After slowly accumulating (3 different orders) parts, the framed Striker is complete. It's not tuned yet, but complete.
Going to hit the lake tonight as the maiden voyage and then hopefully a river on Saturday. I like how it turned out.
I had to brighten up the photo since my garage faces north. Here's the other side with natural lighting-
The oar towers are the stock ones. Outcast/NRS does a great job of keeping things standard. As a result, the mounting holes are the exact width of the NRS U-bolts. I did have to drill the holes just slightly to get the U-bolts through. Will the stands be strong enough mounted like this? We'll find out. I tightened them until they were nearly bending and I can't move them on the bar. I think they'll be fine. A bigger raft maybe not, but even with 2 big dudes onboard, this thing just isn't real heavy. I'm stoked since this now means I can adjust the seat bar or the towers, or both to get it dialed in. I already know I have to loosen them to get the raft into my canopied F150. Not a huge deal, just have to make sure I have a 13mm socket in the truck at all times.
The stern rails were ordered a couple years ago for a better anchor setup. And then I used a leftover roof-rack (that I have attached to the front seat before for solo overnight trips) to make a nice lightweight "out of boat" rack. A Rubbermaid tub fits nicely back there to store lightweight stuff like briquets or firewood, clothes, food, etc. I don't want to put too much weight back there, but it's really nice to make more room in the boat. 2 20L dry bags can fit along with the tub.
The main goal was to make the raft more rigid and responsive when loaded with 2 big guys. I can already tell that will be the case. The rower's seat mounted on the back cross-bar gives WAY more stability than the Striker "frame". And then the oar stands on the frame is big too. The boat can be a little down on air and still not impact the rowing.
Don't get me wrong...the Striker is VERY responsive in stock form. But I'm probably 230+ in gear and my smallest angler up front is usually 200+. Add a cooler full of beer (duh!) under the front seat and a couple dry/wader bags or tubs and it can get a little slower. A couple trips down the upper Klick convinced me I wanted the raft to be just a bit quicker in response. Mostly due to my very mediocre rowing. And if you know that river, it goes downhill quick. Stuff like the Yakima canyon, Deschutes, Skagit, etc is no biggie, but now I can do quicker waters like the Klick and feel confident.
These are all things a regular framed raft offers. The great thing is now I have the unique advantages of the Striker in stock form along with the advantages of a truly framed raft. I can gear up either way. And you'll notice I'm still using the stock "frame" for the front angler. And it still fits in my truck.
And I did the frame for WAY less than something like the NRS Longhorn. So, if you have ever thought about slapping a frame on your Striker, or have some other raft that needs a frame, I would highly suggest ordering a custom frame. It's pretty easy.
Here's my complete parts list and vendor-
Frame-
Metal Supermarkets Kent
2 Side bars- 60" sched 40 1.25" T-6061 $99.52
2 Cross bars- 50" sched 40 1.25" T-6061 $96.44
Total was $206.17 after tax. I didn't pay shipping since I picked it up at their Kent location. ***NRS and just about everyone else charges $75-$100 as an additional surcharge charge for frame pieces like crossbars & rails. Essentially, anything over 36" is gonna get dinged. Makes a project a lot more spendy.
These are not anodized like the nice NRS stuff, but I don't care.
I had previously purchased the 2 stern rails from NRS for $168 after tax. They are only 32" so no surcharge.
Frame fittings
Zoro.com
4 Structural Pipe Fitting, Tee-E, Aluminum, 1.25 in Pipe Size $7.50 per so $30 total. Total after tax & shipping was $38.01.
Seat and various parts from NRS-
NRS
4 U bolt kits for $13 These were for moving the oar stands to the frame from the stock location.
1 Seat mount $85 Stock Outcast seats fit on the NRS seat mount. Again, NRS is great about keeping things standard.
4 Frame plugs $10
$107.95 plus tax (free shipping) so total was $117.35.
So $361.53 plus the $168 I had previously spent for a total of $529.53. A NRS Longhorn frame is $625+$75 surcharge fee. And "Your Order Ships for Free". Haha! Now, the Longhorn is nice. It's anodized, you get their nice oar stands and a nice padded low-back rower's seat. Also the front crossbar is a foot bar, which I actually didn't want, but is nice for some.
So a Longhorn with the stern rails would be $868. I already had the stern rails, seat and oar stands. We'll see if the oar stands survive. If not, I'll pony up the $107 for the 6" ones.
