borrowed coleman infestation.....

-- Last Updated: Jun-13-09 4:16 PM EST --

My Council is putting on picnic next weekend. Since there will be a waterfrontage I was (coerced) drafted to bring down some canoes. A freind lent me a Pelican canoe that was sitting in his back yard for the last 8 years unused.(This is a cammon condition of Colemans in my opinion). Anyway besides the usual coleman dents dings and scratches the dang boat had about a zillion little tiny ants crawling in it. In addition to the bugs there is also a shlooshing of water in it . It could be betweeen the hulls, or in the center seat. Since it had been on the beach exposed to the weather the water could be any where.
I am sure some one else has dealt with this and might set me in the right direction to get the canoe useable for one day then I will return it to Mark and go and confess my sin of being in proximaty to a Pelican....

Make like stonehenge
Charlie,

Stand the beast up on end. If there is no drainage hole or plug visible around the deck area, drill a small hole in the deck very near the end, and after draining, plug the hole with a screw.

Dig a hole about 3 feet deep in your buddies yard and plant the stern of the barge there when you return it. Leave it upright like a Stonehenge monolith.

If you need a paddleable canoe, ask Kelly & Mark to borrow the Sundowner and a couple paddles.

Tomorrow we run the MN-IV in a race in NJ on Mantua Creek.

Bill

Have been trying
to contact Mark and Kelly. I guess they have better taste then to answer E-Mails from ald baldpaddlers…

Pelican
Exactly what is so wrong with a Pelican…or a coleman for that matter?? They float and get people on the water dont they?



This board is filled with “name brand yuppies”. The canoe and kayak snobs are such a turn off to the entire sport.



Fill the boat with water and dawn dish soap. Squirt a little dawn down along the gunwhales so it gets up and under and follow it with a hose. Soap kills ants. Rinse it out and your done. Pretty easy.

I don’t know if anything is wrong with
them, but I keep seeing them wrapped around trees on GA rivers.



They Were Expendable?

Reply to what is wrong with Pelican…
Please take this reply in the nicest way possible.



“Exactly what is so wrong with a Pelican…or a coleman for that matter?? They float and get people on the water dont they?”



Yes, they do get people on the water. However, as the OP reports, the boat is the equivalent of waterlogged, and therefore difficult if not impossible to paddle.

I have seen the boats at Dick’s and Sam’s Club. They are equivalent of a Yugo or Chevette- An entry level product which 1)does not hold its value and 2)may lead the unknowing into believing that all automobiles(canoes) have serious flaws (are not easy to paddle) and therefore discourage continued use of the vehicle. Better construction boats are available for not much more than the $300-350 the low end models cost.



The ants are merely a normal nuisance, as long as they are not INSIDE the floataion air space that is now filled with water. If they are inside, they can crawl out and annoy or worse, esp if they are fire ants.



“This board is filled with “name brand yuppies”. The canoe and kayak snobs are such a turn off to the entire sport.”

The objection is not to the name brand, but the quality of the item. Those who point out this model’s flaws with a factual explanation are attempting to guide potential purchasers to a good decision.

Yes, there will be witticisms at the expense of the boat manuifacturer. You may be aware that the “planting of the boat”, though extreme, is a rather sophisticated reference to a modern art classic.

see

http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/cadillacranch/ranch/crabtr.htm

If the snobiness is directed at the individual, then you have a legitimate point. I suspect the people in question know each other well enough to take a joke.



“Fill the boat with water and dawn dish soap. Squirt a little dawn down along the gunwhales so it gets up and under and follow it with a hose. Soap kills ants. Rinse it out and your done. Pretty easy.”

This solves the ant problem for the moment, but not the water worthiness issue of a flotation space filling up with water. Will this happen while the boat is in use by a novice? I hope not…



What ever boat you have and whatever floats your boat, Have fun!

Kaps

Brands
I’ve paddled many Coleman canoes, and one Pelican. 100% of the people who will, will enjoy it while they’re out there. There are much better canoes on the market for just $200 more, but that’s double the price of a Pelican. DOUBLE! I think most people who start off in this sport, and begin with a Pelican or Coleman model will eventualy upgrade, but if they dont…so what! That must mean they like their boat.



The “OP” says a Pelican is equivalent to a “water logged” boat, and is impossible to paddle? Really?? I mean REALLY??? We all know that’s completely false. Just because name brand yuppies say a Pelican is “unable to be paddled” doesn’t mean they really are. That’s my whole point. I’ve been an active canoeist for 35 years…I fish, hunt, trap, and explore in my boats, yet over the past 10 years or so there’s been a swamping of brand snobs and yuppies that are ruining the sport with their elitist views and equipment discrimination. For goodness sakes it’s getting to the point where a person is looked down upon for owning a boat made of poly. If it’s not royalex or kevlar, it’s junk right? I wish you’d all go back to golf and get off the water.

Well, my apologies, but in my 35 years
of canoeing (no golf), I’ve always made a point to try to obtain and paddle quality boats.



I could hunt and fish with a Pelican, but I couldn’t do all the things I do with my canoes.

earth to mjflores
You are on an enthusiast website. The people who post here are motivated enough by their love of paddling to seek out and participate in these discussions.



