NuCanoe Classic Water Pump

Like many of you Classic owners, I was aware the Classic would retain water.  This can be a nuisance when you're using a dbl paddle or catching waves from the outboard.  Much larger boats give you more options for a bilge (water) pump.  In smaller boats, our options were limited.  I resolved to find a solution.


That's when I found the Sierra Tools Liquid Transfer Pump:

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00318D7K8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As you can see, for $12 dollars, you don't get a whole lot.  However, it only runs on batteries and is a fully self contained system.  Now, how to get it to work on the Classic.  Time to tear it up.  (LOL!)

The pump is actually a small fan in the bottom of the tube.  The fan is connected to the head by a small dbl wire.  The entire black tube was acting as the siphon.

 For the next step, I cut away the drainage tube and reattached it to the pump apparatus.

The only tricky part was making sure the attachment had a water tight fit.  PVC glue and silicone did the trick.  I took a piece of the black tubing I had cut off and wrapped it around the connection for added support.

You have the ability to cut the wire and extend the controls if necessary, (which I will do),  Now you can mount the head into one of the divit holes towards the back of the boat and face the drainage tube out.  I'm working on a bracket for that.

The pump works like a charm.  As advertised, it pumps from 4-5 quarts a minute.

Excellent find.

Blind River 5/4

I brought my 11 year old daughter with me on Saturday morning to Blind River by Maurepas swamp.  We put in on the west side, which doesn't have a dock and is pretty much small boat access only.

The fish weren't biting, but I think she mainly wanted to ride in my boat for the first time.

The upside is that I got to spend time with my daughter.  We did have a lot of fun scooting around on the NuCanoe with the trolling motor.

The other upside is that I got to test out my new seat pedestal and its placement.

I certainly felt a lot taller in the boat, but it was "very" comfortable.  I didn't notice much difference in stability, not to mention that I had a second person with me anyway.

All in all, I would have to chalk up the new pedestal for my seat a success.

New Pedestal for Seat

Well, I happily just finished my boat project for the weekend.

As one of my previous posts indicated, I just obtained a trolling motor and battery over a week ago.  One of the things that I immediately noticed was that the battery takes room, (go figure).  So while I was out and about this week, I brainstormed on what I could do to get the battery out of the way while using a minimal amount of space.  I devised a plan to put it UNDER my seat.

If you are at all familiar with NuCanoe, you can testify that there is no current product on the market that could accomplish this.  Another key to this thought process was the height of my seat.  I like being able to stand up every now and then to stretch, and I found the movement very difficult from the low position the seat had me in.  This is only an item of concern because I don't have the best back in the world.  I injured myself about 10 years ago and I've never gotten back to 100%.

So back to the project.  I decided to make a pedestal that would fit the battery case  underneath it perfectly.  I decided upon using 2X lumber for the frame.

In the following picture, you can see the steps I took to build this little contraption.

The 2X4 bottom footing that I used goes a little furthur back than you would expect.  This is because I mount cleats and some other items behind me.  This also gave me the ability to put down 4 anchors instead of 2.

The uprights are 2X8's turned sideways.  I cut a bevel to the top and bottom so that they are angled slightly in at the top, this was to help with bracing.

All the wood was glued and screwed together.

There is a piece of aluminum screwed in across the top of the back of the pedestal.  This is to keep the battery from sliding back when I'm pulling the boat out of the water.

I ended up using a variety of colors of spray paint to match my Hunter's Brown as closely as possible.

It looks a little taller than it actually is, but I can tell you, with feet on the floor, it's almost like sitting in a regular chair.

I still have a separate seat that sits lower if I'm only paddling.  Once again, I mainly made this to accommodate the battery when I'm bringing the trolling motor.

I know that all the lumber adds weight to the boat.  I use a trailer to move mine around, so I'm not overly concerned about that.  I'm thinking I may expand upon this idea and weld together a seat pedestal that matches the dimensions of this later on.  I have some light gauge angle metal and a welding machine, so the options may be limitless.

