View topic - Derelict RX Explorer Rebuild

The last canoe rehab of a late friend and companion; 50 years of river and trail adventures with him. I really didn’t want this rebuild to end, an ancient Explorer now rebuilt for his SOT paddling son and daughter to use as a reservoir canoe. There’s a lot of winter left, and I’ll need another rebuild project to see me through. NOT another Royalex Explorer. How come I never find $200 kevlar Explorers, or cool old solo canoes

This one was resurrected from the remains of a $200 canoe. As in “For $200 I’ll cut it up and haul it to the dump for you” A little bit of work every day, sometimes only 20 minutes a day, and a month later it was again a functional, well outfitted and distinctly attractive canoe.

P1230004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

P1230008 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I had originally (unskilled poorly) refurbished the Explorer nearly 30 years ago, gifted to Brian as a 3-seater young family canoe. I didn’t even bother to gut it of superfluous “outfitting”. To say it had aged fugly and forlorn would be inadequate. For starters, I had spray painted it. This is why spray paint eventually sucks for canoes.

PC190009 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Of course it had lived outside as a shadedrack Queen for the last 15 years. Pieces of brightwork fell out when I turned it over.

PC200031 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Correction, it had been a rack Queen for 14 years, 11 months and 3 weeks. Less then a week before I arrived it blew off the rack, sailed over a fence and landed on a tall metal stake.

PC200021 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The original outfitting, not my work, but apparently multiple failed attempts, from two previous owners, had mostly fallen out, and what was left gentle tug popped off like a Post-it note.

PC230014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Whatever adhesive was improperly used for the D-rings and three (yes, three) large thigh strap pads didn’t hold worth a damn, but did manage to spider crack the inner vinyl layer. A cautionary tale regarding poor adhesive choices or techniques.

PC240005 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The vee bottom was worn nearly full length.

PC210004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A 16’ strip of Dynel sleeve, compressed under release treated peel ply took care of that.

PC290010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Lotta painting, inside and out, new brightwork, kneeling pads and heel pads, minicel knee bumpers and a custom utility fishing/trolling thwart.

P1110046 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

DIY foot brace for the bow backwards position, in case I ever reservoir paddle it.

P1180018 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Some cushion and back support. Guess I should trim the half dozen straps on that thing to non-dangly length.

P1170017 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Sometimes I get a wild hair when painting, especially if I have leftover Topside paint to use up.

P1230043 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That was too much winter fun. I need to find another rebuild project, lest I fail to enjoy self-awarded “Job Well Done” treats.

Nanoscopically described rebuild and photos here:

https://www.canoetripping.net/forums/bo ... air.19278/

looks great mike. i should do something like this. i like the idea of decking out a boat for fishing, sailing, comfort, etc. especially on more relaxed trips (basecamp, etc). you have inspired me to do something like this to an sp3 boat or some used cheap boat. but for travel-type trips, i still want to fish. what would you say is the absolute simplest rig to secure a fishing rod, so that, when it is trolling, its angle is somewhere between parallel with the water, and 25 degrees up from there? i could use abs pipe and angle it, and that's alright. but something even simpler/smaller/lighter?

maybe little chunk of closed cell foam, shaped into a small clamp (like canoe foam blocks but tiny one), that slips tight around gunwale and by friction it holds. (the rod would lay against each, such that they prevent rod rotation (should a bite occur)). i get the feeling they would not slide (during bite) because of friction, and because, they would not be pushed along the gunwale but to some extent against it. if this works it would be ideal, because they are weightless, bulk-less, can just stay on canoe most of the time, and importantly, they do not trap the rod; it can easily be lifted straight up for the hook set.

cheers,

Near the bottom of page 1 in the nanoscopically detailed and photographed rebuild link is the genesis of the fishing/trolling thwart idea, a wing-nut attached rig made from two plastic cutting boards.

Here it is in a Bell Magic, rod tip held outboard for trolling.

PA040038 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That is a simple and proven effective design. The topside cutting board has a wide rectangular slot and some other gee gaws.

PA040044 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The bottom cutting board, sandwiched a thwart depth away and attached by wing nuts, has the same outer shape, but a narrower rod handle slot, so the rod is held angled outboard on either chosen side.

PA040043 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I think in that design the /____\ angles are important to hold the reel in place (see top photo).

Using two plastic cutting boards was a simple, inexpensive, tough and waterproof solution. I’d recommend making a scrap plywood version first to verify the shape and outboard angles in a specific canoe.

On the OOSOBO, destined to be a reservoir fishing canoe, I wanted a permanent fishing utility thwart. Searching through the shop parts and pieces for reusable brightwork I found a rack of dusty clamp on yokes and utility thwarts, and realized that for a dedicated fishing canoe I wanted something always there.

PC280027 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

But the cutting board version may also be “universal”, at least when used in canoe with similar sheerline widths.

looks pretty good, nice simple solution. thanks mike. can get those boards for $4 at dollarama.
what i like about this is the double rod possibility, and you can (same thing) deck it out with any kind of slots for anything at all. when you say you think \_/ angle good, i assume you mean because otherwise obstruct paddling. activates whole rod too, when held only at base.
i generally paddle only on rod-less side in empty boat. if i fish during travel-to-site part of days (not common), i just rig anything, with pack straps, etc. but for a big spring fishing-focused trip, i think ill rig something like what you have. thanks for the ideas and pics,

I think (guess?) that the \____/ angle on the cutting board rod holder allows the reel to be resting by the stem between the reel foot and body, so that the reel itself is free of any obstruction or interference.

