Canoe Outriggers

[AaronM]

Does anyone have any good ideas for making outriggers for a canoe? I was thinking about using 5 gallon pails with tops on for floatation, yet obviously that is not the most aerodynamic solution out there. Any thoughts?

[Gusmpls]

I used the larger diameter fun noodle. I put a piece of pvc pipe in the center that I glued in a wood dowel to add stiffness.

[bisonmn]

Here is how I did mine. I only put one on since my fishing plans for tonight where canceled by wind advisories and black clouds. I was going to take some photos on the water but thought I would share some "on the grass"

[Duffman]

Nice work, well done. Thanks for the pics, after seeing them, I would suspect there may be some made following that design in the near future.

[bisonmn]

Well if anyone does they can learn from my mistakes. I need to redo them some. The mounts are too far back. The boat gets pretty unstable when I am trying to get to the way back far enough to install or remove the outriggers. As they are now I need to install them from shore. I want to move them up towards the middle of the boat and mount them on a removable mount. I plan to take the antenna mounts and mount them to a piece of hardwood that is clamped to the boat (think of how a motor mount is clamped on). Also, the nylon antenna mounts need to be replaced by stainless or chromed ones. They flex quite a bit but Cabelas didn't have any metal ones and I took a gamble on the nylon ones. The outriggers provide great stability but I am guessing if I had the metal mounts I could sit on the side rail with them installed.

[AaronM]

Awesome job-just what I was looking for. Are those lobster pot buoys? Where did you manage to find those? Thanks for posting the pics!

[bisonmn]

I ordered the buoys from here:

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/search.htm

oops, looks like that link isn't going to work. Find the search field on the hamiltonmarine.com site and search for Lobster Buoy.

I didn't invent this design. I based mine off of this:

http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/articles_view.asp?Kayak_Articles=31

I tried to use the ram mounts on my first revision. I was not happy with them at all. I was not able to get the ram mounts to hold as tight as the original author claims. Perhaps it is because of the difference in angle between the height of my canoe and the height of his kayak. The forum on that site has dozens of happy people that have used the ram mounts. The antenna mounts I use flex quite a bit since they are nylon. They provide more support then the ram mounts did. After I posted my above pics I got the itch to fix outriggers and am now awaiting chromed antenna mounts from Cabelas ($20/each) and plan to move the outriggers just behind the front seat. They will be out from the wide part of the boat and the metal mounts won't allow any flex so they should be as rock solid. I will post some more detailed pics when I put it back together next week. Unless Cabelas calls me today then I will have them on in time for a trip out to buffalo and the crow.

[Moose]

bisonmn,

For some reason my bowser Xed out the pictures of the outriggers could you email them to me please. I am very interesed in your design. Fishing with 2 boys in the river can be a stability challenge. [email protected]

Thanks, Moose