Looking for a Canoe. Suggestions? (1 Viewer)

[flightmedic]

Good all-around canoe

Our Old Town Discovery 169 has served reliably for years. Small lakes, big lakes, Colorado River (Ruby-Horsethief), holds plenty of stuff and is relatively stable to fish from. IMO best all-around one on the market

 

[JJS]

I'm in the market for a canoe as well. I know quite a few companies manufacture square-back canoes with a transom. I like this idea, but it may be a little more ergonomical to have the motor side-mounted as above. This is going to be a freshwater fishing rig for myself, so I need something with a wide beam.

 

[450 DUDE]

Im using thr wilderness systems pamlico160T Its been a great boat.
Very durable, sweet in open water it has a 3rd seat in the middle for the young ones, 3 way adjustable seat front and rear.
Kinda on the heavy side and not that great for white water as we found out today when we dumped it and that thing sank like a stone , well it filled up with water....


ken

 

[Sleepy John]

anything but coleman

I ran whitewater canoe on the Ocoee , Tellico , Chattooga and Hiwassee Rivers for the most part of 25 years. Any ABS construction canoe is a good choice. Most whitewater paddlers STAY AWAY from Coleman canoes. Why? Because there have been documented cases of "foot entrapment" because of the vertical seat post / support.

If you are completely new to canoes... we dont sit on the seats , we glue rubber paddling , old mouse pads are good... into the bottom of the canoe and sit on our knees. There are canoe instructional videos on ebay. Good Luck and aaaaaaaaaaalways lean down stream.

Never paddle a river you are not willing to swim. Turning over and dumping a canoe is part of it. Learn how to self-rescue and right your boat

 

[dascrow]

My dad has a coleman, he's had it a long time and still loves it.

Dascrow
http://www.tundratalk.net

 

[dmede808]

Build one, home built canoes look great ontop of a cruiser!

 

[Buckethead]

Build one, home built canoes look great ontop of a cruiser!

You are correct, looks very nice!

 

[Relix]

Old Towns are good, and there is one for every style and budget. They also seem to hold their value pretty well.

Agreed Old Town make some of the best if not the best canoes around...

AVOID Pelican canoes. their poorly made(that actually have a steal pipe as a backbone) that site way to high in the water, the rowing postion is terrible, and are unbelievably unstable....
I bought one last year because the price was like $350 and and my old town flew off the roof of the cruiser doing 65mph and was destroyed... When I went looking for a replacement charles River old town the two stores I went to didn't have a red one so I went looking some where else and ran across a Pelican canoe it was $1000 and looked about the same, boy was I wrong....

 

[SunTzuMD]

Old Town Penobscot - versatile, indestructable, affordable (in the world of canoes - which can easliy surpass 2K). I got mine used for $100.

 

[Dusty 66]

A Free one from one of my neighbors I just asked about it saw, it in the back yard for years.
He said him and his Son used it once 25 years ago and has been sitting on saw horse's since 16' SEARS Aluminum like New !
Life in the Desert ......Dusty

 

[sdbrassfield]

Just for giggles, I found a pic of two of my ww boats getting ready to ride on the 80...The Impulse and the Ovation heading out to the park & play on the Little River near Princeton, NC...There are a couple more on the canoe trailer in the background...My wife is a little proturbed as I currently have a canoe for every day...

 

[fsusteve]

http://www.gheenoes.com/gheenoes.html

these things are great, very stable.

 

[TCH2FLY]

I'm glad someone asked the question, I was looking for one and this thread gave me good starting point. I picked up a Mad River Adventure 14 from Dick's Sporting Goods for $500 on sale. Padded seats and adjustable backrests made the sale for this old man

Fits nice on the factory rack for short trips but I'll be upgrading the rack before hitting trails and rough roads

 

[Land Speeder]

I'm glad someone asked the question, I was looking for one and this thread gave me good starting point. I picked up a Mad River Adventure 14 from Dick's Sporting Goods for $500 on sale. Padded seats and adjustable backrests made the sale for this old man

Fits nice on the factory rack for short trips but I'll be upgrading the rack before hitting trails and rough roads

Please give us a report on the Mad River on stability. I have used Old Townes and love the super stability of the Discivery and Guide models, but I do love the way the Mad River Adventure looks.

 

[Land Speeder]

Mad River Explorer in 16' length is a great canoe for what you are describing. It does not do one particular thing great, but does all things well. Great on flat water, rivers, or whitewater up to class II, and is a great camper with a capacity of 1100 pounds or so. I own one that I use primarily for canoe camping on rivers in the winter when we slow up on paddling the whitewater and love it..

Oops, just saw this and it answered my above question... thanks!

 

[Overlander 80]

I found a 1972 Mad River floating on Lake Champlain with all the wood rotted off. I spend a summer restoring it and I love it.

 

[D'Animal]

I have a 13' Golden Hawk hand layed fibre glass canoe. It was made in Caddott,WI. It has 38" thwart, very stable, 700lb load capacity.

I just picked up a set of Canoe mounts for my Yakema on my 60.

 

[stevezero]

the Native Ultimate 12 or 14.5 are neat alternatives to canoes. They are a hybrid between a canoe and a kayak. the 14.5 can be paddled as solo or tandem. They are stable enough to stand up and fly fish from, yet have a very shallow draft.

http://nativewatercraft.net/ultimatebts.html

 

[Green Lantern]

Another vote for the 16' Mad River Explorer. It serves me well fishing and in moderate whitewater.

Happy Trails! N

 

[zzzz70]

The 17'' light weight '' grumen '' canoe is tough as nails and easy to load by yourself. I have hauled mine around for over 25 yrs. they are a very low maint. canoe. It weighs aprox. 60 lbs.