A great thread. I don’t canoe but this makes me wish I did. Beautiful boats.
Also a kayaker (and stand up paddle boarder) but those are some beautiful boats, thanks for sharing. Maybe as I get older and wiser, at some point my kayaking and suping will converge, and I’ll get a nice canoe or 7.
Well, YIPEE, our internet is fast enough to view a couple Kevin Callan videos and cruise P.com this morning. A lot of those pictures are familiar and were enjoyed, Bob.
You mentioned the MRC Courier that I “Flipped?” That’s one in a long list I wish I still owned. Actually, the royalex Courier I bought and rehabbed is also missed as well as the Sawyer Autumn Mist and the Bell Starfire. I miss the Dagger Reflection on those 20mph days on the river, but my Wenonah Prospector fits me better unless le vent kicks up. But the boat I will miss the most is my Cedarwood Pal. If I had a better place to store it, it would still be ours. We even thought of hanging it from the living room ceiling, but getting it in the house would have been a real PIA.
Let’s see if my internet speed is high enough to permit me to upload a couple old boat pics myself?
Mad River Monarch, Dagger Sojourn, Sawyer Autumn Mist
Bell Starfire, Dagger Reflection 15, Mad River Courier (Kevlar)
Mad River Courier (Royalex)
Cedarwood Pal
Cedarwood Pal
I remember that Sojourn and the Autumn Mist…
Sold the Autumn Mist to a “good old boy” down in southern Missouri;
don’t know what he did with it.
The Sojourn is still hanging from the ceiling in my garage; in between a Blackhawk Zephyr, and a Blackhawk Shadow SS Special.
:^)
BOB
Love all the pics! I don’t have very many “old school” boats. Bob already posted one of mine the Mad River Guide that was his and then Doug’s and now it’s final home (no Doug I am not selling it back to you). My whitewater boat is a Mad River Outrage.
Only saw two “old school” boats. All the rest are “newer” plastic pretenders.
1920 Old Town 50 pound model outfitted as solo. Hope to paddle her on her 100th birthday (if I can still lift her)
You call them pretenders; I call them old school.
Likely a question of semantics, perception, opinion.
The vast majority of the boats pictured are certainly post wood/canvas, post aluminum. That’s old enough to qualify as “old school” to me.
If I wanted to get picky; I could say that your wood/canvas canoe is a “pretender”.
It isn’t made from a log, not made of birchbark, not made of reeds. It is not an Indian made, buffalo skin, bull boat. It is also not a 2 or 3 hundred year old Hawaiian outrigger, nor a Viking longship.
BOB
P.S. I own a Chestnut Pal from the 1960s. Is it a pretender? It only a little over 55 years old…
@Higgster712 said:
Only saw two “old school” boats. All the rest are “newer” plastic pretenders.
Your canoe history is lacking… Some boats from the 1970s and 80s are NOT plastic. And some of the wood canvas boats are brand new.
Stevet you are still looking good man!
I’d call the Lotus BJX old school; also think it’s a very beautiful canoe.
Right up there with the Lotus Caper.
BOB
Had an identical Caper. Definitely one of the most unusual and beautiful boats built. Mike may have been a mixed bag of positive and negative but he built some of the prettiest boats ever. Elegantly simple lines of the Dandy made it a true work of art. To paraphrase: “great design is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”
The paddle in the photo was part of a package deal on my Caper.
Just an old “beater” paddle; use it to push off of gravel bars & rocks. :^)
BOB
Well yeah, that paddle is ugly; that’s why I use it as a “beater” paddle.
When I tear it up; I’m going to start using this one as my new “beater”.
:^)
BOB
@thebob.com said:
You call them pretenders; I call them old school.
Likely a question of semantics, perception, opinion.
The vast majority of the boats pictured are certainly post wood/canvas, post aluminum. That’s old enough to qualify as “old school” to me.If I wanted to get picky; I could say that your wood/canvas canoe is a “pretender”.
It isn’t made from a log, not made of birchbark, not made of reeds. It is not an Indian made, buffalo skin, bull boat. It is also not a 2 or 3 hundred year old Hawaiian outrigger, nor a Viking longship.BOB
P.S. I own a Chestnut Pal from the 1960s. Is it a pretender? It only a little over 55 years old…
How about a repurposed Saudi whatever turned into a flower pot?
Its origin is somewhat suspect. Some of the old club boats are more relics with a touch of folklore than operational boats.
There used to be a guy here (had a name something like RPG 38?) who got a brand-new wood-canvas canoe from some builder up in Canada that I also can’t remember the name of. I’ve yet to see a new production-model wood/canvas canoe myself (I’ve seen a few built by private individuals), but they exist.
I had the same thoughts about all these “old school” canoes. Some of them, nice as they may be, are hardly classic, though I guess that’s pretty subjective.
@Overstreet said:
@thebob.com said:
You call them pretenders; I call them old school.
Likely a question of semantics, perception, opinion.
The vast majority of the boats pictured are certainly post wood/canvas, post aluminum. That’s old enough to qualify as “old school” to me.If I wanted to get picky; I could say that your wood/canvas canoe is a “pretender”.
It isn’t made from a log, not made of birchbark, not made of reeds. It is not an Indian made, buffalo skin, bull boat. It is also not a 2 or 3 hundred year old Hawaiian outrigger, nor a Viking longship.BOB
P.S. I own a Chestnut Pal from the 1960s. Is it a pretender? It only a little over 55 years old…
How about a repurposed Saudi whatever turned into a flower pot?
Its origin is somewhat suspect. Some of the old club boats are more relics with a touch of folklore than operational boats.
I have cobwebs in a bunch of my canoes, but no trees growing in them as of yet. At least, I don’t think I do.
It’s pretty easy to define “old school” when it comes to whitewater boats - anything longer than 9’ and not made of high-density polyethylene. In other words, its not a Blackfly.
Someday I’m going to get myself one…