By Vince Mann
See The Workshop
more shiz iz coming soon....
Home Made Canopy & Frame for Fiberglass Canoe
I recently acquired a canoe, not my first but the first I have owned since becoming a resident of the sunshine state again. That being said, very soon after me and my wife’s first couple of trips we began to discuss ideas for creating some shade over the boat while out on the water.
One morning after a having spent a very long day on the water the day before and while rubbing lotion into my bright red sunburned skin, I set out on Google and started my search for a canopy for a fiberglass canoe. Not much information on the subject, lots of pictures of plastic formed kayaks, single seat canoes and paddle boats but no canopy for a 16 ft fiberglass canoe.
Being the driven individual that I see my self as and having lots of engineering experience and a fairly extensive construction background I decided to build my own. I can not claim full responsibility for the idea however, I did see someone else float by once up at Ginny Springs with a homemade rig. But I did only see it from shore as he floated by, the design I used was completely my own. After all it was really not that difficult to have figured out.
I have documented the process here in the following article and will include a complete parts list as part of this description.
This is my 16ft fiberglass canoe.
The entire frame structure for the canopy is constructed using ½ inch schedule 40 PVC pipe. Approximately 40ft of straight pipe, and 50 or so various typical connector fittings made up the components. All of which are sold at most any home improvement store I used Home Depot. Three primary ½ inch standard PVC connector fittings types were used in the construction; TEE, 90degree & 45degree along with approx 10 ½ inch couplers and several CROSS fittings.
Some helpful tips before you start to build one for yourself, first and foremost is do not glue anything together until you have framed your entire canopy frame to allow for adjustments. In addition there are going to be sections of pipe that are left PERMANENTLY NOT GLUED to allow the frame to be broken down and reassembled for transport and use; primarily the main rails running the length of the boat.
In order to construct this little project you will need some very basic tools including; a PVC cutter or hack saw, tape measure, a pair of pliers, PVC glue and primer and if you are an average Joe kind of guy, about four or five hours to figure it out. Add a little bit of ingenuity and ability to envision something and create it and this will be a canoe ride down a lazy river. And so, now let’s move on to the actual process.
Giving the frame assembly the structural qualities of both rigidness and flexibility was the initial design challenge. Taking into account the varying conditions that the frame would be exposed too, several design elements were first tested and refined to come up with the most structurally sound, aerodynamic and astatically pleasing design possible without using a CAD program!
The following is the construction process that I employed in building my home made canoe canopy. I tried to write the steps in a more instructional format to make them easier to use.
Start with the aft or back end of the canoe. This is the AFT SUPPORT ASSEMBLY of the frame that carries the two canopy support rails forward for the length of the boat and adds stability to the frame laterally.
It also employs a good old fashioned wedge and tension forces from the canoe’s built in rear seat and a 12 inch bungee cord.
The shape or lines of the top rails of the frame will be determined by the placement of the aft support assembly’s top 45degree fittings.
Again it is important not to glue any parts
together until you completely piece together the entire frame. However
once you have assembled the entire frame from the PVC pieces the two aft
support assembly 45 degree fittings should be the first pieces that you
glue while the entire frame is still together on your canoe.
Pictured is a profile of one side of the aft support assembly.
The overall height of the aft support assembly structure is approximately 28 inches and 15inches at the widest point on the canoe I own, yours may be different and you will need to experiment with height and fitting the structure into your boats aft and bow sections.
The following ima
ges
show the construction of the base and upper structure of the aft
support. Employing a CROSS fitting in the center of the base
and a knuckle of four 45 degree angle fittings that will NOT be glued allows for a swivel action forward and back, from the base of the assembly. Compress all of the fittings together by hand and glue only the short piece of PVC that comes out of either side of the CROSS fitting ONLY.
