Paddling into 2013

A couple of photos just posted of another trip I was invited on, Big Piney River in Missouri. The first shot is Hannah after she had made a fun six mile paddle at 27 degrees in sleet and snow. Yes, that is ice and icecicles on her helmet.

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One day of their trip got rained out when 2" fell overnght. They were off the river the next day, but warm and sound in their rented cabins they were based from.

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I'm sorry I missed this trip as well. Maybe I should move back to Arkansas?

This is a shot looking out of Cave Spring.

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Great. Codger keeps posting cool paddling vids and pics when there is still at least a foot of snow on the ground, two feet of hard water, and the sap hasn't even started to run yet! On top of which I have cabin fever like never before.
Good thing early trout season opens up this weekend before I start thinkin about taken scalps.:D
Thanks Codger.:eek: :D
 
Heck, maybe we can fly you down here before the ice is gone up there. I'll try this if you will... a bit of open boat C1 steep creeking!

[video=youtube;Kit8s67KedU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kit8s67KedU[/video]

Now some Canadian designers have upped the ante with the relatively new Esquif L'Edge. Viva la differance! Much better than our old OCAs!

[video=youtube;seFd4_LgXv0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seFd4_LgXv0&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 
Do you really think our knees and shoulders can take it? Do they make that much Ibuprofin, and what about the Asian massage at days end? Half the paddle, twice the paddler.:D
 
My knees bend just fine, thankyou. What they don't do is unbend. Besides there is all sorts of foam padding in there. Knees, thighs, rump. And toe braces and thigh straps. Heck, if an 18 year old can do it, I'm pretty sure we can. You have to bring your own meds though. I'm not passing out my loracet to anyone. Oh well. It is fun watching the videos. Some of those young turks have mad skills.
 
Codger_64 said:
True dat. I finally located a bottle of 303 to rub down my canoes, but have to scrub a season's grime off of them first. And onstall new painters or at least grab loops to clip painters to. This for my two remaining canoes. And Louis Shaw (Two Brothers Canoes) is still sharpening his pencil to see how cheaply he can get a new/demo/blem Arkota shipped to me here in Tennessee. I'm thinking that is about as close to a true whitewater canoe as Jake and I really "need".
Click to expand...

Lucky, those look like great river runners! Don't they have 6 inches of rocker!

Will turn on a dime!

I looked at them, but they did not ship all the way out here to Washington State.

I got that Mohawk 15XL instead, and so far have enjoyed it. Only 3 inches of rocker, but it turns quick compared to the flat bottom canoes I am used to! I got it out a few times last year, including an overnight, two day paddle on the Winchester Wasteway in eastern WA.
 
Six inches of rocker on the stock Arkota, yes. But one of the neat things about the Shaw brothers is that they will customize their canoes for you. Seats and thwarts can be installed in non-stock positions and the canoe can be made narrower or wider (within limits) which changes the rocker. In fact, the fellow who invited me on the Missouri trip has done just that. Demoing both the stock Arkota and the "D-style" Arkota was the reason for the invitation. Al, the canoes owner, wanted me to try the two versions to see which I prefer. You could do the same mod to your canoe if you wished. It can be reversed if you don't like it. I've done it to several canoes over the years. A matter of personal preference as well as type of water paddled most. Everyone has to find their own "sweet spot" between a canoe that wants to turn and one that wants to track.
 
I've got to stay off Craigslist dammit. Dagger Encore 14, fully outfitted with pads, saddle, foot braces, thigh straps, air bags, lightly used and... titty pink!

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I could strip off the bow graphics and add the Pink Panther! Did I mention "under $400"? :eek:
 
mewolf1 said:
That's Temping!!:thumbup:
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I call myself helping a couple of friends who had canoes stolen recently. At least that's my story. So I cruise CL in a five state area looking at all of the canoes for sale. If only I had a few spare grand and a cheap car...

I would have to get me a pink Shred Ready Tdub and matching PFD if I got that one.
 
A bling canoe ... the learning experience just keeps on coming! Check with Jake before making any rash purchases, eh?

Black River here before freeze up.

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Something long legged taking a stroll on the river ... sorry for distance pic but the riverbank bank is steep here and the snow is deep.

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Beautiful pictures! But what is all that white stuff? Just kidding. There is a dusting of snow on my canoes this morning. I'm pretty sure it will be gone by midday. We are expected to be back up to sixty on Monday. I need a good paddling.

Yep odd, nontraditional colors are all the rage in paddlesports these days. Moreso with whitewater playboats (kayaks) than with canoes. With the canoes being vacuume formed from sheets of Royalex, color choices are limited. In fact, this is the first pink one I've seen, though purple has been around a while on creekers. Yaks are rotomolded mostly so the color combos are almost endless.
 