Laugh if you must, but I bet I'm fishing more comfortable than you.  LOL!

My Trolling Motor

When searching for a new boat, I did consider the option of buying something that I could possibly attach a trolling motor to.  That was another thing about the NuCanoe that had caught my attention.

I began shopping for a decent trolling motor and investigated registering the boat to make it all legal.  Everything just happened to came together at the same time.  The same week I got the boat registered, a coworker of mine decided to part with a trolling motor he had that was two years old and hardly used.

I happily took it off his hands for $75.00.  It's a 40lb thrust Minn Kota.  Anyone who knows trolling motors, knows that this beauty goes for about 160 brand new, so I was happy with the deal.

As most kayak and canoe owners know, our boats sit lower in the water than conventional boats, justifying the need to shorten the length of the trolling motors shaft.  This particular monster had a shaft that seemed like it was 4' long, so it was definitely headed to the chopping block.

I investigated the best methods to taking apart and cutting the shaft on one of these.

1)  Place the trolling motor on your boat.  Set it at what you feel will be it's best operating depth.  Then add another 6" for precautions sake. Make your mark on the shaft where you propose the cut will be made.  (Determining the length of your trolling motor shaft is a personal decision.  I can only tell you that I cut my shaft down to 22").

2) Take the top off the head of the trolling motor.  This is done by backing out a few screws on the underside. 

3) Disconnect all the wiring from the shaft in the head.  (I "HIGHLY" recommend you take pictures of all the wire placements.  There aren't that many, but it helps to know you've got the info on backup).

4)  Remove the bolt and nut that attaches the shaft to the bottom of the head.

***At this time, you should have a lower unit, attached to a shaft, with a bunch of wires sticking out of it.  Now there are different options to get the next step done.  I had read that you can use a 1/2" piece of conduit, slide the wires into it, and slide the conduit into the inside of the shaft.  This would protect the wires while you cut the shaft.  I elected to try a different method.  I purchased a pipe cutter (red) off Amazon for $6.00.  It's sitting on the table in the above picture.***

4)   Place the pipe cutter at the proposed cut site.  Set the cutter in place and start spinning it around the shaft, giving the handle 1/2 turn to tighten the cutting wheel each spin as you progress.  It only took me about 2 minutes to cut my trolling motor shaft to the desired length.

5)  You can use the top part of the shaft you cut off to measure were to redrill the new hole that attaches the shaft to the bottom of the head.  You will have to take this very slow, and keep an eye on your wiring as you are drilling.  Be careful, the fiberglass of the shaft doesn't allow for many mistakes.  To much playing around with drilling this hole may cause the fiberglass to flake/break off the end as you are drilling.

6)  Once you have drilled the new hole and confirmed it will fit, snake the wires back into the bottom of the head and reattach to their original contact points .  On smaller size trolling motors, the head is a bit smaller.  You may not have enough room to hide the slack you now have in the wires.  It may be necessary to cut the wires and put new fittings on them.  My particular trolling motor had a large head, I didn't have to cut mine.

7)  Once the wires are connected, you can insert the shaft into the bottom of the head and attach it with the nut and bolt. 

8)  The final step would be to reinstall the head cover.  That's it.  You should have everything buttoned up and complete.

I had noticed one of our other NuCanoe owners had painted their trolling motor, I couldn't resist doing the same.  It took me three different colors combined to come to something that matched the "Hunter Brown" color of my NuCanoe, (see above picture).  Overall, I'm thrilled with the outcome of this little project.  And I can tell you, that 40lb thrust makes my boat "scoot".   :)

Lion Scratches

Pointe Aux Chenes - 4/20/13

So I guess I should take a step back and bring up last weekend. (sigh!)

I went with an old friend to Pointe Aux Chenes last Saturday, 4/20.  We got to the dock around 7:00am, put in, and started going across the flats.

