Adventure Series: The Big Canoe Experiment ... finishing the boat.

J. B. Boykin

We sent the pictures of the newly rebuilt transom and the new Mercury twenty, short shaft to the boat manufacturer. I wanted to see what they had to say. The very next day I received not only an email but a phone call from Canada. The sales manager at Scott Canoe wanted to warn me the motor was not reaching far enough into the water. 

Scott Hudson Bay Canoe with short shaft motor and raised transom.

There would be disastrous consequences. One, the prop would be catching a large bubble created by the boat hull. The faster I pushed the hull, the more the prop would be spinning in air rather than water. The resulting cavitation would over rev the motor thereby causing great Ka Ching. A blown motor would be the results. 


Secondly, the cooling water intake would be nearly out of the water.  This position poses another loud Ka Ching noise. No cooling water guarantees a burned up engine.


The only option available was to return the motor and buy a long shaft version. I didn't know if my West Marine store could do that. We had not run the engine or put gas in it so there was a chance. When we took it back, the ladies at the San Antonio store were terrific. I ordered a new twenty long shaft. They sold the short shaft to the San Antonio River Walk barges the very next week.


It would be a few weeks until the Mercury plant could ship us the long shaft. A couple of weeks later, after consulting with the boat builder and my new found buddy, adventurer Bill Shaw, I called in and cancelled the twenty horse and ordered a twenty five. The boat is rated for twenty but they felt the extra five horses would be no big deal. If I had known then, what I now know, I would have ordered a thirty.


While I waited for the motor, I took the boat to Regal Plastics in San Antonio. They measured the console for a custom windshield. It would take a week or so to build. The results was a terrific, self supporting, durable windshield tall enough to shield the driver from wind. But more importantly it would block rain and wave spray which could be so, so cold.  A custom windshield ? Of course...Ka Ching  !


Next was to take the boat to Seguin and leave it at the canvas shop. They would build my eight foot Bimini top. The boat was too narrow for regular West Marine bimini's. Custom Bimini tops with stainless hardware ? Another big Ka Ching....this time a few hundred more than I was quoted. Not too happy with these folks. Oh yes, the screws are still rattling out of the Bimini struts and hardware. That is not good when your dependent on the protection in wild and remote settings.


A week or so later the twenty five, long shaft, Mercury arrived at West Marine. Within two weeks the boat was finished. I should say something about the people at West Marine. No matter what store they all seem to be the same friendly "wanna help" folks. They cut prices when overstocked or have something that's not moving. They just seem to love what they do. I liked them in Garland, Texas and now have built out a boat through the San Antonio store and like them even more. 


I was anxious to get the "Adventure" in the water. I changed my goal. I was no longer trying to do a three mile run down the White to the Mississippi. I wanted join Bill Shaw and run the eight hundred miles from Mississippi to the Mexican Border.


I was now in touch with Shaw via email and telephone several times per week. While we were  building out the Scott he was coming around the Florida Peninsula. I knew a good bit about the Keys and Everglades from my time there in the early eighties. I was trying to help Bill get around that part of the world. He was traveling the Keys and up the west coast.


All our conversations and my onshore research projects for Bill helped me fill in my waiting periods. Work was very, very slow since my Canadian run and the project was a welcome respite.  Christmas came and went. The boat was finished. It was time to join Bill.


I called my pal, Aubrey Lennamon, down in Goliad. I asked if he would mind taking the me to New Orleans. He was ready. He was to drop us and return home. When I needed to be hauled out, I was to call Aubrey and he would come get me. His term was "rescue".


I was in a hurry and more than a little ticked off at the people who built my Bimini top. Several of the screws holding it together fell out during my drive from the Seguin shop. They were to build my canvas dodger or "covered wagon" in the front. 


I decided I would go without the dodger. Instead I would take my new camper cot. It would fit in the same cargo area except both sleeping arrangements had the same problem. The gas tanks and camping gear were in the way. The long distances required thirty gallons of small gas tanks. That would take up a great deal of the forward floor space. The same area I had planned on sleeping. No time to build a floor over the gear. I would make do.


I was impatient and made a major judgement error. I would camp on the ground or throw the cot across the boat somehow and all would come out well. That idea didn't work out. More in the next chapter.


After the crew from Aaron's Marine finished the boat and we took her to a local lake. The boat was not licensed, nor the trailer. So I switched plates from the Albany trailer and away we went for her first wetting.

First time wet

The guys, Eron and Gator, jumped in and I backed her into the water. The brand new motor cranked in seconds. All was go. I told them they had earned first rights as the builders and let them take "Adventure" out for a quick mile or so. She responded well, clocking eighteen miles per hour at half throttle. She handled well in the light chop. I was nervous the Game Wardens were coming. We loaded her up before the license police showed up. I was happy. 

Testing the "Adventure"

Now it was time to pack her with all the food and camping gear. Plus, all the things the boat needed to make it comfortable and safe. It seemed I had a garage full.

Half throttle 18 mph, looking good.

The day after Christmas I left for Goliad, Texas and parts south. We would meet Bill at a Marina on Lake Ponchartrain. He was still in Biloxi socked in by fierce winds and heavy seas. He would try the forty or so miles as we traveled our five or six hundred.

l-r  Gator and Eron of Aaron's Marine in 21 ft Scott Hudson Bay Freighter Canoe 

Thanks for hanging in with us....the next installment won't be as boring....I promise.


Here's Bill's blog contact info...it really is a good story.


http://www.blog.billshaw.org




Next up...The Great Gulf Coast Inter Coastal Waterway Adventure.






                             John Boykin


           http://www.commimage.com       




             john@commimage.com






                 The Boomer Magazine 




http://boomermag.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-introduction.html