View topic - What's your solo boat(s)?

do you have any photos of your setup?

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Time's but a golden wind that shakes the grass...

I have bought and sold several solos over the years. The ones still in my fleet are:

Whitesell Pyranah
Dagger Redlie C1
Wenonah Advantage
Bell Magic
Hemlock Kestral
Blackhawk Proem 85
Lotus Caper

The boat I most regret selling was my Dagger Ocoee.... Super fun boat!

Going to have to down size soon. I am getting close to retirement and won't have the room to store all of these as well as four tandems!

Just gonna put this out there...if you're close-ish to Montreal and want to downsize a whitewater tandem, I know a young guy who is nowhere near retirement, and has space to slowly build a fleet :p

I have paddled many larger canoes solo over the years, but now I have one close to being a solo boat. It is an OT Candienne, the short one that is 15;10". It is a kevlar boat that weighs 51 pounds. The beam is 32 inches with very sheer entry lines. I will be paddling it from the bow seat.

I have a Mad River Freedom Solo, a Pocket Canyon and, as well, I have soloed my Appalachian more than once...

The Solo is a great lil boat... which I may be selling at some point if people are interested... The one downside, as others have mentioned in the past, is it can sometimes bite waves, taking on water, so you have to plan R3 runs with a bit more care... the flip side is its nimble has hell....

I just bought a Pocket Canyon and taking it out for its maiden voyage... hitting the Spanish River next week with some friends...

I'm thinking I might be the exception to the rule here 'cause i'm not a huge fan of completely setup solo boats. They restrict the kind of canoeing I like to do which is multi day tripping.
I was lent a 15' kevlar Clipper prospector that had been meticulously set up by the owner with kneeling thwart, knee and thigh pad, thigh straps and air bags. It was the twitchiest boast i had ever paddled! (Owner called it "responsive"; I had another word for it...) -Within 15 paddle strokes of shore I had dumped!

My go to solo boat is a 15' Chestnut Bobs Special- perfect combination of responsive, maneuverable hull with gorgeous cedar planking and ribs to admire all day long. That said, I probably spend more time soloing my Chestnut Pal, from the bow seat facing aft just because its closer to hand. Soloing an empty 16' Chestnut Prospector in the wind is a chore- ask me how I know...

Bruce

I have paddled several boats solo over the years like a Sawyer Charger, but none of them were really suitable for solo trips. Today I test paddled an Old Town Canadienne in kevlar, the 15'10" version. It has speed and glide and good secondary stability. It is 13.5 inches deep with a beam of 32 inches. It will carry me and a good sized dog on some week long trips. Portaging the canoe at 51 pounds was a breeze.

Esquif Pocket Canyon
Mad River Caption
Hellman Scout

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"It's healthy to be dirty" - Lars Monsen

15’ Swift Keewaydin in carbon fusion. 27 lbs of paddling heaven!
https://www.swiftcanoe.com/keewaydin-15

Nova Craft Fox 14" Aramid light. I'm still not sure I made the right choice going from a 15' Bob to this solo... at 36lbs it's nice on the portage but initial stability leaves something to be desired. Maybe I just need more time with it.

I'm currently using a 16’ Clipper Prospector in kevlar, that belongs to my paddling club. While I do like traditional Prospectors, I find Clipper's version a bit odd-handling when I paddle it heeled. There is an odd resistance to turning, in any direction, that appears as the gunnel approaches the water. In the last few degrees the canoe finally loosens up.

I'm selling my fleet and searching for an esquif prospecteur sport...

Bell Rockstar and Wenonah Solo Plus.

Wrong thread.

Alright - some amazing options here and as most folk indicate, get them in the water...
I am looking to pick up a solo boat - American boats not really an option with exchange and little desire to do a cross border run.
How about some comparisons? Above mentioned Nova Craft Fox 14'; Nova Craft Super Nova; Swift Keewaydin 15''; H2O 16/6 - differences between the shorter and broader Nova Crafts and narrower 16' boats? Some previous discussions about hull speed, tracking and efficiency with respect to length and surface area got me thinking that maybe not as important when not racing at optimal speeds...

Super Nova is an outlier here as more WW but any experience with it as a flatwater tripper as well? Similar to Pal or Bob's Special or strikingly different?

I am 215 lbs, 53, 30+ years paddling mostly tripping on flatwater in tandems, some solo WW courses, C1 flatwater training, comfortable on and in the water, kneeling, Canadian style paddler, not hit and switch or double blade, looking for challenge, efficiency and responsiveness rather than stable fishing platform and now looking to do solo fitness and tripping (2-7 days) - narrow flatwater, Canadian Shield - if buying used will likely look into a used solo WW boat too...seems one can never have too many boats.

No need to stress about a cross border run. Canoes are duty free. Just have the paperwork from the sale. The issue of course is if you buy in the US you have to pay the HST upon arrival at the border. And American boats are found in Canada. Northstar has a dealer and I am sure Wenonah does.
Swift has an extensive dealer network in both the US and Canada. And the family is from NY State.
Souris RIver from Atikokan makes decent trippers.

Your best bet is to seek out used no matter what side of the border it comes from. The exchange rate is such that while your dollar is worth less the prices in the US reflect that and are lower. but check them out on an individual basis.