Codger . . . sometimes you remind me of me. :D

I somehow got on the mailing list for the Merrimack Canoe Company. As you probably know, they make their boats in Crossville, TN, about 170 miles west of my location in NE Tennessee. So far this winter, they have offered some real deals on their boats. First time, you had to pick the boat up in Crossville which would be no real problem for me. Second time, they had a sale on some demo boats which were barely used.

Problem is, these boats sell in the neighborhood of $2000. No doubt they are worth it, but at my advanced experience level (age), I just cannot justify that type of outlay for a boat which would be seldom used. The old Blue Hole under the deck serves annually as a home for wrens . . . and I cannot bring myself to disturb them. So, no new canoes for me!

What do you think about Merrimack boats? Seem almost too pretty to subject to the rigors of white water or even normal fishing on Class II streams.
 
I've never paddled a Merrimack but have lusted after them, as with most higher end canoes. If I am remembering correctly, the Crossville factory is where Blue Hole sent some of their canoes to be dressed out in ash. Yeah, I would love to have a fine canoe, but it would not fit into my uses. I have two Old Town "tupperware boats" now and am looking to get a third, hopefully the Two Brothers Arkota, this spring. I always wanted a nice wood and canvas Chestnut, but I would beat the bottom out of it in no time in the shallow, rocky streams I frequent. And a Merrimack would be no different. Beautiful craftsmanship, but requiring more care in use, more maintenance and better storage facilities than I have.

Why three canoes? One is a light, short solo, the 119K which is a cheaper version of the Pack. Great for quick trips to the river to wet a line or just enjoy a short paddle. It cartops with no problem. I liken it to an economy car. I would have the Pack if I could find one at a bargain.

The much longer 169 will hold a lot of weight, is wide and stable. I can take my grown daughter, her young daughter and Jake without worrying about us all becoming swimmers. It is a bit big for just me and Jake, even when we do overnighters, but I do solo it frequently. And it's width, keel and weight make it less maneuverable. So it is like the station wagon.

The Arkota, if it is what I wind up with, is a crossover canoe between the flatwater touring and whitewater canoes. More like the old Blue Hole OCA and Perception canoes of the same era. While narrower and with more rocker than my OT169, it still has length enough for decent tracking and speed, but can be maneuvered in currents better.

All three have forgiving plastic hulls and vinyl gunnels and wood furniture. And when I finish modifying my canoe trailer, I can carry all three easily when I have guests. And I can offload all but one onto my racks, whichever I choose, when I go on a quick trip to the river. Which I do as often as I can. I intend to do so until the day I can't which is not that far in the future.

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A purloined picture from Frog Bayou, Arkansas. Several streams in Northern Arkansas are named "bayou" but little resemble their namesakes in South Arkansas and Louisiana.

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Ok Ok ... confessing that my canoe is a tub. Yeesh. Supplied by Happenstance Acquisition made by Availability, modified for my

pursuit by Necessity.

It tracks like a feather in a gale.

But ... with a couple of carpet pieces, I can roof rack it easily solo without resale vehicle damage and it sure stabilizes with a

cargo load to keep me water access camping for a couple of weeks - plus the pups on top of the load - bottom weighted so looks a

lot scarier than it looks.

Big winds just means to swap ends and get there.

I want many things. I truly enjoy what I am able to do. Gosh, I want to set off from the shore right now ... but I will probably

wait until the thaw.

Probably the best thought for now!

It is so great to see moving water and people enjoying it. Thanks for the pics!
 
Heh! My current two canoes are both Craislist finds, used but not abused. So I don't have much invested in them.

The canoe it was replacing was one that I got marine salvage when I lived in Pensacola. The owner found and advertised it after Hurricane Andrew passed through. Then left it beached next to his cruiser in his back yard. When I went to pick it up, we had to dump out grass growing in muck. Someone had previously replaced the seats and thwarts with salvaged tubeing and webbing from lawn furniture. I car-washed it, stripped it out and installed the ash seats and thwarts. It survived both hurricane Opal and Erin strapped to the posts of my carport. After paddling it around down there for a year in saltwater and blackwater, I moved back to Arkansas where it met it's first rocky streams. Then I moved here to Tennessee where it was used on more rocky streams. Four years ago, it's fiberglass bottom thin and weak and leaking, someone stole it. So I do know about beater canoes.

Unless thieves hit me again, my next canoe purchase will be my last. I do keep them secured now with cable locks and padlocked chains, so a thief would have to work some to get one of them.
 
A paddling style demo in a heeled Grumman canoe.

[video=youtube;o2BQeIjUzaU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2BQeIjUzaU&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
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