The reason you don’t see a lot of Coleman or Pelican users here is because those aren’t boats targeted to the type of serious users that populate a board like this. The “name brand” boats are, and that’s you see them talked about.



It’s not elitism. It’s demographics.

If you are only interested in puddling
around once a month, a low end boat is fine. If you want to paddle 20+ mile days,good luck.

I know a bunch of the people here and there are few yuppies among us.Baldpaddler a yuppie! that is a hell of a thought.

Young(hah!)Urban(not by choice) Professional(paddler that is).

There ya go
Sort of like being surprised when a professional photographer rejects your claim that the disposable camera you picked up at the drugstore for ten bucks should be good enough for anyone.

I couldn’t even hunt and fish with…

– Last Updated: Jun-13-09 11:31 PM EST –

... Pelican. Well, there are SOME places I could fish (as long as I didn't need to travel far and the wind wasn't too bad), but pivot and side-slip my way between fallen trees on a winding little river with so little effort that I would still be able to snatch up the shotgun as the wood ducks rocket away? No chance. There is nothing wrong with having "the right tool for the job", whether paddling is the end itself, or just the means to an end.

Ram-X canoes & us
mjflores,

Both the Baldpaddler and myself have been on multiple Boy Scout trips where the assorted canoes brought along have included the Coleman and Pelican canoes. Those who brought them were proud of their canoes and especially the ‘deal’ they got on them. 2 canoes for what i spent on my “elitist” Wenonah. On the first portage the whole group lost an hour while the two Coleman canoes were drug over the carry. No yoke in either, center seat in the other blocking the best spot to put a temporary yoke. Two young Scouts with a canoe that outweighed either of them. Being good Scouts we all helped, but those two canoes took more effort to portage then even the heavy livery-weight Grummans. Same thing on the water, the boys paddling the Colemans lagged far behind. Best solution here, swap canoes; best 2 paddlers in worst canoe, weakest paddlers in best paddling canoe. This is where it gets personal; I end up for a very long day paddling the bargain Coleman, its owner ends up paddling my Wenonah. I know how they paddle, i have ended up in Pelicans, Colemans, Rogue Rivers, etc. I do not knock a canoe that i have not paddled, Baldpaddler either. If we joke that a canoe is a barge; it is from fact.

Going from $200 to $4oo is doubling the cost, but the $4oo is less than some people will spend for one golf club or aluminum bat. The $200 is less than 2 trips to the chiropractor. Yes there are canoe snobs, but you come look at the boats in my back yard, and then decide for yourself if I fit the description.

Bill

I cannot understand …

– Last Updated: Jun-14-09 2:53 PM EST –

... why anyone would squander 200 clams on one of those fancy Colemans. For HALF that price, I get around in great style and comfort in one of the finest craft ever to grace the water:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02Bn3ZG2Zx4wD/610x.jpg

And when I was a wee sprout, before my ample derriere required the above boat, I sailed the seven seas in this grand vessel:
http://canoeme.org/Gipping%20Navigation/images/1970-bathtub-race.jpg
(Note my clever use of a double-ended pizza paddle and my utter disregard for proper immersion gear. PFD? Pshaw, I'm sitting on it, to avoid the dreaded Galvanized Gluteals.)

Such simple watercraft are all that are required for most paddling, and may also be utilized for personal hygiene or churning butter.

Anything else is mere snobbery and snootery ...

Ant spray you dummy !
then when you finally get the ants out, do what most people that live around lakes do with old beat of Colemans, (a couple of years).

Cut it in half and use it to hold their RFD box



cheers,

jackL

heasitated to use bug spray
afraid it might screw up the Ram-X construction.



Kind of interesting how Mark got this canoe.

A bunch of scouts came tohis lake front property to

do their canoeing requirements. One of their parents

brought the Pelican, and paddles for the boys to use.

He left the boat and paddles at Marks house and never bothered to came get it. For eight years it has sat at Marks…



I am always amazed at the number of Colemans and pelicans I see on the shore, covered with debris and years of growth around them. I am equally amazed to do the math on the number of people who bought them

then realized canoeing isn’t fun(because of the coleman) and just lose interest…

The only time they melt is…

– Last Updated: Jun-18-09 10:52 AM EST –

when you lick them!
I figure those ants must be from the wrong side of the tracks if they picked that canoe to live in.
I know what you mean though. We ride our bikes along a large river here and I have passed by a junked vehicle on blocks with a coleman on the roof for at least the past ten years.
They must be UV resistant if nothing else! (not the ants, the canoe)

cheers,
jackL

Ha! - protecting the parts truck
finally, a good use for a coleman

A pelican canoe
can really make you appreciate good hull design if and when you buy a “real” boat. But I must say the for the first 10 years of my paddling career my 17 ft 3 seater pelican did me justice. I ran fairly big drops, plenty of class 2 and learned to canoe pole before I upgraded to a Nova Craft Prospector 16 in 07. ( check out youtube yellow breeches spring 07 for proof!!)

Delphinus is NOT a poser!