I'll let you know how it goes on Saturday!
Going to hit the lake tonight as the maiden voyage and then hopefully a river on Saturday. I like how it turned out.
I had to brighten up the photo since my garage faces north. Here's the other side with natural lighting-
The oar towers are the stock ones. Outcast/NRS does a great job of keeping things standard. As a result, the mounting holes are the exact width of the NRS U-bolts. I did have to drill the holes just slightly to get the U-bolts through. Will the stands be strong enough mounted like this? We'll find out. I tightened them until they were nearly bending and I can't move them on the bar. I think they'll be fine. A bigger raft maybe not, but even with 2 big dudes onboard, this thing just isn't real heavy. I'm stoked since this now means I can adjust the seat bar or the towers, or both to get it dialed in. I already know I have to loosen them to get the raft into my canopied F150. Not a huge deal, just have to make sure I have a 13mm socket in the truck at all times.
The stern rails were ordered a couple years ago for a better anchor setup. And then I used a leftover roof-rack (that I have attached to the front seat before for solo overnight trips) to make a nice lightweight "out of boat" rack. A Rubbermaid tub fits nicely back there to store lightweight stuff like briquets or firewood, clothes, food, etc. I don't want to put too much weight back there, but it's really nice to make more room in the boat. 2 20L dry bags can fit along with the tub.
The main goal was to make the raft more rigid and responsive when loaded with 2 big guys. I can already tell that will be the case. The rower's seat mounted on the back cross-bar gives WAY more stability than the Striker "frame". And then the oar stands on the frame is big too. The boat can be a little down on air and still not impact the rowing.
Don't get me wrong...the Striker is VERY responsive in stock form. But I'm probably 230+ in gear and my smallest angler up front is usually 200+. Add a cooler full of beer (duh!) under the front seat and a couple dry/wader bags or tubs and it can get a little slower. A couple trips down the upper Klick convinced me I wanted the raft to be just a bit quicker in response. Mostly due to my very mediocre rowing. And if you know that river, it goes downhill quick. Stuff like the Yakima canyon, Deschutes, Skagit, etc is no biggie, but now I can do quicker waters like the Klick and feel confident.
These are all things a regular framed raft offers. The great thing is now I have the unique advantages of the Striker in stock form along with the advantages of a truly framed raft. I can gear up either way. And you'll notice I'm still using the stock "frame" for the front angler. And it still fits in my truck.
And I did the frame for WAY less than something like the NRS Longhorn. So, if you have ever thought about slapping a frame on your Striker, or have some other raft that needs a frame, I would highly suggest ordering a custom frame. It's pretty easy.
Here's my complete parts list and vendor-
Frame-
Metal Supermarkets Kent
2 Side bars- 60" sched 40 1.25" T-6061 $99.52
2 Cross bars- 50" sched 40 1.25" T-6061 $96.44
Total was $206.17 after tax. I didn't pay shipping since I picked it up at their Kent location. ***NRS and just about everyone else charges $75-$100 as an additional surcharge charge for frame pieces like crossbars & rails. Essentially, anything over 36" is gonna get dinged. Makes a project a lot more spendy.
These are not anodized like the nice NRS stuff, but I don't care.
I had previously purchased the 2 stern rails from NRS for $168 after tax. They are only 32" so no surcharge.
Frame fittings
Zoro.com
4 Structural Pipe Fitting, Tee-E, Aluminum, 1.25 in Pipe Size $7.50 per so $30 total. Total after tax & shipping was $38.01.
Seat and various parts from NRS-
NRS
4 U bolt kits for $13 These were for moving the oar stands to the frame from the stock location.
1 Seat mount $85 Stock Outcast seats fit on the NRS seat mount. Again, NRS is great about keeping things standard.
4 Frame plugs $10
$107.95 plus tax (free shipping) so total was $117.35.
So $361.53 plus the $168 I had previously spent for a total of $529.53. A NRS Longhorn frame is $625+$75 surcharge fee. And "Your Order Ships for Free". Haha! Now, the Longhorn is nice. It's anodized, you get their nice oar stands and a nice padded low-back rower's seat. Also the front crossbar is a foot bar, which I actually didn't want, but is nice for some.
So a Longhorn with the stern rails would be $868. I already had the stern rails, seat and oar stands. We'll see if the oar stands survive. If not, I'll pony up the $107 for the 6" ones.
I'll let you know how it goes on Saturday!