...that Old Town is calling the "Next" part kayak and part canoe? It's a pack canoe for goodness sake. Just ask Rushton (if we could). I get the fact that they are trying to re-market the hull as something new to generate hype and sales, but call it what it is...a canoe. I hope they sell a ton of them, but they act like they've invented something new that us dumb boaters never thought of before. Kinda makes them look clueless for a company that HAS been building canoes for over 100 years. See their ad copy below:
"From the company with a rich 100-year history in paddlesports, comes a product that represents the future.
The NEXT is a totally fresh and uniquely fun solo experience that brings a century of expertise into one truly amazing personal watercraft unlike any other. Built for one, but designed for all, the NEXT represents a new generation of boating for today's generation of paddle, outdoors and fitness enthusiasts."
"Unlike any other"??!!! Really?!
What about Placid Boat Works, Hornback, Rushton, Wenonah, Swift, Slipstream, VT Canoe, Mad River, etc. Seems like Old Town is a little late to the party and didn't realize these hulls have been being built for over 120 years.
Just sayin'
Openboater
Me too
You can see what market they are reaching for with that “California surfer boy” on the cover photo. In any case, you are right that they are over-stating the uniqueness of this boat, but if they are going to be wrong about something, might as well do it in grand fashion.
I think that Old Town can salvage a major part of their reputation if the boat’s actual weight turns out to be in the neighborhood of 55 pounds or more, instead of the specified weight of 49 pounds 
awesome
i think the Next is pretty awesome. In fact, I’m thinking of getting one next season. So what if its really 55 lbs. I have no problem lifting an 80 lb canoe, so 55 is pretty light.
Once again, Old Town paves the way…
I hope you do buy one next Spring, but…
but they didn’t pave the way on this one. Pack canoes have been around for of over 100 years and are being built today by the best boat builders in the country. I must say, I can’t believe it’s taken someone this long to build one out of poly.
I love Old Town too, but their ad campaign boarders on false advertising.
Most pack canoes are functionally stupid
and the Nixt is no exception. Push small and light to the limit in an open boat lily dipper, and eventually you get something that can do little or nothing.
Available in 4 dynamic colors…
I was worried that it might be available in dark green only, but no; it can be had in 4 "dynamic" colors
That really makes it more appealing, and does away with any concern I had about a 13 foot canoe that weighs 49 pounds! 49 pounds is bad enough but I'd guess low 50s might be closer to the truth.
Wonder if Old Town will come out with all kind of wonderful gee gaws like Mad Rivers's IQ system?
Or as I call it; the "I'd Quit" buying Mad River canoes, if I had to buy the IQ system.
The seat in the Next looks like a back breaker.
Betting that Next buyers will be seeking replacement seats pretty quick. Well, maybe not the masochists.........
Would love to see someone demonstrating the incorporated kayak design elements on a nice, choppy lake.
Did you see how fast that thing went down?
Yeah! Like a rock!
Does any of it bother me?
Nope!
If someone gave me one; I'd test paddle it just for grins & then I'd sell it.
BOB
You know what they say…
The longer the boat, the bigger the…
…spray skirt.
(ducks and covers…)
it paves the way
As being a flatwater solo that weighs like some royalex tandems. My Reflection 15 is about 4 pounds heavier with 3 seats, and my Whitesell set up fot tandem is definitely lighter than this thing. Old town seems to have gone the dumass route the past several years.
Doesn't bother me though, seeing as I will never get one. I thought the whole benefit of pack canoes was light weight.
Dayum, i can even smile when people ask me if i started poling after seeing those cool SUP people in action. Gawd...
New markets
are needed to stay in business when the old ones are saturated. That is probably why the SUP was invented. So…while I’m not going to run out and buy a Next, I’m glad that Old Town is trying to develop new markets so they can stay around.
Peter
SUP has been around…
…longer than most people realize. It just finally went mainstream. All those surfboard shapers needed new markets to sell to and now they are all shaping the modern day SUP…and selling tons of them.
Thus, for Old Town, this is the same thing. They have taken the Pack Canoe, which long predates the modern day kayak, and are going after consumers that previously haven’t been exposed to it. Using their strength and $ as an industry leader in recreational watercraft, they will get new users into the Next. BUT, to say it’s “unlike any other” and that it’s fresh and new, is a false statement. Again I ask, what have all the modern day pack canoe builders been doing for the past 20 years? I guess what will be “unlike any other” is the weight.
I do hope they sell a ton of them, because, like the recreational kayak did for kayaking, it will create a new generation of folks who will love it and then later upgrade into a higher end Pack Canoes. Markets feeding markets is what it’s all about. Good for everyone.
compensation?
Apparently
the company is not being run by paddlers and the ad agency (if there is one) doesn’t have any either! This presentation makes that abundantly clear if it wasn’t already. It’s a shame to see the grand old name so sorrowfully presented.
Doesn’t bother me in the least
Take a look at some of the tubs they are selling and billing them as good touring kayaks.
There is a buyer for anything and every thing!
Jack L
This is America
the home of BS advertising, so I guess more of the same pretty much escapes my notice.
As for the Next, although I have absolutely no desire to own one, I suppose a triple-dump poly pack canoe fills a niche, especially now with the demise of Royalex. Otherwise, of course, there is absolutely nothing new about it, except some different colors which I suspect will be more prone to sun fading.
For decades now, kayaks have been marketed as more modern and hip paddle craft than canoes which were considered old hat. The reality was that makers preferred to make kayaks and retailers preferred to sell them because they were generally easier and cheaper to make, easier to transport, and easier to inventory so the profit margin was much higher.
Now the kayak market has become saturated so Old Town has to pretend they have come up with something newer and cooler.
This boat is dimensionally very similar to Wenonah's Royalex pack canoe offering, the Fusion, although the Fusion is slightly wider. Wenonah claims a weight of 46 lbs for that boat and I have picked one up a few times (without rudder) and I suspect that is close to accurate. I am very dubious that Old Town will be able to bring in a triple dump poly boat of nearly the same size that is only 3 lbs heavier.
NEXT weight, wet not 49 lb?
It's only 15 inches longer than the Disco 119, which weighs 40 lbs and is 3" wider.
Seems to me that 49 lbs is possible. The seat is what looks overweight.
Heck, my royalex Yellowstone Solo is only 14 and weighs 49 lbs.
NEXT design: better than others.
At 3" narrower and with added tumblehome, the NEXT looks to be a much sleeker and easily paddled than Old Town’s other two solo canoe offerings.
yeah, I’m outraged! Makes me want to
take the “next” and throw it off the roof of a building!
How dare old town resort to unrealistic advertising to entice people to buy boats! Shame on them! They have never done anything like that before???
Tweaked
A tweaked pack canoe marketed to a consumer that doesn’t own a boat and is not a pnet member.
I bought my Guide 119 last year for ~$450 added foot brace $30 and changed seat $50 and have just as good a boat of same material (3 layer Poly) for about $500 less. I could have added a similar seat for ~$300 or less and still saved at least 2 bills.
cc
It bothers me
That now they might make solo canoes cool. Maybe I’ll have to take up kayaking once everyone else abandons it.
Alan