C-Forum

I'm soon going to glue down a new pedestal in a MR Outrage. My current plan is to make it slightly lighter in the bow. Just how slight is the question.

If anyone has some personal experience to share re. Outrage pedestal positioning ... I'd appreciate hearing from you on it. MR was not helpful on this detail.

Thanks,

Jeff

Somewhat depends on your size. A taller person will have the saddle placed slightly further back compared to someone of smaller stature to achieve the same balance as their wieght is more spread out...

I'm 6'3" and the front of the backrest of my saddle is about 7.5" behind center for a neutral position in my Outratge. In my Vertige the saddle is about 1.5" further back to acheive a slight bow light profile

I first learned about the concept of the sitting pivot point in a NOC toolbox video and then referenced again in several boating books. The main advantage I have found is it has improved my balance. I'm small and still learning and get tossed around on the water pretty easily. For as green as I am I rarely flip over and I would like to put it down to my skill at bracing but the truth is its because i'm balanced so well.

Find a 2x4 that is longer than the width of the boat.
Lay it vertical and put boat on top (not good describing but 2x4 one direction boat opposite like a +).
Move boat back and forth until it is perfectly balanced.
Then set down the saddle and sit on it.
Sitting on the saddle move the boat back and forth until perfectly balanced. You are sitting on the pivot point.

When I got my outrage I had started out intending to move the saddle but found I was able to find the pivot point by moving where I sit on the saddle

I've had a couple of outrages and I outfit so my knees are ahead of center and my butt is behind center. This way you can weight the front or rear as you paddle. The outrage has some really nice fast lines behind center (weight on butt) but responds much better to crossing eddy lines and catching eddies with your weight on or in front of center (on knees). Also on steeper stuff and larger drops I find I take on more stern water than anything so I like to get a good forward lunge sometimes before I land off some drops and the boat will actually move forward a good bit while dropping the bow slightly. I find it's a great boat on anything, class 2 as well as class 5 and everything in between.

My hip bones are 6" behind the center line of the boat. Dry enough, but still fast enough.

Mad River solo canoes are pretty easy to trim. The center of the boat is always right where the E is in the Mad RivEr Canoe Logo on the sides. Clarification; the E in River , not Canoe. I put my hip bones behind that line a couple inches(take a 3' long straight piece of 1x2 pine and press it up to your hip bones for your initial lining up and then mask off the area where the pedestal is going to go. Maybe make 1,2,&3" lines on the front and back for shifting forward and back as needed for the test. Then take the boat to some flatwater and have an assistant along with a tape measure. Do this on a no wind day or in a swimming pool. Bring a tape measure and sit where you think you need to be in proper paddling posture. Have your assistant measure from the top of the bow deck plate to the water's surface. Then measure the same distance in the stern. Ideally, the bow should be an inch higher than the stern.

I've tried the 2x4 method before and found it really difficult to keep the 2x4 perfectly transverse to the center line of the canoe. Even being 5 degrees off to one side or the other and all of a sudden you're getting false information due to the pivot point being askew.

I've often wondered if using a pair of bathroom scales on the bow and stern might not give better feedback as to weight distribution in the boat. FWIW, my Outrage X has its"front of the pedestal backrest" 70" from the stern and it trims out perfectly, but the pedestal is home made so YRMV. I'm 6'3 and 220#

HTH

DM&FS

I've just completed the outfitting of my new outrage 2 days ago.
on MYCCR forum a similar topic on pedestal placement for the outrage is ongoing - might be of your interest.

http://www.myccr.com/SectionForums/view ... age+saddle

Michel