Canoe

[Orion]

Pavan, you've obviously done a bit of paddling.  That Cygnus is a nice boat. I agree with your observations and recommendation.  BTW, where is Nighthawk located?  Might they be displaying their wares at the Canoecopia canoe and kayak show in Madison this March?

My son lives in Milwaukee right now and he asked me the same thing. I think they are in Indiana. Rutabaga is one of the dealers, but I do not know how many of the Nighthawks he keeps on hand.  He will deliver quite far out, I know that he has delvered a canoe to someone in Saint Paul.

[RC]

I`m probably gonna get a 14 footer for big trips but I do love my Guide 119 for solo without much gear. I have a couple of yaks for fishing as well.Those wood canoes you guys are sporting are beautiful.RC

[Wudstix]

I have a 10 foot fiberglas canoe tat is bareble for getting in and out of the hunting spot not musch for anything else.  Not a flt bottom so very tippy.  Looking at a 14 foot yak or cnoe for my next one.

You all know when they had the very first canoe race.  The day the second canoe was built. I am tempting myself to get another Minnesota II.

[PUDDLE JUMPER]

Enjoying this thread. I plan on adding a solo tripping canoe to the quiver within the next couple of years. Camping, a lucky youngster or unlucky deer.

Is it common for northern dealers to make models available to try or rent?

[J. Oles]

pavan,

Have you seen J. Dillard's canoes, at Savage River?

He has a couple amazingly tandems.  I really like the Blackhawk.

J.O.

They had a booth at canoeacopia last year. My son like the solos.  In the carbon layups they come with a serious price tag. For running rivers symetrical canoes are better behaved. they have a beefy 16'6" that would serve as a good dual purpose canoe.  The longer asymetrical ones would handle very similar to the Wenonahs.

[Brock]

also check out Chesapeake Light Craft kits...they have canoes, kayaks, kayak hybrids and a couple are getting very good reviews for stability and shallow water drafting for hunters and fisherman.  I am thinking of doing a Wood Duck 14 for its weight capacity....and you can put cleats on top of front deck and with bungee net or cords tie a deer or hog to the front....waterfowlers have enough room for decoys and dog as well.

Have also considered their Night Heron kayak, Mill Creek decked canoe (as well as wood duck decked canoe) and the Sassafras traditional canoe....  check them out

 http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/kayak-kits/wood-duck-14-recreational-kayak-kit.html
   

[bartcanoe]

Originally posted by J. Oles:
pavan,

Have you seen J. Dillard's canoes, at Savage River?

He has a couple amazingly tandems.  I really like the Blackhawk.

J.O.

If you like Savage River, you need to check out Grasse River Boatworks.  I own a solo Classic XL.  It is fantastic canoe with incredible workmanship.  Not sure, I'd use it for hunting due to difficulty in loading, lack of capacity and stability.

Additionally, I'm not sure I'd want to expose a high end canoe like that to the abuse of hunting.  Not that the layups aren't tough enough to handle it, but the scratches in those pretty boats would be a little hard to take.  When I trip in my Classic XL or Kevlar Bell Composites Magic I always wet foot put ins and take outs to save abuse.  I don't think that would be a reasonable expectation while hunting.

[Scott S.]

Anybody tried the Otter Stealth 2000 duck boat? It doesn't look like it would handle as well as a canoe in faster water, but looks incredibly stable for slow water or bowfishing.  

I've considered the NuCanoe Frontier as well, although it's a little more money.

[Red Tailed Hawk]

I have a 14 foot Old town canoe. The stillwater model. Very stable and weighs 63 pounds, I can manage it fairly easy on my own.

[chall]

I've got a 16' square stern Sailfin sailing canoe with built in floatation. Almost 4' wide at its greatest width. I bought it to refinish and never got around to it. Its now on craigslist.

[AkDan]

Scott,

why not use a regular canoe with outriggers for bowfishing?   You can take them off for regular canoe...double wammy and only one boat!

[AkDan]

Brock, that looks like the Little Auk from Nick Schades book!  I almost built one of them for some creek flying fishing for grayling and possible bear or moose prowling.   It wouldn't be the main mode of transport but it would get me off a ways where most don't/wont go.