Two friends use identical copies of that rig; I expect they found plans for it, perhaps on some fishing forum. Customized for your preferences of course; hole for hook remover, some bungee, a little piece of minicel as a place to embed hooks or lures while changing out.

P1040035 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Mike, can I assume that you have bought this back support?
Do you have a link?

Yury, the weird multi-strap thing is a back rest a friend and I traded back and forth, and probably long out of production.

The better back back, the one I use, and he uses, is one that some manufacturers include with their canoes. A Surf-to-Summit Performance back band.

https://www.surftosummit.com/collection ... -back-band

Worth every penny, especially in combination with a foot brace.

Phenomenal job. I have a RX Starburst in rough shape that could use your skill - will follow those detailed steps on the linked site to try give it some love this spring. Thank you for posting this!

Goose, that would give me vicarious pleasure.

I have reasons for the (very) long day-by-day sequential write up in the link. As I’ve mentioned before, taking the time to photography and write up each step helps slow my roll. I make fewer mistakes, and oddly, see some oopsies in the photographs that I did not notice while standing a foot away from the boat.

No one has yet won the “Guess the weight” contest. I was surprised myself.

When you refurbish your Starburst, if you are of a mind, please take us along on the rebuild journey.

88lbs without removable stuff

By the rules of the contest your guesstimated weight is ineligible.

But OOSOBO is going to get a little heavier, maybe by a pound or so.

Paddled bow backwards solo I want a utility/fishing thwart accessible from that orientation. At best location that fishing thwart would be in the same position as the yoke. I could make a clamp-on version, but there’s no sense in bringing something to clamp on if there is already something there.

As soon as I have the right piece of lumber I’m going to design a combination yoke/utility fishing thwart, with neck/shoulder yoke curves and trolling rod holder holes at wider, double hung ends. Double hung, with two machine screws at each end of the yoke/platform can only help with OOSOBO’s weight.

With everything from truss hangers to existing fishing thwart already curvaceously styled something voluptuous. The design part will be as much fun as the build.

lol what is the rule that disqualifies that guess?



good idea, post pics when you do it. the double hung end (i assume you mean the second pieced below the main thwart) is doing what? forcing rod to appropriate angle? anything else? do you think there is a way to do that without that second piece below the main?

Closest to the weight without going over. And there was a winner on the other forum, 86lbs.

I didn’t believe it, so I weighed OOSOBO multiple times. 86lbs. Between everything I scrubbed and sanded off, outfitting removed including the third seat and old thigh strap pads and etc it gained one pound in the rebuild.



By “double hung”, which may be incorrect terminology, I meant hung using two machine screws at each end of the yoke/fishing thwart. It is not uncommon in heavier canoes to use a thwart with wider ends and two machine screws per side.

That will be sturdier, provide more platform space for the rod holder holes and allow me to move the yoke curves a bit further forward for better balance; with the stern fishing thwart in place the balance point is a bit askew.

The combination yoke/fishing thwart will still have a rod holder hole on each side, with the yoke/thwarts wider position those holes need to be located closer to the ends, so the \____/ rod tips are still held well outboard.

I’m still thinking on how to design the rod holder holes. Not a recessed under-shelf platform as on the first version; current thought is to epoxy a small, rod handle drilled wood block at each end, abutting the inwales, and then contact cement on a bit of minicel below that, likewise drilled for the rod handles but a little tighter fitted.

No idea how that will work, this is all new to me.

that's amazing. decked out fantastically, fixed up like new, and the weight essentially the same.




right, sounds like a solid plan. interested to see result, i will also be bow reversed in the boat i want to setup for fishing etc. (bit heavier though, sp3).

on that note, i just saw that NC changed weight to 90lbs for a 16' pros (sp3). used to be 85 for the last decade. i guess we aren't the only species who put on weight during covid.

prices also 500-600 higher for composites.

I was surprised at the weight, enough to weigh it several times perfectly balanced. Or in the end, not that surprised; other old heavily-built canoes with rotted brightwork and failing outfitting have come out much the same weight once the new parts and pieces installed.

I’m still surprised that the paint-weight, one coat inside, two outside, white band and diamond layers, didn’t balloon the total, but I took a lot of crud, grime and flakey paint off along the way, and those paint coats were properly rolled and tipped.



Already at SP3 weight there are a lot of options. A clamp on fishing thwart platform. Or a permanent fishing thwart with some Scotty accessory instead of DIY rod holder holes. The FishFinder has a base mount for a Spirit Sail, which is actually a Scotty Side Deck Mount, and a Scotty rod holder.

https://scotty.com/product-category/fis ... ck-mounts/

PC200038 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I recently saw someone using a Scotty Flush mount much the same way, so the thwart could be attached without the need for shallow drops, with the flush mount still below the sheerline.

https://scotty.com/product-category/fis ... sh-mounts/

Lotta manufactured and DIY’ed rod holder gunwale designs that clamp on thwarts or gunwales.

https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=f ... 5&confID=1

Planning a 30 day trip at ice out, you got time to figure something out. I’ll get cracking at the combination yoke/fishing thwart as soon as I have the right piece of wood.