Today we brought home a Pat Moore Reverie I canoe, FG, in very good condition.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562657324BKdhSh
1. Here's my first question: what else does anyone know about this canoe? I did a google search and did not come up with much.
2. Here's my second question: how can I safely remove the drips on the inside of the boat (drips from the gunwhales having been oiled or stained)?
3. Here's my 3rd and last question (for now): the sling seat simply hooks over the gunwhales of the boat. Would that cause any damage eventually to the boat (stress, pressure from the seated paddler)?
Here's what I know about the canoe:
It's built for a small paddler, 125 lbs or less. We bought it for a friend's daughter or may keep it for son's GF -- both are very petite.
It was built in 1988. The woman I bought it from was the original owner. She purchased it at a freestyle symposium in Illinois in 1989, after she won the Dead Fish Polo competition in it.
It comes with a detachable pedestal seat for kneeling, which has dry storage inside it, and is held onto the boat by 2 strips of velcro. The woman also included a sling-style seat with it (for sitting) which obviously did not come with the original canoe.
The very nice woman told me it has good secondary stability, but may feel tender to a novice. She said it is a good boat for lakes, ponds, streams, and slow moving water, (though she took it in Class I water once).
It weighs about 27 pounds, is 11 ft. 10 inches long, and is fiberglass.
Thanks for any help.
Does the sling have gray PVC holders?
Naashwack paddles use to make a sling for freestyle canoeing. It was black web belt about 2-inches wide and the ends were attached to gray pieces of tubing that looked like 2-inch PVC pipe only gray. The bottom of the tubing was slotted so it would slide down over the gunnels and lock in place with the paddler’s weight. The web is adjustable with a buckle. Is your’s like that? Paddlers used them instead of a kneeling thwart because they were easier on the bum and your butt didn’t tend to slide unneccessarily when your boat was heeled over. Also a lightweight kneeling thwart in a tandem for tripping where you want to run a rapid empty with just one paddler.
If the sling is installed near a thwart I wouldn’t think there would be much undue pressure on the gunnels from a 125 pound paddler.
What do you thnk of the Pat Moore pedastal? Isn’t it exquisite?
The sling seat is "Old Town"
The sling seat is a red cloth with metal hooks to go over the gunwhales. See pic:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2465727510100443194yCGitQ
The metal hooks make me wonder if they would dig or scrape the wooden gunwhales with the paddler’s weight pulling down.
I had never seen anything quite like the Pat Moore pedestal that came with the boat. It is very lightweight and in pristine condition:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2913709460100443194THbIpW
Are those still commonly used?
I won’t be trying it out, since I am waaaaay past the weight limit on this one, lol. But it is all very interesting, and I’m simply trying to dig up more info from people’s collective memories here.
I would be a bit cautious
about using the sling seat as it certainly will put stress on the hull. The layup was designed to support the seat attached to the floor, not the rails. I assume you know it’s a fish form hull and that the wider end is the front. It will seem very tender to an inexperienced paddler, but with increasing skill level, and stick time it will be a fun, responsive canoe that will reward clean technique. May not be the fastest solo in the crowd, but certainly has a unique elegance about it when paddled well. Enjoy having a “milestone” hull in the parade of solo design.
Thanks Steve
I was going to ask that. I could see it was a “fish form” boat (not symmetrical) and “assumed” the wider end (the fish’s head) was front. Thanks for verifying that.
Never had a Reverie
I liked other FreeStyle boats better…I would put that sling aside…Pat’s saddles are still found in many of his boats. People like them because they take the pressure off the ankles.
This horse is going to be a little tender at first and the stance is going to feel a little strange at first…exactly like riding a horse.
Yes I have paddled a Reverie…but its shape helps it turn in forward moves and is a hindrance in reverse moves…plus you really have to have a lot of torso rotation to get something like a cross reverse wedge. Hence other boats came along…for touring the Reverie I is neat.
Again get rid of that OT monstrosity…
Rev I
neat little boat Ness! I'll bet that solo symposium was Conclave and was held at Lake of the Woods park in Mahomet.
the hull is radically fish form, so it'll respond best to kneeling technique with a straight blade. With the long pointy stern it won't backpaddle well and reverse FS maneuvers just aren't going to happen. On the other hand, those tendencies help forward tracking,
I'd suggest not using the hung seat. When built, the sidewalls were laid up with the knowledge that the paddlers weight would be transferred to the bottom through the pedestal. The sidewalls aren't beefy enough to hand a seat from the rails.
Acetone will get the watco drips, but may also remove the inner paint. I don't remember, if I ever knew, whether Pat used gel on the interior or paint, so start carefully.
Kind of interesting that another
little wave of fishforms have appeared, Kaz’s Millbrook slalom boats. Tried paddling my MR Synergy in reverse once, and could certainly feel the difference. The slalom paddlers are very much cab-forward, and haul the bow around where it needs to go. Sitting up or leaning back engages the stern for what passes for tracking in whitewater boats.
Congratulations
And now we have another reason to go to Raystown!
See you this spring.
Randy