strips with a line of screws all along the timber grain.
Is this a real concern or am I overthinking this? The last thing I want to do is butcher my beautiful new boat. What do you guys do? Is there a proper way to do this?
I’m a kayaker, not a canoer – however, I was a carpenter for a long time. Worrying about a line of screw holes weakening a relatively narrow gunwale does seem reasonable to me.
If was in this situation, I would consider making a removable wood frame out of 3/4" square material, should be somewhat flexible. The frame would be in a triangular shape matching the profile of the canoe, with the pointy end of the triangle truncated to butt into the short brace at the bow of your canoe. The frame would sit under the gunwales and be drilled to allow the retaining line to criss-cross across itself to hold the bags below.
I’d try to come up with a way to clamp the frame to the gunwales above, without drilling. That way you can test the setup to see if it works without damaging the boat. If it works and seems strong enough with the clamps, you’re done. If it seems to need more rigid attachment, you could worry about that afterward.
I’d probably run this idea by a real canoer at some point as a reality check before building it…
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I don’t know where to buy them, but nylon D rings are available and you would back out screws to loosen the gunnel and slip the flange between the 2 wood pieces and retighten the screws. I have them on my Wildfire for bags.There are holes for the screw in the flange
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Back in my youth and whitewater days… before I cut my teeth on Kayak’s or C1’s I ran open Canoe’s.
to solve the flotation issues and to make the boat more rigid we used to take big Styrofoam blocks and cut and shape them into the fore and aft portions of the canoe you’d cut them to follow the body contours of the boat so that they were a tight fit to push in (but not too tight.) and you’d remove the cross bracing of the boat then you’d cut a channel in the foam block where the cross bracing would fit and reinstall the cross brace. this kept the block from sliding out of place.
You could make the blocks as long or short as you felt you needed.
Worked well enough that I was able to paddle a bathtub. to shore to drain it (ran like a partially submerged U-boat. It also added rigidity to the boats in addition to flotation.
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I think he said he had procured bags already
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I was actually wondering if I might be able to back the existing screws out and slip something in. Do you think they’re could be glue between the timber inwale ant the inner face of the Tformex hull? 
Don’t know about that but generally if you have 2 piece wood brightwork, you can loosen screws and fasten stuff in-between and retighten the screws
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Ok thanks, I’ll check it out.
Thanks to everyone else for all the helpful suggestions 
The normal DIY for bag cages these days is to drill holes just below the gunwales that are just big enough to allow 4mm (or so) line to be laced through. on the inside of the hull you run the line through some vinyl tubing to form a loop. you then lace the bags in running you cord through the loops. the picture below is taken from the Silverbirch Canoes website:https://www.silverbirchcanoes.com/
Mike Yee has been the gold standaed for OC1 & OC2 WW outfitting for quite a while. He has quite a few pictures on his gallery page ( Mike Yee Outfitting Gallery ) and kits for sale ( Mike Yee Outfitting Catalog )
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Clips or adhesive fittings over the timber trim can secure the ropes without drilling or damaging the wood. It’s a good way to keep your canoe looking great while still adding safety.
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I might have to go this option (lace through the hull) after all. I checked out the bow/stern areas and there’s only a couple screws up there to work with 
At least it doesn’t look too bad in this photo. Hopefully I can make it look ok too.
Thanks for that 
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