Drying out a Taureau: Outfitting or Technique?

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Wed May 12, 2010 12:43 pm

[img]http://superjet.smugmug.com/photos/4355 ... o3D-X3.gif[/img]

James... you naughty naughty boy!

TheKrikkitWars · Post by **TheKrikkitWars** » Wed May 12, 2010 12:58 pm

funkidreadz wrote:Hey Cboaters,
Here is a trick to dump water out of your canoe, thus reducing sluggishness and increasing paddling pleasure...
http://blog.jamesweir.net/2010/05/nevaf ... travo.html
Enjoy
James

Interesting idea, it looks like it'll have the same problem as a raft, water can come in the holes too.

Can anyone think of a simple and rugged non-return valve thats available off the shelf?

Shep · Post by **Shep** » Wed May 12, 2010 1:29 pm

Part of my frustration with the Taureau is how difficult it is to get a goodly amount of water out of the bow, behind the bulkhead... That's where the drainplug idea came from... Guess, for now, I'll try to run some haystacks and play with lean and angle and such. Most of the people I paddle with, kayakers or canoeists, are a little bewildered by the Taureau in the first place, and so don't have much productive to say.

Thanks for the feedback!

Craig, I haven't paddled a ton of boats, but I guess I would put the taureau in the "still paddleable" category. One of the things I like about it from my first post.

Thanks,
Shep

Atucky · Post by **Atucky** » Wed May 12, 2010 1:39 pm

Very interesting James!

If the holes are just above the "dry boat" waterline, it seems to me that when the boat is full of water, the waterline will be different "lower", and the holes will be "under water" I guess this is not the case.

I am not drilling any holes in my fly anytime soon, but I am intrigued by this.

TheKrikkitWars · Post by **TheKrikkitWars** » Wed May 12, 2010 1:47 pm

Atucky wrote:Very interesting James!

If the holes are just above the "dry boat" waterline, it seems to me that when the boat is full of water, the waterline will be different "lower", and the holes will be "under water" I guess this is not the case.

I am not drilling any holes in my fly anytime soon, but I am intrigued by this.

The idea is that with holes to leave from, the buoyancy of your airbags will make the floor of the boat exert pressure on the water, which then leaves through the holes, meaning that it will level out with the boat above the water and the bottom of the holes level with the waterline inside.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Wed May 12, 2010 2:14 pm

James, thanks for pics... saw that at Augsburg in 95 also. It was ruled out immediately for competition. But had always retained idea as something to do later on... Didn't know who's idea it was though, that's nice to know.

Been waiting on my Fly to wear out to do just this... I know Frankie played around with the idea, he was at the same comp. An approach he talked about, was to add a full layer of foam to the bottom.

rcgalwa · Post by **rcgalwa** » Wed May 12, 2010 4:47 pm

I think the Dryway would be a good stepping stone, try to catch it at the 1100cfs release to give it the higher water feel. I think the dead at 3500 cfs on 6/12 would be worth trying to get the feel of bigger continuous water in the Taureau. I am hoping to do the Kennebec gorge 7/25 myself with a group of open boaters. I would love to run it with a Taureau in the group, if you are interested.

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Wed May 12, 2010 6:32 pm

TheKrikkitWars wrote:
funkidreadz wrote:Hey Cboaters,
Here is a trick to dump water out of your canoe, thus reducing sluggishness and increasing paddling pleasure...
http://blog.jamesweir.net/2010/05/nevaf ... travo.html
Enjoy
James
Can anyone think of a simple and rugged non-return valve thats available off the shelf?

Type the phrase scupper valve into your search engine...

I thought about messing with them on a hull back when I was doing a lot more OC1 playboating... but I never had the heart to cut into a perfectly good boat and potentially ruin it. BUT... you could make a couple of simple block-off plates to cover them if they didn't work.

Now... if someone cough cough Phil had a hull that was on it's last legs and wanted to mount a pair of these just above the waterline... it'd be interesting to see how it might work. As for me... I don't have any of these type of boats lying around at the moment.

Edit... and in theory James... you could make your own scuppers with some rubber that was thick enough to give when water is pushing it out and would return to the hull when no pressure was exerted. This make sense?

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Wed May 12, 2010 10:26 pm

actually I was thinking about making my own....

maybe with something like this. Which is the little rubber flapper from the respirator, 'WE' all have. With a little judicious cutting, instead of drilling. A resourceful person might be able to leave something like a Merecdes symbol with a little hole in the middle to stick the nipple through. The right size hole or something to hold from the side. And you might create a cheap one way valve, that would not hang on something. That was the problem I was worried about with the scupper valves. I could imagine them flapping open at the wrong time.

Of course - i've asked myself these questions...
Do you even need a valve?
Would we still be open canoers - or sit on toppers?
Could foam be modified, to drain all water out?

These were some late night questions, we had over at the Ocoee Canoe Company years ago.

ncdavid · Post by **ncdavid** » Wed May 12, 2010 10:44 pm

Like this? http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/S ... ppers.html

Shep · Post by **Shep** » Thu May 13, 2010 12:26 pm

rcgalwa wrote:I think the Dryway would be a good stepping stone, try to catch it at the 1100cfs release to give it the higher water feel. I think the dead at 3500 cfs on 6/12 would be worth trying to get the feel of bigger continuous water in the Taureau. I am hoping to do the Kennebec gorge 7/25 myself with a group of open boaters. I would love to run it with a Taureau in the group, if you are interested.

Unfortunately, I am beholden to my course schedule. The first Dryway release of the season is very convenient for me, as I have a couple of days off then, but after that I'm working till June 22nd. Since there is a good population of paddlers at OB, I think we'll do some good runs as targets of opportunity between courses. Unfortunately for the Kennebec run, I also have a course that starts on 7/25. I could make it up there for the release on Saturday the 24th, though...

Thanks,
Shep

rcgalwa · Post by **rcgalwa** » Fri May 14, 2010 4:42 pm

I was actually planning on the dead on that Saturday th 24th, but I might be able to switch things around. I will be on the Seboomoc section of the West branch of the Penobscot, paddling my Taureau on July 22-23 if you are interested in a fun run with lots of play waves.

Shep · Post by **Shep** » Fri May 14, 2010 6:05 pm

The seboomooc is an old favorite of Maine OBers. Did it last year, and had a blast. I'll definitely put that on my calender! I found many of the rapids reminded me of The Nanty Falls.

Thanks,
Shep

oc1paddlr · Post by **oc1paddlr** » Sat May 15, 2010 3:03 am

phil.. i held back saying this, but a sit-on-top is what came to mind on this subject. in fact, we dreamed up a kneel-in torrent and i'v seen it in action (name w/held cause deadlegs was too big for it)
the idea of scuppers is interesting, but disturbing....i'm just old school...

TommyC1 · Post by **TommyC1** » Sat May 15, 2010 11:32 am

Yeah that's what my boat needs, more holes!
But on the subject of sketchy ideas for getting the water out I've often wondered if a venturi bailer such as they use in sailboats and marathon canoes would be of any use? You might need to surf a wave to get enough water under the boat speed. The lack of surfing waves on any given drop might make this a less attractive option.
I also wonder if such a bailer, which sticks out of the lowest part of the hull would survive a shallow rocky run?
Yeah might be far more sketchy than holes at the water line.