Pics 3 & 4

PD,  My compliments on the new yoke hardware.   The opaque silastic sleeve on the shaft is another nice touch.  Well Done.

MB

Thanks db, ST and MB!  It really works sweet.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

So, here's how this went down.  I've been tired of portaging my Merlin II on my head with a seat pad down to the local put-in - ~80 rods and vowed to get something at 'copia.  Didn't like what I was seeing and I had some white ash planed down to 3/4" from another canoe repair job and the pads.  I was just going to get hardware, but $35 seemed a LOT for two star knobs, two carriage bolts and some bent chunks of metal. Then 'copia was cancelled, so I started looking around.  The hardware is wood working gear - hold downs for T-tracks like on a table saw or drill press.  That'll work!  THEN I see this cam clamp thing...hmmmm!  Put the two together...STILL cheaper than then the $35 kit.  So it's a hybrid of two kits. PowerTec pieces - (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) - pn 71168 Hold Down Clamp $11.99 and pn 71165 Cam Clamp  $21.99.

The yoke itself was modeled after a picture of a Souris River yoke - clean, simple but my own measurements and design.  All cut with a table saw and saber saw....plenty of sanding too.  Drilled the holes for slots, connected with the saber saw and rounded the edges with a 1/4" roundover bit in a router. 

The 'sleeves' are just some silicon tubing I had laying around.  I was going to find some springs.  They're there to kinda take up the slack, keep things from jingling around and move the bracket away from the underside as you loosen the cam lever. 

I have added two things since the pics.  I replaced the rubber washers with some nylon ones - helps get rid of some of the 'play' and closes up the tolerances so it's more solid when you lock it down.  I also rubber cemented some old innertube rubber on the bottom of the ends of the yoke where it rests on the gunnel, which keeps the whole affair from sliding around needlessly and locks it in place better. 

Now I just flip the levers over to unlock, move it behind the seat....no adjusting necessary....well, maybe the width spacing...then lock it down when paddling.  Set the cams once and it really doesn't need more adjusting unless you put it on a different canoe. 

pd

Thanks ST.  I'm always impressed with how (or that...) my mind works.  Hope to figure it out someday....

We should share a good bourbon or rum sometime...maybe over a campfire...by a lake. 

pd

Engineering change #2 - I went out and got some good springs at the hardware store and replaced the silicon tubing.  I feel like I'm going be happier with those.  I tried a larger spring with the hose inside it, but it bound up too much. 

pd