[reddogge]

This is my 80s era Old Town Tripper, 17'3" and #1,500 capacity. Not a solo canoe although I had used as such but it shined as a camping and tripping canoe. Hauled a ton of gear, dog, fishing gear and was indestructible made out of ABS material. We used it mainly on rocky river trips and also used it duck hunting, deer hunting. I personally would not own anything under 16' based on my experiences over the the last 30 years with this boat.

I gave it to my 3 grandsons last year and this year I gave them my 2 hp Suzuki motor so not more paddling for them. Two of them are in it here with the motor attached.
   

[RIVERWOLF]

Some great advice above !

Although I wouldn't shoot from one unless it was for carp , I like a 16 ' canoe for any travel with wind current , load . Solo or tandem . Larger with extended travels , say more than 10 days or so .

Done a good amount of travel , canoe wilderness camping over the years . With design its always give and take with performance and stability . I have had a Dagger Legend 16'er for years . Although she is agreeably a dog on flat water , she is as stable as a rock , carries a big load with much freeboard , and really shines in rough seas ...Freshwater seas    

A 13-14' might get you down a stream or across a lake with gear , but start adding packs , long trip camping gear , meat (if successful) and ya are going to start having issues .

Simple to just get a canoe and paddle , but as with bow and arrow tuning its a little more complicated for more proficiency    

Best with your quest bro !

[xtrema312]

Originally posted by Scott S.:
Anybody tried the Otter Stealth 2000 duck boat? It doesn't look like it would handle as well as a canoe in faster water, but looks incredibly stable for slow water or bowfishing.  

I've considered the NuCanoe Frontier as well, although it's a little more money.

The otter boats are very stable, but not going to paddle around like a canoe.  If you rally want to get around, I would look at the Nucanoe. It looks like it would move a lot better. If you want stability look at the otter, but the Nucanoe doesn't look too bad in that department.  I see a sporting store just a few miles away from me is a Nucanoe dealer.  I plan to check them out.  The only thing I see that I don't like is that you look to set real close to the deck in the Frontier.   It would  not be the most comfortable  to set in for me and hard to get up on my feet from setting.  The classic looks to have more seat height with the  tunnel down the middle, but a lot harder to move around and more restrictive on foot position or at least more tricky to move around.

[RC]

I looked at the Nucanoe website and they are some good looking boats.RC

[AkDan]

Pavan, I built that stripper for screwing around on the smaller creeks.   Its so light you don't need shoulder pads but I did leave out the thwart which I kind of regret.  I toyed with sticking it in a few times and opted out.   I'm still toying with it.

A 15 or 16 footer is more than enough to do what the average person does. (hunt/fish/trap and just have fun on the water)  its not a serious lets go on a 1000 mile river journey from duluth to Hudson bay (which is what sparked the stripper I built all the way back in 12th grade when I first read about it.  Found a few magazines at the same time I grabbed that book and never did return the mags LOL!  All but one mag has survived the last 30 years.

 http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Fires-Duluth-Hudson-Bay/dp/0816655030/ref=pd_sim_b_4#reader_0816655030

The joy of building is if you do ding it, you know how to fix it.

They are not overly time consuming once you understand the how to of building. If you want to get fancy it does add a significant amount of time.    Mine took forever, you'll noticed 0 staples.  What should have taken weeks took months to strip, 2 strips a night.  I cant imagine going stapleless on a big boat!   If (when) I build the next one it will be a 16 double or 15.5 with staples.   No feature strip, no fancy deck...ok maybe slightly fancy lol.   Mines a wedge of sapele maple redheart maple sapele with a figured maple edge strip.  Again more time!  

its a great winter project, its something the hole family can get into including kids.   it will do everything a high end carbon will do.  It does weigh more than a carbon but it shouldn't weigh more than a 17' gruman.  if it does you're using too much epoxy or you did it intentionally!

I have plans for an 18' freighter I need to get working on, plan is to add a mud buddy style motor to it.  She's more like a boat than canoe.  Too many projects, not enough time!  

Someday I'll do the Duluth to Hudson Bay trip.   The real question is how do I get out of work for 3 months without getting fired LOL!

I'm not into fancy canoing but the next stripper will be the boat I also use on the Yukon river quest, a 444 mile canoe race.   I better get on it eh lol.

Another boat I'd like to build is a skin on kayak.  I reckon that will be before the next stripper.  Not much of a deer boat, but it could be if you're not hauling a stand or plan on using it to get your deer out.   Google Greenland kayaks.   If you build one, you'd best learn to roll!   or at least bail because you'll be going over at some point lol.