A Cannon for Coot!

That nut job Mark is going to put a canon on Coot! This can not end well.
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Great idea! Ceremonial cannon just got added to my upgrade list for next year, right after I install the Kahlenberg trumpets.

Oh, ya! This is gonna be great!

You're doing the right thing, Mark. Don't listen to these guys. It will be a perfect compliment to your Kahlenbergs. When does it arrive?

Nice recon, Hop Car!! Nothin' gets past you!!

I have one !!!!

It is just a little one. I am out of cannon fuse now. It's on order.

Be sure you use the real black powder.

You got'a post some pics.

Al, if you keep scrolling down at that link, you'll see a photo I posted of a canon like mine. It shoots tennis balls.

The usual unit is 10 or 12ga , and Winchester makes the best , loudest , blanks !!


With no cell phone we find a starting cannon to be the best way to wake up a bridge tender that is sleeping or watching Ophra with the TV up and the VHF down.

Should be aboard every cruiser! Tho in Canada they will probably have a problem , as usual.

I too am going into the nut case category. I made a brass cannon years ago and plan to mount it on the forward deck of my 26.6' Outer Reefer Trawler based in Beard Creek, NC. I am working out the powder load, which I have not tried yet and will, with a friend who is more knowledgable than I, test fire before mounting the rig on the boat. Hoping for a good show as the starter boat for sail races in the Neuse. Bob

I love things that go bang...a cannon was on my short list of things I don't need but would love to have.
But...this summer I got a reality check.
Fourth of July, one of my dockmates fired his cannon off several times. He has had the cannon for twenty years or more and has fired it dozens if not hundreds of times on holidays and special events. The cannon was strapped down on a finger dock and he had drawn a small crowd to watch.
The LAST time he fired the cannon a piece of of the breech broke out and impaled his face. It knocked him off the dock into the water. If people hadn't been watching he would have drowned.
He was airlifted to a nearby trauma center where he underwent numerous surgeries. He has lost an eye and suffered serious brain damage. He is still in rehab and will live the rest of his life with assisted care.
This was not a cheap ornamental brass cannon. This was the real deal.

I will not be watching when you shoot off your cannon.

HopCar said:

That nut job Mark is going to put a canon on Coot! This can not end well.
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Cannons! In the words of Jimmy Buiffett you guys were born 200 years too late.

FF:Should be aboard every cruiser! Tho in Canada they will probably have a problem , as usual.

I'll have to tell my friends who carry them!.

I have the leftover bronze swimgrid supports that are earmarked to be melted down and made into a cannon. The size I want is similar to one that a friend has (in Canada) about 18" long, 3/4" bore. Makes a great entrance to a anchorage.

The problem that Anode brought up is real. A quality canon will have a high strength steel liner and breach block installed in the cast iron or brass / bronze gun. Never put smokeless powder in your gun and never put "just a little" more black powder in either.
The above statement applies to muzzle loaders. I've never heard of a problem with a blank firing signal gun.

A couple of summers ago, the late Latitudes & Attitudes magazine group, sponsored a cruise-in at Cap Sante, Anacortes. Anybody who has heard of Bob Bitchin knows the theme had to be Pirates of course; pirate flags, pirate dress, many canons and lots of grog. Probably around 70 boats and that group knows how to throw a party. The whole town partied that weekend!!

Most of the canons shot shotgun shell loads (and some chicken feathers!!)

Yup!! Damn I'll miss that for sure.

HopCar said:

Al, if you keep scrolling down at that link, you'll see a photo I posted of a canon like mine. It shoots tennis balls.

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Too large for my foredeck but would be a fun way to play 3 flies up on a boat

HopCar said:

Al, if you keep scrolling down at that link, you'll see a photo I posted of a canon like mine. It shoots tennis balls.

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HC, this is what I see. It seems your source does not allow remote links. .

Not as expensive or fancy as a cannon, but a Spud Gun can make a lot of noise and be a lot of fun on a boat....

FlyWright said:

... When does it arrive?

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The 20-inch, 10-gauge cannon will supposedly arrive Oct. 2. It's equipped for rail mounting.

We first checked out these well-used cannons, but they wouldn't fit on the Coot.

Hi Al, I don't know why that happened. When I posted it the picture was there. It's gone now. Anyway Craig found it and posted it just above your post.


Where the heck is Mark? It's no fun teasing him if he doesn't respond with a photo of his boat.

There's Mark!

Good thing you have such stout rails. I'll bring the tennis balls!

Mark, are those in the Philippines?

Mark you are my hero sir.

HopCar said:

Mark, are those in the Philippines?

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Yes, Corregidor, Battery Geary. They're muzzle blasts were such the guns were fired from a blockhouse.

IF anyone has access to old 5 or 6 inch bronze shafting , I have plans for a cannon (really its a mortar as seen above) to shoot beer cans , I would be delighted to send , after 1 Nov.

The cannon arrived yesterday, but the manufacturer is sending a replacement since a flange at the barrel's breach end was bent so that the breach can't be locked. The 20-inch cannon is a "monster" as it weighs several times more than a high-powered rifle. Thus, the 10-gauge shells should create little recoil.

The recoil should be minimal since you're not shooting a projectile. Action-reaction thingy....

Yes. But then most/all civilian projectiles are measured in grains.

Mark with a canon! I'm telling you guys this is not going to end well.

You'll shoot your eye out...

markpierce said:

Yes. But then most/all civilian projectiles are measured in grains.

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Sure ... a 16" AP round weighs 18,900,000 grains.

A CANON FOR COOT

can·on1
ˈkanən/
noun
noun: canon; plural noun: canons; noun: canon of the Mass; plural noun: canon of the Mass
1.
a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
"the appointment violated the canons of fair play and equal opportunity"
synonyms:principle, rule, law, tenet, precept;


Sorry. I just could not resist. The Devil made me do it.

John