View topic - Tripping canoe.

I'm wondering how essential it is to have a boat that is actually made for what youare using it for. Idealy, it would be great to have a great white water boat, and a fast, great tracking boat for lakes. But if you're doing a route that is mostly flat water with some white water, like your usual river trip, what's the best comprimise.

The possibilities are endless.
My opinion is a person should buy a boat that best matches the types of paddling they like to do, which means you may end up with many boats if you like lot of different types of paddling.

However, if you have a 16' to 17.5' flat bottom, slightly rockered, multi purpose canoe you really can't go wrong as they work for lake and river tripping.

My plan is to add to my fleet as skills, needs, interest, and cash improve.
Currently our fleet includes a 17' fiberglass rockerless laker (keel), 17' Royalex rockered tripper, and windsurfer. Next will be a 14' -15' river tripper for solo trips or tandem whitewater (second family boat for river trips), then a whitewater playboat, then a homemade canoe, etc... who knows maybe even a kayak.

Well CCR Agree or Disagree?

I agree with drzandee. You will probably find your "stable" of boats growing as your paddling skills, needs and interests increase.

Currently our stable : in order of length, starting with the shortest -

Dagger Rival - full Mikey ww solo playboat outfitting

Langford Nahanni - expedition kevlar outfitted for flatwater

Evergreen Starburst - full Mikey expedition and ww outfitting incl. Outdoor
Solutions sprayskirt

Seaward Southwind - high volume double sea kayak

Looking for :

Solo Expedition Tripper - probably an Evergreen Sunburst II

Flatwater Cedar and Canvas - to replace the one I cut in half with a ....... "OH NEVER MIND".

Dann

_________________
[url]http://LOAFin-Around.blogspot.ca[/url]

Where is the category of "I own one less boat than I need'? Or is it really "one less boat than I want".
1.Sawyer 190.
2. Wenonah Odyssey
3.Swift Dumoine
4. Swift Otter
5. Mohawk Solo 13
6. Swift Heron
7.Galt Dandy
8.Dagger Ovation(Slowvation)
9. Swift Raven
10.Bell Flashfire
11. Loon Works Nakoma
12. Loon Works Duet
13 and 14. Sea Kayaks
And a $26, 000 barn to hold them and their accessories.
Well at least I know where my money went....

What, no Evergreens? Must be an American. That's one pile of boats. Have you ever seen them all on the water at the same time?

Kim,

I want to thank you so much for your response. I got considerable grief when I recently returned from an outdoor exposition with a canoe (our third) on the rack. My explanation that "there was this auction, I got it for a good price, etc." just didn't fly. I know some of you other CCR folks have pretty sizeable fleets and would love more evidence that I really don't own enough canoes.

Anyway, from longest to shortest:
1. Sawyer Cruiser
2. Sawyer X-17
3. Sawyer DY Special

I previously owned two We-no-nah's but they managed to grow legs and walk away.

Normhead, your question is not just which canoe to buy, but also which canoe to select if you've got a fleet. My preference for mixed water is to go with a more efficient and lighter composite and plan on doing more wading/lining and portaging than I might in a Royalex hull.

We have four boats:

1) Blackhawk Combi (fiberglass), the company is now defunct. It can be paddled solo or tandem.

2) Cedar strip "touring" canoe my dad and I built. Nice for Boundary Water type trips. (No rapids or really big lakes).

3) Wenonah racing hull

4) Wenonah Spirit II (royalex) with a Northwater spray cover. We can safely take this boat anywhere with lots of food.

...........

I'd like an old wood canvas canoe and a bark canoe. We'd consider getting a tandem whitewater boat with flotation and a deck. I'd like a Kruger canoe. When I can't portage heavy loads, we'll get a kevlar tripping canoe.

It might be nice to have a slightly faster hull for big lakes than our Spirit II, but it does just fine and it's versatility makes up for any defficiencies.

Wish I had a canoe garage (or regular garage).
-Andy

Here is my boat storage
and
Does it look like I have room for 17 boats? If I go over 17 feet, I can't turn it around in the yard anymore. Ya gotta love Toronto.

I have a Clipper Tripper & 2 homebuilt plywood solo canoes. I bought the Clipper because it is fast, seaworthy & big enough to hold a family. My own Clipper's river trips have been limited to rivers like the Saugeen, lower Maitland, Nipissing, Tim & upper Petawawa. It is capable of much more serious trips though. The authors Ian & Sally Wilson wrote a book about their trip in a Clipper Tripper down the Thelon & on Hudson Bay behind ice floes. Others have used it to cross Canada.

My plywood canoes are limited to flatwater & very easy rapids. I don't mind scraping them up in shallow rapids, but they can't take serious collisions with rocks. They have some maneuverability but the hard chines prevent sideslips & they don't backferry well.

A Swift Winisk and a Yukon. I'd like to get a solo sometime in the future...

Scott

I think life would be so much easier if one were to have only one or two boats. I often find myself struggling over which boat the take , be it be a day trip , two week trip, whitewater free-boating or just whitewater park and play. As for now the list goes like this.

1 Bluewater Freedom 17' tripper.

2 Swift Dumoine

3 Madriver Guide

4 Esquif Canyon

5 Esquif Blast

6 Esquif Detonator

7 Dagger Rival

8 Wavesport Ace 5.1 C1


I think that`s about right ????

But we must be suckers for punishment because there are a few more on our wish list.

Al

Man, I am suffering from some severe "canoe envy" after looking at those entire navys that some of you own.

We always buy things on sale, and then we say: Gotta spend money now to save money later. That's how I got such a nice mountain bike.

My wife is looking over my shoulder right now as I read these entries of boat fleets as I drool down my chin and rub my hands together. All she can say is "Don't even think about it!" Then I say "But...but...honey..." And then she says "any more canoes and you will be sleeping under one in the backyard." I think if Itell my wife that it was on sale and they have a no return policy that I can get just one more.

_________________
See you on the lake.

I'm currently into restoring old W/C, and they tend to collect.

The fleet by appearence:

1 17' Grumman (have had her about 30 years)

2 Winter's Winisk's 17.5' and 18.5 ft (for BW/Q)

4 Old Towns, all projects, 2 17' HW's, 1 17' OTCA, 1 18' HW

2 Thompsons, a 16' Indian and 16' Ranger

1 Penn Yan 16" Owasco

2 17' Seliga's

and who knows what will show up next.

BTW, for Fritz and paddlenorth, we are having a "get-to-gether at Park Point this year in July for folks who like W/C. Check out the Stewart River Canoe site for more info.

Dan