Re-outfitting for floats

[old oca]

I'm trying to re-outfit my OCA for floats. At one time had eyelets in the gunwales for solo setup. Is the NRS deck rigging kit the way to go? Mike Yee bag cage kit (Clicky)?, Other options??

Thanks

[Cowper]

Other options??

Depends on what you're trying to achieve. For me, on WW I'm kayaker first and an Open Boater only on relatively easier stuff. If you were doing "hard core" stuff, the Blue Hole probably wouldn't be your weapon of choice even as an open boater, unless you're into a retro kick. I say all that to lead up to photos of how mine is outfitted - to paddle solo, but with no expectation that I'm going to be running Class IV and doing Combat Rolls in this boat.

But for running Class II, and being able to play agressively at a wave or two along the way, this has worked out pretty great. You'll note my air bags are minimal - another sign of my intended use, which is more likely to involve the boat being filled with camping gear than being filled with water. In fact, they are so minimal they don't even show up in this photo that shows the central area of the boat - they are just "end bags". But I'm happy with this set up for what I do. It starts with two blocks of ethafoam, glued together to create a six inch wide block. Note the bent aluminum to create angles which hold the block centered at the center thwart and under the back edge of the front seat. With enough d-rings and glued in kneeling pads, this gives me a set up that can be paddled either solo or tandem. The velcro thigh straps can be installed at either location; in this photo they are barely visible, installed at one of the tandem positions.

I'm very happy with this set-up, but there is also much to be said for buying a "kit" that includes all the miscellaneous hardware, glues, epoxy, and what-not that you may eventually need. If you are more interested in the end results than "enjoying the process", then kits save you a lot of shopping time looking for just the right parts.

I just realized, one look at my Avatar and you're probably not going to really want my advice on open boat outfitting. Oh well....

[A Savage spanke]

For the netting to hold down the front and rear floatation I drilled a bunch of 1/2 emt straps (you can get them at hardware stores) under the gunwhale and laced rope across from one side to the other of the floatation, worked well

[panicman]

speaking of retro I remember a few to several years back hanging out at lower screw up on richland and a dude comes cruising through in a blue hole type canoe with no flotation or very little knealing on a foam camping pad and a dog in the front. Dude styled door #1 like it was nothing.

[old oca]

Not brave enough to float that without bags! No telling what you'll find North of Dover though...

My dad picked this boat up new forever and a day ago from packrat and set it up for a WW school at London aquatics (if I recall correctly). I was planning on using it at the end up April for the ACC WW school.

Poor photo but you can make out the old eyelets that are still in.

[OldBlueHoleDude]

If you are into retro, can help. Bought a new OCA way back when and a Sunburst. Tried it all. Be glad to share some info on my adventures all over the US with my Blueholes.

destephe@att.net