Hanging a canoe for display

[Jerry Fruetel]

I'm looking for advice. I built a full size w/c canoe for my brother-in-law. He wants to display it on a wall inside his log home. It will be positioned horizontally, bottom against the wall, ideally with lower half extending out a bit. He may want to paddle it some day, so it needs to be hung in a way that doesn't distort the hull over time.

Plenty of j-shaped racks for hanging/displaying canoes and kayaks are available, but I'm concerned that they might distort the lower side of the canoe where they bear it's full weight.

I'm thinking of hanging it with ropes attached to the wall with eye-bolts and tied to the carry handles near the decks and/or to the thwarts/yoke.

What do you think? Is there a better solution? Is my concern with hull distortion justified?

 

[Kathryn Klos]

In my opinion, hanging a canoe from ropes attached to thwarts or carry handles risks loosening those elements from the canoe. I am away from home or would be able to post pictures of some good ways to display canoes. Other folks here may jump in with images. If anyone has pictures of the canoe over the door at Ken Kelly's log cabin, that's a picture I'd post. The canoe rests on two wooden brackets.

Another way is to suspend the canoe from ropes that encircle the entire canoe. The canoe can be displayed with the interior facing downward, showing the inside. A picture of this option is posted on the "Fans of the WCHA" facebook group-- scroll down to a post by Jeff Dean.

Kathy

 

[Jerry Fruetel]

"Another way is to suspend the canoe from ropes that encircle the entire canoe."

Thanks, Kathy. This would work, but I wonder if it might distort the lower gunwales over time.

 

[MGC]

I ran out of storage years ago and one of mine ended up under the overhang of our back porch. It is right side up with a rope around each end. It's been there for four or five years (the queue) and I cannot see any issues with it. What I like about hanging them right side up is that they don't hog out. That said, I usually attach to the seats when I hang them.

For real proper advice about hanging canoes consult with Andre. He has a line on some really great eye hooks, bolts and other related hardware. I believe that he is most expert on this subject.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

For real proper advice about hanging canoes consult with Andre. He has a line on some really great eye hooks, bolts and other related hardware. I believe that he is most expert on this subject.[/QUOTE]

Mike, i'm blushing. Really, it depends on personal preference, and how much deck ( or breasthook as they rightly are) is available. Sometimes a lag will do, but other times you want the practicality of Ring that can move. If using a cleat then i recommend a classic pattern like a Herreshoff, but if you are more hip and modern, a flush mount/pop up is the ticket, shown here on a canoe deck for illustration. Really though any one is as good as the next, especially for mounting on a Gerrish, Rushton or plain ol' Morris. Just remove or drill through that ugly builders tag or decal and you're set.

 

[Greg Nolan]

I would be concerned that on a canoe hung by a rope wrapped around the gunwales would pull the lower gunwale inward, unless it were wrapped at a point where a thwart could transfer some of the pressure across to the other side of the canoe.

The kind of display bracker used by American Traders Canoe in Vermont would seem to me better -- the weight of the canoe is born on the bottom and rounded bilge, with no pressure on a gunwale. The rounded bilge is a stiff area of the hull, and I would guess that it would better withstand any tendency to be pushed inward -- particularly if you could shape the bracked to match the curve of the hull.



Also easier to get a canoe on and off of two brackets instead of out of in and out of two slings, when taking it down to use.

 

[MGC]

For real proper advice about hanging canoes consult with Andre. He has a line on some really great eye hooks, bolts and other related hardware. I believe that he is most expert on this subject.

Mike, i'm blushing. Really, it depends on personal preference, and how much deck ( or breasthook as they rightly are) is available. Sometimes a lag will do, but other times you want the practicality of Ring that can move. If using a cleat then i recommend a classic pattern like a Herreshoff, but if you are more hip and modern, a flush mount/pop up is the ticket, shown here on a canoe deck for illustration. Really though any one is as good as the next, especially for mounting on a Gerrish, Rushton or plain ol' Morris. Just remove or drill through that ugly builders tag or decal and you're set.[/QUOTE]

I rest my case....

 

[Jerry Fruetel]

Thanks all for your input--you've given me some good ideas.

 

[Chuey]

"He may want to paddle it some day."

Now, I'm sad.

Chuey

 

[Dan Lindberg]

X2 what Greg posted about brackets.
I would not hang it by ropes if it were mine.

Dan

 

[Jerry Fruetel]

Attached (finally!) are pictures of the end result. I suspended the canoe from the ceiling with a double line of ⅛" polypropylene rope (Everbilt brand, Home Depot, 160 lb. working weight). One end of the rope is tied to the carry thwart, the other to a bronze 0-ring pull screwed to a ceiling rafter. I 'tilted' the canoe by tying a piece of poly rope to the center thwart next to the leading gunwale, then pulling it over the gunwale and down and under the hull, and tying it to a small eye-bolt in the wall behind the canoe.

The weight of the canoe is borne primarily by the carry handles, which I hope will avoid any hull distortion. The 'tilting rope' exerts only slight pressure amidship.