Hey Cecbell.

I just got it. your comment , (#737) "...my ill-considered leap back to the tiller..."

It's ill-advised to be jumping about in a small boat with no helmsman!

Good tip!

(Poor Man's Winch coming soon.)

Crash Boom and Vang.

My board's bracket/leeboard faying surface is about 3.5" x 3.5".

See this article [again?] and get an idea: http://canoesailingmagazine.com/index.php/CONTINUOUS/A-Better-Leeboard-Assembly.html

As a reference, the bracket is made of 4" red oak, which is 3.5".

Aluminum is for beer cans....

"Aluminum is for beer cans...."

Ed. Owe that hurts. [tongue firmly in cheek!]

You do know, despite the appearance that my canoe looks like a birch bark; it's just a faux finish cleverly disguising the fact that my Sportspal is actually made from light gauge aluminum sheet rudely folded into the shape of a canoe?

Also did you know? In my previous life I was a professional aluminum boat builder/designer. Your spurious comment has my hackles all a bristling.

This kind of puritanical censure is what one would expect from the folks at, "Wooden Canoe Heritage Association." My hope in joining, 'Canoe Sailing Magazine' was to avoid being ridiculed for my humble (albeit; ugly, ungainly, sluggish, unwieldy, to call it a pig is an insult to swine.) boat.

I'd be tempted to pick up my paddles and sail home, but-fore this magazine is such a veritable fount of information! So I guess, I will have to take the abuse.

However,

Can the anti-aluminum motif, I take it; Personally

And by the way any discerning beer connoisseur knows aluminum is the worst container to store beer. Though; I'm musing an aluminum beer keg would make great ballast (much better than a gas can.)

All kidding aside thanks for the info and the new noun, 'faying surface.'

I still find it hard to believe such a small bracket would be sufficient but I will have to take your word for it considering some of the sailing you have yarned about. The loads can't be as high as I imagine. Therefore the loads on the gunnels won't be that high either. I think I've been overly concerned about my gunnels as they are not very beefy. I'm now realizing I should crack an aluminum can of beer and relax and just do it!

No longer Navel gazing.

Crash Boom & Vang.

I forgot poor man's winch coming soon!
cbv

I tol you, my first canoe sail was in a tin can by Grumman!

As for the leeboards...the faying surface is adequate as long as there isn't too much play which would try to bend the axle. The board should have little to no play, but still be able to swing.

The torque is high and a good bracket spreads it out over its contact points on both rails, distributing the energy. That being said, you can use a single board hanging off a rope tied to the center thwart. But it could roll that tin right up.

As for the beer cans...I read a report {honest, I did!}I think in Esquire that said cans are better than bottles. But my beer only comes in bottles, or draft, so that's moot, for me at least.

Just for reference: the original sailing kit with our Sportspal came with aluminum angles, 2" x 2" faying surface. These were bolted to a wood thwart that's bolted to the gunwales (alum.). This was adequate for the side loads but not enough surface, apparently, to keep the leeboards from floating up on their own now and then--an inconvenient pain.

Those alum. angles are still in service but haven't been tested yet with replacement leeboards. The alum. hull, on the other hand, deteriorated beyond any practical repair. We sent it to the big can crusher in the sky three or four years ago when we found an identical Sportspal hull of the same vintage but in almost mint condition for cheap.