Canoe Savvy folks present?

[Alaska Ranger]

I have a 17' roto-moulded Coleman, and I.....

hate it, despise it, detest it. (Unless, of course, you're interested in buying it from me!).

It is, in fact, the last of my former 3-canoe rental fleet. What IS good about the fat, heavy slug is that it is very good at coping with rocks and scrapes, and it does have a generous carrying capacity. It tracks fair.

I have just about given up on hard-shell canoes. My new craft in 2007 have been inflatable kayaks, which do extremely well in the waters here, both for my own use as well as renting them for both afternoon as well as multi-day trips. I have Aire Lynx's - both Lynx I's and Lynx II's. Depending on your paddling esires, you may consider looking into those as an alternative to canoes. Very responsive, very stable, very fun, and very very transportable. But they haven't anywhere near the carrying capacity of any hardshell canoe, and they are spendy.

 

[cruiser_guy]

I have a 17' roto-moulded Coleman, and I.....

hate it, despise it, detest it. (Unless, of course, you're interested in buying it from me!).

It is, in fact, the last of my former 3-canoe rental fleet. What IS good about the fat, heavy slug is that it is very good at coping with rocks and scrapes, and it does have a generous carrying capacity. It tracks fair.

I have just about given up on hard-shell canoes.

A roto-moulded Coleman is not a HARD shell canoe! Those are the EXACT canoes that are slow and take a lot of energy to paddle. You get in a Coleman and it's not much more than flexible thin plastic.

 

[Mace]

suprised no on haas mentioned old town.

I grew up in old town's and wenonah's. The wenonah was a river race canoe.


Currently I have a 19' Old town and love it. The transom and 1.5hp gas outboard makes it fun

 

[Alaska Ranger]

A roto-moulded Coleman is not a HARD shell canoe! Those are the EXACT canoes that are slow and take a lot of energy to paddle. You get in a Coleman and it's not much more than flexible thin plastic.

Oh, I agree - Ah hev lust in mah heart for certain Royalex canoes. I was using the term "hard-shell" to distinguish from inflatables; perhaps I should have said "rigid"....though those Colemans are hardly that, either. It's a sad state of affairs when an inflatable is stiffer than a so-called rigid.

 

[Overlander 80]

Mad River Canoes out of Vermont - I have a 1972 Mad River and she still works great.

 

[upcruiser]

I have a custom made fiberglass canoe built by Brett Stockton, mutiple winner of the AuSable Canoe Marathon. Its a great little canoe for flatwater. I drag it all over the place while exploring the backcountry of the UP. It also sees quite a bit of action on Lake Superior on calm days, which isn't terribly often. If I was going to drop some coin on a new canoe, I'd probably go with a royalex setup for worryfree exploration. I have a friend who paddles a ton, locally and in on trips in Northern Ontario and swears by Royalex, despite the weight factor when portaging.

One of my favorite feelings in the world is that of crossing a glass calm lake, with a load of provisions and the call of loons in the distance.

 

[stayalert]

Mad River Canoes out of Vermont - I have a 1972 Mad River and she still works great.

FORMERLY of VT. I think the smoking rabbit died when that company went to North Carolina....RIP smoking rabbit....The canoes MRC makes now are entirely different

 

[JohnQ]

FORMERLY of VT. I think the smoking rabbit died when that company went to North Carolina....RIP smoking rabbit....The canoes MRC makes now are entirely different

You are absolutely correct, I was really disappointed after I bought my MR and read up on the company.
Although I have a very nice canoe made by the "new" MR company, It just doesn't seem right.
That said, I'm very happy with the product I got and would probably buy one just like it again even though the methods and lineage isn't quite the same.

 

[Ted44]

If you have kids, I'd suggest an Old Town Camper 16'. Easy maintenance. Lighter than the crosslink material, which is heavier with no other benfit, very stable in all but serious whitewater.

X2. Weighs about 60lbs easy to load. Tracks pretty straight for a flat bottom and is very stable (standing flycasting). Fantastic boat. Looks damn good on top of my 80, too.

Square enders are cool if you are going to use a motor most of the time, but they paddle like s*** compared to "real" canoes. You can get motor mounts for double ended canoes too. It depends on what proportion of motor/paddle you may want.

 

[VTFJ40]

FORMERLY of VT. I think the smoking rabbit died when that company went to North Carolina....RIP smoking rabbit....The canoes MRC makes now are entirely different

No kidding that sucked.

The Lamoille was one of the best tripper canoes ever. The VT made ones are actually appreciating in value. Bought one in fiberglass for $800 in 1996 and sold it to a friend for the same amount in 2000. He sold it last year for $1150.

Wish I still had it.