Specifically, how many is enough? For years I watched CL and other sources for a good Royalex canoe. Checking all sources religiously, in three years I saw two Royalex boats and one of those was set up for white water which I wouldn’t have much opportunity to use. Finally ordered a 15’ solo from Mohawk last fall and THE DAY I ORDERED that evening saw a decent Old Town 16’ Tandem on CL that I snapped up. Well Mohawk goofed and sent me a tandem which I wound up keeping and I also bought my solo. Now I see a Mad River Freedom which I have read good things about from some apparently knowledgeable posters here for $650 in what appears almost new condition. On the down side, I am out of room to store boats and I also have a Brand new tandem kayak I just bought last weekend for hauling grand babies and it’s never even been in the water yet thanks to a month of rain. Also working against it, I now have three Royalex canoes and there is a part of my brain which argues against the need to own more than one solo canoe. On the other hand, well, it’s an almost new Mad River Freedom solo for $650.
You can’t putt with a 9 iron
Dear pirate,
It bears repeating, sometimes you just need to have the exact right tool for the job. If the MR Freedom is that tool why shouldn’t you buy it?
If you are looking to be talked out of buying another canoe I’m pretty certain you’ve come to the wrong place. Most people here seem to have several canoes so your 3 or 4 will be right in line with the average.
The only caution I would add is that should you buy the canoe and find yourself not using it then it might be better to sell it.
Good luck,
Tim Murphy AKA Goobs 
Kind of like asking …
people in a bar if you should have another drink.
As an owner of 4 tandems, 2 solos, 2 kayaks and yes, even a few paddleboards, I say belly up and get the Freedom.
It’s a pretty good buy if you will use
it. I bought a MR Guide Solo for $400, a bit worn but with outstanding extras, back around 2000. It’s a great boat, but I don’t use it much. Even when in the swamps and bayous, I use my ww tandem/solo MR Synergy, just because it’s a boat I can take all around the country and paddle all sorts of rivers. The Guide Solo isn’t quite that versatile. On a class 2++ river it is wetter and less maneuverable than the Synergy.
So that’ how I would decide. Can you see that the Freedom Solo would not only do for you what your other canoes can’t, but that it would expand your horizons.
Sounds like
You might just be ready to tiptoe into the composite boat arena. Pricier, but much lighter, faster, much more precise. Come on in, the water’s fine!
There is always room…
There is always room for “just one more”; if you are very inventive with your storage space.
My wife has 2 solo canoes of her own.
I have 1 tandem canoe, and 16 solo canoes.
You can’t please everyone; so you have to please yourself, and I do.
BOB
Not as many as Bob…
but I’m now up to 2 tandems, 6 solos, a kayak, a big raft, a one man fishing raft, and a jetboat…and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do without any of them!
Go for it !
We have sixteen (canoes and yaks)
About five years ago I built a boat barn just for our boats, and now it even has two of a friends kayaks hanging in the rafters.
Just acquired two solo canoes ourselves
jack L
Remember, Royalex is not inherently
“good”. We put up with its slightly rubbery flex and its weight because it is pretty durable.
Now, perhaps, Royalex may be on the way out, and we can give better consideration to what can be done with composite layup.
Take Wenonah Tufweave and Royalex, for example. In every case where Wenonah has offered a canoe in both materials, the Tufweave is the better buy and the better boat. Stiff, light, tough, easy to repair. Hellman and Clipper have similar layups.
phew I feel so much better
there is someone as sick as I am.
Boat barn yes… built for sixteen boats.
Well, there is also two road bikes,
two mountain bikes, back packing gear, a couple of portage buggies, all of our snow birding equipment, a couple of resident black snakes, and a riding lawn mower squeezed in too.
I should have made it bigger!
Jack L
Please explain why Tuffweave is …
the better buy and the better boat ?
Jack L