Dunno, there used to be some real lite
Grumman lightweights. Not that much heavier than all the composite “Futzlight” canoes if you equate for carrying capacity.
My main problem with aluminum is that the hull designs are usually slow and conservative.
aluminum is great
aluminum is great for folding around a large rock,-Bert
I like aluminum canoes
That is, I like aluminum canoes in front of me when paddling down rocky rivers. That aluminum thunder lets you know where the rocks are 
Seriously, I am like most other posters here. I started out with aluminum canoes. The first canoe I bought was aluminum. However, once I started canoeing rivers I quickly changed over to Royalex. Weight about the same, canoe design is more versatile, and they slide over the rocks instead of grabbing them.
Let’s Go!
My paddling buddy Jarvis and I each own 17’ Alum Canoes. We have talked about taking them over to the Current River and loading the hell out of them, big tents, cots, coolers, grill, other peoples crap, whatever, and taking them down solo just for old time sake.
Anybody want to come along for the photo opts and yard sales Maybe next spring.
Jay
hope the water is high
I hate the screech of aluminum.
Aluminum boats make crappy sleds. At Yawgoo Ski area a lot of years ago there was a downhill canoe and kayak race. (Yes there was --dont know if it is today a ski hill in Rhode Island). The 125 foot downhill ski trail was of course covered with artificial snow.
There was no snow in the woods. The course had a dogleg. Aluminum boats have keels. Keels dig into the snow. The boat didnt turn…went off into the bare woods with logs,sticks, leaves and mostly rocks.
A perfectly awful screeching noise.
Maybe
I still have my 17 foot aluminum Osagian. It will probably still float even after the horses have kicked it around for ten years. I’ll just hope the water is deep enough not to have to drag it over every rock on the Current.
Not noisy at all
the aluminum canoe, that is. We did a lot of wildlife watching out of our Grummans - its the people who don’t have sense enough to not bang the canoe with thier paddles that make the noise. If you are just a bit careful, you can be as stealthy (noisewise) in an aluminmum canoe as in a royalex boat. 15 foot standard Grumman = 69 pounds, and that isn’t light. But our 40+ year old boats are, except for some scratches and small dents, as good as new - we’ve always been careful with them - the object of the game is to NOT wrap them around a rock, or to hit any rocks at all if possible; they’ve been down the Allagash, including Chase rapids, and a lot of NY rivers, and they’ve done 8 or 10 Boundary Water’s trips of up to 12 days. And we could sell them today for more than we paid for them, without adding in for inflation. They’ll be just as good 40 years from now.
Probably the best thing about boats like this today, is that there are so many of them out there on the used market, for about $350. I can’t think of an easier way to get into canoeing. Are they the best boat today? There are lots of better, more specialized hulls around, but some people used to do CIII and CIV in them when they were state of the art.
That’s all that’s “wrong” with them - just not state of the art.
Matt makes an excellent point:
I’ve owned several Grummans over the years and the price seems to be fairly stable at around $400 or $500. If you buy an aluminum canoe and find that after 40 or 50 years of use, you’re disatisfied with its performance, you’ll probably have little difficulty selling it for the price you paid.
The entire history of misuse is written indelibly on the hull of every aluminum canoe that you buy or sell so there is no mystery about the condition of the boat.
Point taken . . .
It is true that I don’t know about all fish. I have caught most of the species in these parts, though, mostly with an outboard motor trolling.
Maybe some fish are smarter. Pike are just plain fierce (I suspect some canoes would be scared of them!)
I wrapped mine in Chase.
Thankfully not too badly. We were able to jump on it and reduce the hogging considerably.
But it found every frigging rock…Our other canoe was Royalex and absolutely no good as a lead boat. Where the Royalex went the aluminum dared not go sometimes.
As in low water on the Allagash.
Tragic, isn’t it?
