I just bought my first composite boat in 35 years. All my other canoes are Royalex, and sport holes in each end with tug loops. What do people do with composites? Thanks.
BTW, I chose a Tufweave Wenonah Wilderness over an Encounter or Voyager. It was a tough decision, but the price was right and you folks helped tremendously with that decision. She's a beautiful boat, but I gotta have tug lines.
what is the largest dia. rope that can
… be used in these tugeyes ??
What is the i.s. dia. of the tug eye when installed ??
I have them on mine
It requires a 1/2 inch hole, and can fit a 3/8 - 5/16 dia rope.
They where already in the boat when I got it.
http://free-canoe.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
The TugeyeII
is out of stock and backorders are not being accepted. Doesn't sound good for that product. Other options?
Huh?
Did you call Dan or is the website wrong? I can still order on the site it seems.
You can order it…
but you’ll get an email that says you’re getting a refund and the order can’t be filled at this time. Refund hit my card the next day.
If suitable Tugeyes are not available
you can probably do the job with PVC pipe, fiberglass or Kevlar cloth, and epoxy. First you would have to drill the bow right through with a bit allowing the PVC pipe to just slip through. Next, you clean your pipe (for good adhesion) and slip it through. Cut it off leaving a little bit of pipe, maybe 1/16", sticking past the hull. Clean and sand the hull for maybe an inch around the pipe. Cut some glass or Kevlar washers. Make the center hole in the washer a little tight so that when it is pushed over the pipe, the cloth will run up the exposed side of the pipe.
Make up your epoxy (I recommend West G-flex but West 105/205 or similar are fine) and wet out the cloth washer. Use some tool to encourage the washer to lay flat. Maybe you will want to use some plastic food wrap film to smooth the washer down.
What about the inside? Maybe you won’t need cloth, but can just thicken some G-flex (you can get it pre-thickened) and apply it where the pipe meets the inside of the hull. You can mix in some Kevlar or glass fibers if you want.
Some caveats. If your canoe has flotation cells in the ends like my Bluewater, you’re partially screwed, but I recommend cutting the PVC pipe so maybe 3/32" protrudes on each side, and using TWO glass or Kevlar washers. Make them so the first, nearest the hull, is larger in diameter than the second.
Probably there are other ways to do this, but I’m just setting a sort of lowest common denominator for home made tug eyes.
somewhere on the web
there are pictures of this process.
That’s funny, I just made it up as I
went along. Most, including me, would have trouble achieving a “pretty” result the first time, but I don’t sell boats very often (I have more than a dozen lying around), so I don’t care about appearance.
I didn’t mention that one should sand the inner lip of the PVC pipe carefully so that it does not cut into the chosen rope.
Maybe I’ll just tie-off
to the friggin’ handles. I got floatation compartments. Maybe next year I’ll have more enthusiasm for such a project.
It would be quite feasible to attach
little webbing loops to the exterior sides of the bow, using epoxy and Kevlar. You would need to chisel-skim the vinyl off the ABS for the best attachment. I think such connections would be very strong if done properly.
But they would look like hell.