Ok, I’m going to the “dark” side. I need a canoe for the interior rivers and lakes. My paddling partner likes the idea of one that can be disassembled for ease of tranport. We have a 4 day trip planned on a class I/II river for moose hunting, and may rent one before buying. If I could get some good feedback, I may just go ahead and buy. 
Thanks for any advise.
Donna
We used them on a 15 day wilderness
trip on the Noatak River in the Arctic circle, and they made a believer out of me.
Putting it together for the first time takes some doing, but from then on it is a piece of cake.
They break down into a back pack.
They are very tough
They are also very expensive.
The ones we used were tandems without seats which suited us very well since we just used our big “Bill’s Bags” as the seats
I like how they flexed when they went through a
class II
For their intended purpose I would rate them close to a ten.
Cheers,
JackL
What size?
Seems like everyone reviews this canoe and loves it. What size should I get. Partner and I, sometimes my 17 yr old daughter, and gear, and (hopefully) BIG MOOSE. But of course moose only gets to ride one time, once a year.
No problem with getting it put together, my paddling partner is an engineer, and price is not a problem once we decide what to get.
Thanks for your help.
CAN ANYONE ELSE ADD ANYTHING?
Donna
I honestly don’t know what size the ones
we used were.
I am guessing 17 feet, and if they make one that size, that is what I would suggest.
Except that I don’t know about the “moose thing”
You better check with Ally on their load capacity.
I am 165 and “the bride” is 122 plus we had a few hundred pounds of gear and water.
Cheers,
JackL
I recomend
the 16’ 6" with curved ends. Personally I use the lake model 17’ long, but have seen that for river use the other one is better. The river model has rocker the lake model has a straight keel line. They come with 2 types of seats, I recomend the trapper seat. These seats can not be moved. The other type of seats can be moved in the canoe. I have used Ally canoes in a lot of rocky rivers for years and they take a lot of scraping. I drag mine fully loaded over rocks if they are not to sharp. The negative thing is hitting larger rocks that might damage the aluminum frame. My personl record in putting the canoe together is 10 minutes. Usually when it has been stored for a long time or it is very hot the skin seems too tight, and it takes more time. In the beginning we used more than 45 minutes, with a bit of training a lot faster.
Paul
PakCanoe
I’ve only briefly played with the Ally’s but I’ve done three seperate week long canoe trips in their rival PakCanoes. I have a 14’ a 16.5’ and a 12’ Puffin modified into a small canoe They are similarly tough, and run whitewater like it’s nothing. I have 16.5’ tandem. It’ll carry a three week to month load of gear. But I suspect you’ll want the 17 for your intended usage.
They take some getting used to with being flexible. But they run drops drier than any hard shell, are lighter than any royalex canoe, and are great for flying gear to the river.
PK
Dark Side?
How can you call it the dark side when you can see your feet, your legs, and your lap?
Kayak accessories
http://www.2paddle1.com/ally-accessories.php
Scroll down to the bottom, I can get a sprayskirt, so that I still feel like I am in a kayak.
Donna