Then determine the length needed to extend a piece of PVC about 3 inches from the aft end of your boats interior. I used a 90 degree fitting on the end to provide a slight wedge into my canoe gunwale. Then determine the length of a piece of PVC to run forward from the remaining opening in the cross fitting to the back seat of the canoe. I used a TEE fitting that I cut on a cross section to wedge into the back seat. Not with a great deal of force only enough to hold the assembly in place while the bungee applies back pressure.
Next using a tape measure, determine the length of
pipe you will need to extent forward to the canoe’s own center support
rail. Also determine the approximate height for two support legs to
rise up from the canoes center rail to the horizontal rail coming from
the aft support assembly.
The leg sections should be cut with some extra length to allow for adjustment in the frame. Ideally you want the center to rise slightly and then to have the rails running forward to taper to the shape of the canoe
Utilizing a ½ inch TEE fitting join one rail to the aft support assembly and one rail 90 degrees offset from the other for a leg support. Repeat this on the other side of the canoe.
Use another TEE fitting on the bottom of each leg section. Measure and cut a piece of PVC that is approximately the same with as the canoe at its widest point. Attach the rail to the two TEE fittings and now you should have half a frame on your canoe. Next attach another ½ TEE fitting to the only face one opening running horizontal to the opposing main rail. This will be the canopy center upper support rail
Now back to the construction of the main rail, insert a short piece of PVC about 3 or 4 inches long in the one remaining opening of the TEE fitting. Using equally sized piece repeat on the other side.
When completed, you can utilize 10in bungee cords to secure the center support of the canopy frame to the canoe’s own center support for increased structural integrity.
Next you will need to build the Bow Support Assembly. The overall dimensions of which should be about the same as your aft support in relation to height. The two main rails should be spread at the top of the assembly to allow the rails to run along the horizontal lines of the boat for the most astatically pleasing appearance. You should also allow enough tension in the bend of the long pieces that make up the main rail assembly and make sure both sides of the frame are identical.
Some specifics about the bow assembly I employed a single H shaped configuration of fitting and pipe in my first design (the preceding image) but opted to double this in my second version pictured here.
Two 45 degree fittings attach to the top here and receive the main rails running forward from the aft. Once you have pieced together the base and other components of the Bow assembly, you can continue filling in pieces of PVC until you create the frame. The two main rail pieces of PVC which connect to the bow assembly should be no less than four feet long to provide enough flexibility within the pieces to be put together and taken apart. At this point you should have a complete frame on your boat similar to the one pictured here.
At this point mark all of the pieces in the main rail assembly with their exact place in the assembly. For example the port side (left side) rails with bow and aft indicated.
Glue the aft and bow assemblies together. I did not
glue any of the main rail assembly on my design so that I
can break it down and transport it with the canoe easily. At this point
as an added design feature I though about the conditions specifically
water borne vessel and floatability of the components. After all canoes
can and do have the potential to flip and I would not want my canopy to
sink like a pipe.
I
utilized expandable foam to fill all of the components of the aft and
bow assemblies as well as all of the main rail and leg support pieces of
PVC with foam. This can be a somewhat messy step I suspended the
individual pieces of pipe in a tree using bailing wire so I could fill
them with foam and ultimately spray paint them all at once. About 2
hours after the foam has been sprayed into the pipes the excess hardened
foam will break off easily.
I spray painted all of the components to match the color of the canoe and then when dry reassembled the entire frame. I actually did the process over a two day span while working on other projects, I do not think painting and reassembly could all be done in one day without a great deal of patience and tenacity! Now to the tarp!
I purchased an 8 ½ x 11 blue tarp; it is the same dimension on scale as a standard size sheet of paper. I folded the tarp as you would to fold a paper airplane. Essentially creating a pointed front and a wide rear and draped it over the frame. This creates the roof of the canopy and with several strategically placed 10inch ball bungee cords and two #2 sized A clamps it securely fastens to the frame.
That's it!
If yours look anything like mine than I would say you are in business.
Happy canoeing and may the shade always find your back! Many happy paddles await!
