Mohawks' factory installed outfitting not only saves you time and effort but it's a fantastic bargain as well. However, you may prefer to set your boat up to particular specifications. Perhaps you just need to replace a worn out part. In these and other instances following the guides on this page will make your outfitting experience less fraught with frustration and explicatives.
Lacing your canoe for floatation bags
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There are a couple different ways to install gunwale to gunwale lacing, one of which is drilling through the hull below the gunwale as shown in the photo to the left. |
The other is to install lacing eyes on the bottom side of the gunwale using screws or pop rivets. We at Mohawk choose to drill straight through the boat rather than use eyelets as there is less chances of failure. It also prevents excessive force on the gunwale in an over inflating or capsize situation. If using lacing eyelets be sure to use a stopper on your drill bit to prevent running the drill out thru the top of the gunwale. |
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For through-the-hull lacing drill the holes approximately 6 inches apart and about 1/8 inch below the gunwale. Typically you will be using 1/8th inch lacing cord, so use a 1/8th inch drill bit for the holes. Space them out to cover the whole bag. As an example a Probe 12 will use 6 holes for a 60 inch bag. |
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Note the lacing pattern to the right. On the forward most hole you should place a second close together on one side so a truckers hitch can be used to tighten the line. Start the lacing at the hole closest to the center of the canoe. If an even number of holes is used, start the lacing on the same side as the double hole. If the number of holes is odd start the lacing on the opposite side of the double hole. |
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There should be an over lay strap running right down the center of the lacing. It should attach under the deck and down to the floor of the canoe attached to a pad. This stops the air bag from pushing back towards the center of the canoe and helps take some of the stress off of the lacing. |
All that remains is to inflate the airbags and get your boat back on the water. |
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