Canoe questions....

I have everything from a vintage wood & canvas to cheapies. If you want to spend minimal bucks on your first boat, consider a 15 ft Coleman. They are a plastic hull with an aluminum frame. Nothing fancy but I've put mine down 200+ mile rivers in the Yukon. Pretty sturdy and long lasting. I mostly paddle it solo but it will handle two guys and enough gear for a weekend outing. There are usually a lot of used Coleman boats available. I got mine for $75 some years ago and I'll bet there are good used boats in the $200-300 range these days.

The Old Town Discovery 169 is also a somewhat less expensive boat that is often available used. They are a bit heavy but very durable. I've paddled them solo although they are easier to handle as a tandem.

DancesWithKnives
 
I base all of my canoe knowledge on books and tapes by Bill Mason who was a canoeist and artist of some renowned from Canada. I have a 16" Merrimack Prosprector (also made by several companies with similar dimensions) it is a tandem symmetrical hull design which lets you turn it around and paddle from the bow seat for solo use(puts you near the center) carries a good load 850lbs? and will turn on a dime mine is made from wood and fiberglass and is not made any more.
 
mkhop said:
I base all of my canoe knowledge on books and tapes by Bill Mason who was a canoeist and artist of some renowned from Canada. I have a 16" Merrimack Prosprector (also made by several companies with similar dimensions) it is a tandem symmetrical hull design which lets you turn it around and paddle from the bow seat for solo use(puts you near the center) carries a good load 850lbs? and will turn on a dime mine is made from wood and fiberglass and is not made any more.
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Bill Mason's books are awesome reading.:thumbup:
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uh..Coleman?

You sure it didn't just SEEM like 200 miles?

:)


Wear a PFD...always.
 
I fly fish out of my Old Town Charles River RX. It weighs less than the Polylink 3 by a good twenty pounds, and is very easy to cartop by myself. I can stand up and cast in it as long as the was isn't too turbulent. Usually it's just me and my dog in the Charles River. I use a Bending Branches double canoe paddle that makes paddling very, very easy. Once it warms up a bit, I want to get a ten foot piece of bamboo and give poling up rivers a try. Does anyone have any experience with poling aka setting?
 
Kismet,

It's true, I DID take a lot of grief for bringing the Coleman to the Great North! However, I was on a 4 month truck trip through Northern Canada and Alaska and frequently left the vehicle and canoe to go hiking. I didn't want to come back and find an expensive wood & canvas or Royalex boat missing.

On that trip I took the Coleman down the Big Salmon River in the Yukon and the guys in Old Town Trippers and Mad River Explorers were surprised at how well the old beater did. I've also paddled it out to the islands off Bahia Los Angeles in Baja California. I got 7 wood paddles with the boat so when people laugh at it, I jokingly tell them I paid $75 for the paddles and got the boat for free. Even die-hard Coleman haters have a hard time arguing with that.

Nonetheless, I would not be taking that boat on a canoe club outing. I'm a single guy and that would be a socially fatal mistake!

DancesWithKnives
 
We-noh-nah, Souris River, and Bell are all premium canoes. :thumbup:

Some individual models are really built for performance so stability will suffer.

Do the research and paddle a few, there is a wide range of handling, features, and prices... :)

Good luck!
 
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