Hello!
I am looking for a Royalex canoe, most likely from Old Town or We-Noh-Na. (Penobscot or Spirit II or similar) But I dont want plastic Gunwales. Does anyone know if these or similar models are avaliable with wood fittings?
Penobscot
can be oredered with wood trim and brass end caps. th erails are slotted at mid ships and are excellent at letting any water out before putting the boat to ones shoulders. Mine is made of 2 types of wood, I believe cherry on the outside and ash on the inside. It is really great looking. It can make the boat a little pricey, but I think it is worth it!!!
Brammy
OOPS,
I forgot to mention, if you go wood on Royalex, you must back out the first 5 or so screws on both ends of the rails to avoid cracking the hull in the winter. Every fall, when the boat is put away you should back them out a few turns, then in the spring tighten them back up. The wood and the Royalex do not move the same in colder temps.
Brammy.
Jus’ consider “cold cracks” potential
wit dis combo - wood gunnels an’ Royalex in de winter.,
FE
Its the temperature change and not
the cold per se.
Its not a big deal to loosen the screws on wood gunwales. But I forget some years. The canoe is in an unheated garage and the temp changes are slower than outside. Temps can go below zero even in that garage but it takes time.
Wood and royalex have different expansion and contraction rates.
Wood Trim
Wenonah and Bell offer wood trim. Wenonah added about $250 the last I checked for the wood gunwales.
end caps
– Last Updated: Apr-05-09 2:09 PM EST –
I'm redoing gunwales and end caps on a royalex boat. The original caps were flush with the rails, but top mounted sounds interesting. Can someone post some pics of some? I was wondering about the thickness of the caps, whether or not the edges would be ?rabbited? to fit into the rails, etc.. Thanks for an answer. A winter project is getting in the way of Spring paddlin'.
Interesting observation, and might well
be a big contributing factor.