Drove 3 hours each way(4 hours of it in Atlanta traffic) to pick up a pristine RTM Midway. Really cool and fast SOT. I did remove the weird looking thigh brace.
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Heading out tomorrow with my brother to pick up his new boat. Looks like 7 hours 1 way. Hope itās all good when we get there.
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Havenāt seen this thread before so thought I would post. There are some amazing stories and beautiful boats showcased in this thread and also some cool stories of travel going after that special boat.
The key word in the OPs title for me was ācovetedā and until this spring I wanted a canoe for many years, as I love being on the water, but just never made the plunge.
My boat I traveled a distance of about 300 yards to obtain and saw it on top of my neighbors woodpile covered in the last of winters snow and ice. Told him I had been thinking about a canoe and did he like his. He said he bought it from his friend and had it a year and never used it, as he didnāt know his wife had a fear of water. He said he gave 150 and I could have it for 150. Thatās how I got my coveted OT Guide 147. Most of you might not find it anything special but for me it is all I need and has brought me a lot of fun in just a couple months as the season is just starting.
I paid him and was ready to carry it down the street and he insisted on delivering, as he wanted to show me how to mount it on the roof of his car.
I donāt know if there will be a next canoe or if I will have to drive far to get it or not. This one kind of just fell out of nowhere into my lap. 
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i co owned a Guide 147 with a boyfriend fir several years. He lived right on the Susquehanna River and within less than an hour of many other great flat and mild whitewater streams. We had a lot of fun in that canoe, switching iff with it and the kayaks. Nice all around day tripper. We often used kayak paddles, 230 in the bow and 240 in the stern.
From Melbourne Australia to Sea Kayak GA on Tybee Island GA. Have not googled the distance. I had demoed a Valley Q at ECCK in April 2006 and moved back to SC from down under that July. Bought it the next week and still enjoy paddling it, the only kayak I own. Do have an aluminium canoe too.
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I have 230cm right now and I got rid of everything stock inside and placed a seat just behind center making it into more like a pack canoe and less like a tandem. Do to the width I can see I need 250cm at least. After I take it out a few more times with this seat configuration Iāll be looking for something longer. Getting rid of those plastic seats got rid of quite a bit of weight.
Went 4 hours to get a Bell Wildfire Solo last weekend. So worth it. It didnāt even hurt when I hit āsendā on Paypal.
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~6.5 Hours each way, to pick up a Stellar Intrepid LV. Went from Eastern NC to Savanah GA, to pick it up. Made a run down to the Okefenokee Swamp , while sorta in the area.
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Did 875 miles round trip on Sunday to get a boat. Up at 4:00 AM and home just before midnight. Picked up a bonus boat while there to make it moreā¦ahemā¦worth it 
You are hard core for driving. I would have overnighted and paddled the new kayak somewhere along the way.
Sure wish I could have but I had a narrow window to get back for work. My brother went along and we were able to talk/catch up so it wasnāt too bad.
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I had a woman drive to here, upstate SC, from Pittsburgh to buy my Stellar S18S.
Iāve related this story before, but last year, I set my heart on a CD Prana as an upgrade to my Scirocco. Looked at ordering one new and the dealers sort of laughed at meā¦2 years if I was lucky. Was about to give up, one last search and lo, a used one in Indianola, Iowa! A week later I drove up, met the guy at 10:30pm, slept in a cheap hotel, drove backā¦to Austin, TX.
Total of about 1900 miles and 28 hours driving over 2 days. Worth every minute!
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We crazy, but we know that!
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About three hours round tripā¦ and it wasnāt for anything really special, just a kayak I wanted.
Not worth it.
5 hours is my limit each way for a great deal.
We traveled 2 hours one way for our first kayaks. After a few yearsā experience and further research, I thought it was worth test paddling a P&H Cetus.
We traveled up to The River Connection in Hyde Park, NY, where Marshall was very helpful and let us have a good long test paddle. that trip was 4.5 hours one way, but on the way up we had car trouble and had to turn around and limp home, then switch cars, and head back up. Full day to get up there, night in a motel, do a test paddle, then travel home, so a two day trip and overnight. Well worth the time and cost, as far as we are concerned. And, we bought two Cetus from Marshall at The River connection.
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Never added my own most extensive journey for a boat to this string I started in 2020.
Around the time 12 years ago that I became infatuated with skin on frame traditional reproduction kayaks I had read an article about an American Buddhist monk in Oregon, a former engineer and sea kayaker who had been building Greenland style SOF kayaks to order to finance building a meditation center. In searching for more information about him I stumbled across a Craigslist ad in Wisconsin selling one of his kayaks. I contacted the seller and arranged to meet him. I live in Pittsburgh PA, but had lived for 8 years in Grand Rapids, MI, and have a lot of kin along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. So I drove my old Volvo 740 wagon 9 hours to Muskegon, parked it in the lot at the high-speed cross lake ferry and booked RT passenger passage for myself. The crossing (on a gorgeous blue sky summer day when the Big Lake was like glass) took a bit over 2 hours. I walked onto the dock at the far side in Milwaukee, met the seller, gave him a wad of cash and carried the 18ā 31 pound sliver of a boat onto the ferry and stashed it on the lower deck. Got a lot of ribbing from fellow passengers for bringing my own boat onto a boat. Ferried back to Muskegon the same afternoon, loaded the kayak on the Volvo, crashed with a cousin there overnight and drove the 9 hours, 525 miles back to Pittsburgh the following day.
As a result of that little expedition I can honestly state that I have crossed Lake Michigan with my kayak. That boat is going back to Lake Michigan to Qajaq Training Camp this August. Since it has also been to Maine with me and started out in Oregon it has spanned most of the lower 48 west to east.
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Fuel prices having doubled now changes the equation for long trips 
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