One thing you can do to an …
– Last Updated: Dec-01-08 10:42 PM EST –
..... aluminum canoe is line the bottom with a thin marine carpet ... glue it down . Let it run up the sides at least 8" if you do .
This will dampen (deaden) the drum noise and give the immpression of a much softer ride .
Even though the fibers themselves are water proof and do not suck up water , the tight weave will still trap some water . The canoe will be heavier to take out and load when finished paddling , depending on how much water you allow inside during your outing ... it will evaporate sooner or later and get lighter again ... a good rain will give you some free ballast , lol ... not that bad really .
Makes a fine non-slip for the floor as well .
It's easy enough to pad the seats and any other interior part ... all this quiets it down greatly .
It's done to plain jane Jon boats all the time .
Aluminum canoes paddle nice , also , good and stiff (solid) ... they do grab rocks though , but not every place to paddle must have rodks , mostly only boney mountain river sections are of any concern .
Like others , aluminum canoes were the ones I mosty used when I first started paddling and fishing ... and you guessed it , going down "mountain" rivers ... they dent pretty good , even the old heavy Grummans .
I mean really , so many people take their nice light Royalex or fiberglass canoes and customize them (read that as , "add" a gazzilion pounds of non-factory "stuff" weight to them), what's a little carpet in an aluminum canoe mean ??
Gruman
They have some good canoes.
They are lighter than my Old town Discovery in the same class but they are noisy, dirty, stick to rocks, temperature exasperating.
The ones I have paddled handled beautifully.
They are not to be confused with a 30 lbs mad river Kevlar super boat.
For boy scouts or a family with three bouncy kids the Old Town buss (Explorer 169) or Gruman are great.
I can’t see me being too pleased with my kids dragging a Kevlar prospector over rocks to the side of the campfire.
What do you want your boat to do? What is the budget? Where will you store it? Who will be using it and for what?
OT and grummen are fine for me.
VK1NF always has good information.
He has some skills on the water.
I thought it was me , but …
… nope , it’s “Grumman” .
i used to not remember if it had two m’s or one , but somewhere along the line I must have resolved that … but I still went and checked it out again to make sure , lol .
mm
Me too. Almost every time I post about my Grumman, I have to go look it up. Welcome to the club.
Every time I climb in mine …
I feel like a bit of a fighter jock…
must be the rivets and ancient battle scars or
just it’s pedigree…
http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/f4f_1.jpg
Alas she is sitting in my father-in-laws barn yard now, likely with with two or three cats living under her, waiting for the snow to pile up this winter.
mine still has a 1973 BWCA
snowmobile license on it. They didn’t quite have their boat license supply in for the year then.
What a thought…a Grumman on tracks and skis.
This man, who lived alone in Alaska for years used a guess what?
http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html
quite appropriate …
– Last Updated: Dec-02-08 2:05 AM EST –
...... some barnyard cats sitting under it ,
sorta goes along with the "Wildcat" theme pic. ,
think Pearl Harbor , F4F-3 . By Mid-Way most Wildcats were F4F-4 , one difference being the 3's carried two 50's each wing , and the 4's three each wing ... same amount of total rounds onboard , the problem being the later 4's used them up alot faster .
It's kinda difficult to see in that pic. , but I think I can make out two gun ports on the closest planes wing ... probably the Twin Wasp engine also .
Twice
Two different spellinks Both wrong.
It should read Grumman not gruman or grummen.
Sorry…
Ok , now that’s funny , lol …
– Last Updated: Dec-02-08 11:23 AM EST –
..... guess we've all been members of the same spelling club .
The "I'm not sure , better check that first club" , or the "don't feel like checking it right now , so I offer two versions club , one has to be correct" , lol ... sometimes luck goes hiding though .
I am such a terrible speller that I embarrass myself ... so for the longest time I put most all my trust in a Dictionary . Encarta since the web .
I must visit several times for everything I write , and still mis-spell often enough ... I blame it on hookie ... and hookie says "paybacks are hell" .