Now for those of you that don't know, this area is flooded with oyster shells.  On this particular morning, the current was running at a pretty good pace through the channels and the wind was blowing about 15.  This clouded up the water pretty good, and you couldn't tell if you were in 10" of water or 10' of water.

So about 20 minutes into this fishing trip, I found myself being washed up against an embankment of oyster shells.  It was very shallow under the water, (about 4"-6").  Try as I might, I could not push myself back off of this.  The entire time, I could hear these nasty oyster shells grating and scratching the underside of my new boat.

After about 20 minutes of huffing and puffing at it, I took note that this embankment was only about 10' across, and that it dropped off again on the other side.  There comes a time, in desperation, that you forget using good judgement and "jump right in"...... and that's exactly what I did.

I got out of my NuCanoe, with the intention of pushing the boat across and jumping back in on the other side.  Everything started off fine.  I actually made about three steps, then it happened.  I sunk in right down to my groin.

Now forget that it was 55 degrees that morning, I like the cold.  We can even put aside that I was now stuck firmly in the mud.  However, I should mention that I felt "distinct" burning around my ankles and lower legs.  So I spent the next 5 minutes angrily trying to free myself from this sucking concoction of silt and (sharp) oyster shells.

Finally, I pull myself out of the mud onto the side of my trusty NuCanoe, only to realize that I left my brand new pair of CROCs 3' down in the mud, GONE!  If I wasn't pissed off  before, that pretty much sent me over the edge.

Now keep in mind, I am STILL stuck on this embankment.  With no one around to help, and no other choice, I spent the next 10 minutes slowly fighting through the mud while pushing my boat.  I did finally make it and collapsed into my boat exhausted.

You don't realize how much a blessing cold can be sometimes.  The water was certainly cold that morning, as I already pointed out.  It took a few minutes for me to realize there was blood slowly covering my boat.  I inspected myself and discovered that sinking down into the mud had caused oyster shells to rake across my ankles and up my legs, hence the initial burning feeling I had felt.  But that was only the tip of the iceberg.  Since loosing my shoes, fighting across the mud and shells trying to free the boat caused me to cut my toes and the bottom of my feet to shreds.

Once I started to warm up some, the pain certainly set in.  Out of all my numerous cuts, only one under my big toe was a concern.  But being the trooper that I am, I decided to stick it out and fish a while, especially since all of this happened before I even dropped a line into the water.

I lasted about three hours and called it a day.  I had a bite or two, but nothing worth mentioning.

After the 2 hour drive home, unloading gear, and bandaging myself up, I discovered the last "coupe de grace".  The shells absolutely tore the bottom of my brand new boat to shreds.  Nothing cut through it, mind you.  But after the entire experience, both my boat and I looked like we had come through a vicious attack by a mountain lion.

I've fished this area in a big boat before, with the aide of depth finders.  I don't think I plan on bringing my NuCanoe back to this particular spot.  Call it "personal preference".

I spent this afternoon with the heat gun gingerly touching up the damage to my boat.  Good as new!

Greetings

Welcome to Louisiana, Sportsman's Paradise.

In an official sense of the word, this is my very first Blog.  (go me!)

This has all come about because of my interest in NuCanoe.

For those of you who don't know what a NuCanoe is, it's a new style of hybrid kayak/canoe that has been on the market just a few years.  Although I am a nut about my new boat and could go on about it forever, you can find the best details on this product at:   http://www.nucanoe.com/

I purchased my boat on 2/13/13.  I bought a Classic NuCanoe 10' in Hunter's Brown.  I bought it from my new friends at Pack & Paddle in Lafayette Louisiana.

I intend on showing everyone the fun I have with it, fishing with a handful of friends or taking my girls with me when possible.

In the following days, I will begin posting about my adventures in my boat and the modifications I have made to it previously, and the new modifications I make to it.

Be prepared, I thoroughly enjoy building things and changing things.  You may get some new ideas of your own as we go along.

Stay tuned!