Free, got it for a Birthday gift three
years ago. Since then I purchased I’ve purchased a used Raven, new Sequel, used Blackwater a new Acadia and a new America. The cheapest one was the best.
I think my glass Sawyer in 1972
was about $200. Sweet little tandem, but sold it and went to a kayak when we lived at Lake Houston. A Folbot super.
15 foot Grumman…
in 1970, the year I graduated from high school. I paid $250 for it brand new. It was my only canoe for more than 15 years, and saw a lot of miles on Ozark streams. The rock ledges on the Spring River in AR was what finally wore a hole all the way through the bottom of it, but I just filled in the hole with 5 minute epoxy and kept on paddling it. It sat in my yard after I bought my second tandem canoe, a fiberglass Sawyer, and was used by friends and family. My brother-in-law got it from me last year in partial trade for work he did on the house, and his kids are now using it.
Still looking - Oh well
Folks - - where do you find these deals
the only decent canoe I have seen in the area was an old grumman at a kinda junkyard place, and he wanted $750.00. Looked like 20 hours with a ball peen hammer to fix it. Last time I stopped to see if he would go lower, he had sent it out to a scrap yard when the price of aluminium went high about a month or two ago.
I would have paid better than scrap rate, but surely not $750.00
Guess I’ll still be looking for a while - -
got all winter now.
canoe
I paid $200 for a used grumman 15 foot canoe. It was the best canoe for a beginner. It was heavy, handled well, and could take abuse. I used to dump it off the truck onto the driveway after a day of canoeing. It was a heavy 90 pound canoe and not very easy to lift for a girl.
Dont spend a lot of money on your first canoe, have fun in a cheap boat.
First canoe
$35. It was old, aluminum and had a slow leak. It would still bash down the creek just fine. It was painted blue and many fish were caught from her.
$325
for a Sawyer Cruiser in standard glass back in 1974. Boy, I wish I still had that boat.
Jim
First canoe
I bought my first canoe new from a place that catered to motorcraft and decided they would no longer carry canoes.
I paid $300 for a new Osagian 17 foot aluminum canoe. It’s been sitting out by the horse pasture near the stable for the last five years. One of our horses likes the sound of aluminum thunder so he gives it a kick once in a while.
Even with all that beating it keeps on ticking. Had it out on the pond last year … still floats and no leaks. They’re indistructable as long as you don’t wrap them around river rocks.
Which “First?”
– Last Updated: Oct-16-06 9:56 AM EST –
1984. My first I bought was from Sears; the birchbark, chopper-gun 'glass canoe. It was the cheapest canoe on the market. It was a 12' tandem that retailed for $199. plus tax. Took it to the Current the 2nd day I had it, and found it impossible for two rookies to keep upright! Took it back to Sears and they generously refunded every penny. Saved a bit more money and a week or two later we went to a local place called B&B marine and bought a 17' Lowe, the canoe I think of as my REAL first canoe. Only canoe they had in stock. It was $299 plus tax. Kept it for several years and many happy miles on Ozark rivers. WW
Explorer
$899 for a new Mad River Royalex Explorer
$20 US
Complete history to date at:
http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/tsarchives5/index.cgi?read=263132
I’m with Liveoutside
My first canoe was a brand new Wenonah 16’ Prospector in Royalex. A little bit above $1000. I searched for a used boat for a long while, but I wanted a pretty specific type of canoe. I finally decided that my wife and I would be paddling this thing for a long time, and I wanted something with great rocker and pretty specific measurements, so I went with a nice new canoe. Banged/scraped/scratched the heck out of it the first time out 'cause the James River was running low and it was three solid days of nothing but rock-garden with a long weekend’s worth of camping gear and coolers weighing us down. I look at the bottom of that canoe every day, sitting in the backyard with gouges and scratches all over it and smile to myself at my brand new boat. 
It was our wedding gift to each other.
Yes, the knees just never got used
to the legs being tucked under. Too bad because I much more enjoy a solo canoe than a kayak.
Great Question
It’s very fun reading the responses!
I was about 10 (in 1964). My sibs and I asked my parents to get us a canoe, a 17’ AlumaCraft. If memory serves it was something like $300. My dad said he’d pay for half, never thinking a bunch of little kids could come up with $150. We did. My brother still has it.
The first one I bought myself was a 15’, Sears, chopper gun fiberglass, with the birchbark design. I’m guesing it was about 1980. I’m also guessing it was about $400. I had a lot of fun in that canoe. It was several years later that I learned there were other canoes out there that were considered “better”.
I used mine for canoe camping, fishing, day trips, and paddled it solo or with my girl friend (now wife). The biggest problem with it was it had aluminum thwarts and so were not removable. A true canoeist paddling with his girl friend would know why a removable thwart is desireable.
is that the one
you’re NOW trying to sell for $650?!
Yanoer, have you no shame!
Just bought my first
I paid $350 for it new. It’s an Indian River 16’ Sunrise. Nothing fancy but getting the job done.
Pleased with it’s construction so far. It’s a fiberglass laid not chopper gun constructed.
First canoe
I was looking everywhere and never realized they cost so much. Then I happened to find a phone number on-line that was for rented canoes in my town. I’ve lived here since '91 and never knew that there was one. Always went to Suwannee and rented. Any way I called the guy and asked about buying one and it just so happened that he was selling all his canoes. They needed work and him being 74 he didn’t know if/when he’d get them done. I ended up repairing them all and selling them for him in exchange for the Penobscot 16 that I now own and paddle every chance we get.
I’m now looking for something better than the Penobscot 16, but I’ll keep it for a loaner to get friends to go along with us.
Can’t remember (old age!)
I was 25 when I bought me first canoe. that was 35 years ago. It was a Grumman aluminum about 17 foot. I think I paid $200.00 and it was like new. I bought a Sears aluminum for $50.00 the next year and then a friend gave me an Old Town wood and canvass that I restored and sold.
Jump ahead 30 years and I decide to get back into canoeing so I bought a Nova Craft bob Special new for $800.00. Since that boat I have purchased 5 more and sold 3. My remaining fleet consists of an Old Town Penobscot 16 purchased new for $850, a Wenonah Vagabond (royalex)purchased used for $450, and a Bell Magic (kev-lite) purchased used but, like new, for $1300.
I wouldn’t mind getting a Hemlock Peregrine someday and a Souris River Tranquility. That is my wish list.
New Grumman 17J in 1972
A church camp bought them for part of their camping program and discovered they couldn’t pay for them. The one I got had been paddled for 10 days in Algonquin, and my wife and I were the paddlers. Got to keep the 2 new paddles and PFD’s. PFD’s are long gone but I still have the canoe, paddles, and wife. Canoe has a few scratches and small dents but doesn’t leak. My eldest has claimed it as his “birthright”. Total cost: $200 - I’ve turned down offers to sell for more than it cost me. It’s like paddling a brick, but the 1st always seems to be the dearest.
I paid $350 for my used Blue Hole
OCV Prowler in 1999. It was a little scarred up but overall in great condition. Guy I bought it from threw in 2 paddles and one of those sling seats for kids. I have put a good many miles on this boat and plan to keep it for a long time.