Hello all, here is my situation. We are a family of five. I am 39 my wife is 18…(34) and we both are fairly active and I weigh 195 6-1 and she is 145 5-3. We have a daughter who is almost 12 and almost as tall as mom and is very athletic. The last two are twin boys who are 11. We finally feel they are coordinated enough to get the two canoes we have been talking about for some time. We live in Eastern CO in the high plains desert but have a couple of nice quiet fishing lakes around us that will be our training grounds and fishing spots. We are also setting up a trip to go to arkansas on a trip later this fall for fishing and sightseeing as well. The following year we are going to hit BWCA. I am reading up on routes and ideas now. We will outfit ourselves on this since other than the boats we have almost everything else. Neither my wife or I have paddled before except in john boats etc. The two setups I was thinking of are a Wenonah Champlain with a removable third seat and a spirt two both in tuff weave. Do you agree here? I am also very interested in used and other than CL and this site am lost as to where I should look. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I should also mention that I called a couple of shops along the front range around Denver but I don’t think I am going to be able to find a demo of either unit let alone used. Might be buying a bit blind here thus the reason I feel compelled to tap into the combined wisdom of the forum I have been lurking on. Thanks in advance. Travis
Both good choices. You might also consider a Minnensota 3 as well. Take a look at Piragas’ used canoes for some options: https://www.piragis.com/canoes-for-sale/used-canoes-and-kayaks
other than here and Craig’s List ? Mountainbuzz.com classifieds would be a long shot, but that and Denver Post classifieds are all I can think of - you might consider joining Rocky Mountain Canoe Club - used boats appear there from time to time. Not a big market for ultralight lake boats in the West - If you are willing to deal with it, you can usually find used boats from most of the BWCA outfitters - just check their websites, as well as Piragis
Found a used but almost new penobscot 17 in Royalex and am thinking it might be a good compromise on weight compared to the disco bricks that I most normally see on the ads. The kids are young enough now that portaging the boats will be mom and dad exclusively and they will handle gear. Hopefully during that time we can refine our wants before we get a pricier ride.
The royalex Penobscot 17 will definitely be easier to portage than a Discovery. I’ve never paddled either.
Not a bad idea … and when you do go to BWCA you might consider renting a UL canoe from one of the outfitters.
T-Dog your choices are spot on for your needs. The Champlain is a better starter canoe for a family with active children and a load of gear. It is roomy and stable. Compared to the Minnesota II mentioned above it is a bit slower, but a bit roomier and more stable. Not a slow canoe, still a bunch faster than any of the Old Town royalex or Poly-Link hulls; and a lot lighter in any available layup than any tandem Discovery and equal to the Penobscot in Tuffweave and much lighter in Kevlar Flex-core or Kevlar UL. the Spirit II is pretty equal to the Penobscot in Royalex, but quicker by a tad in either composite material. Bill
I’m just outside Denver, and the market is indeed pretty slim most of the time. The best looking boat for sale around here these days is an older Wenonah Jensen 18 Tuffweave in Loveland for only $500, and it looks to be in great shape. While it’s not for sale, I have a Kevlar UL Minnesota II that I’d be happy to take out with you for a demo paddle to see how you like it. I’ve owned and paddled a lot of boats over the years, and I think the Minn II is hard to beat.
I live in an area with summer kid camps and they do wilderness trips
Your kids are old enough to take part in all aspects of the trip
This includes portaging.
Unless you will use both boats more than a few times a year I’d just get one
Unfortunately with teens other stuff takes over
Don’t overthink stability but do be aware that unloaded the Champlain is a sail. Not good on day trips
@ptickner said:
I’m just outside Denver, and the market is indeed pretty slim most of the time. The best looking boat for sale around here these days is an older Wenonah Jensen 18 Tuffweave in Loveland for only $500, and it looks to be in great shape. While it’s not for sale, I have a Kevlar UL Minnesota II that I’d be happy to take out with you for a demo paddle to see how you like it. I’ve owned and paddled a lot of boats over the years, and I think the Minn II is hard to beat.
That is an extremely generous offer and I really might take you up on that! When calving and farrowing starts to slow down for us Ill get back in touch.
@kayamedic said:
I live in an area with summer kid camps and they do wilderness trips
Your kids are old enough to take part in all aspects of the trip
This includes portaging.
Unless you will use both boats more than a few times a year I’d just get oneUnfortunately with teens other stuff takes over
Don’t overthink stability but do be aware that unloaded the Champlain is a sail. Not good on day trips
Nah, duck tape chastity belts and disabling vehicles will keep us doing things together as a family 
Nah, duck tape chastity belts and disabling vehicles will keep us doing things together as a family
Ha! #whateverittakes I have nothing to add regarding boats, but I’m in Arkansas and my fifteen year old daughter and I would be honored to show y’all around when you make it down here. Please let me know.
Just had a Wenonah 17 boundary waters in pristine shape show up used in tuff weave. I know it is a wider more stable boat than the others I had my eyes on. What ya think. Especially compared to the penobscot 17 I had mentioned. It would run us about 600 more to jump into the Boundary waters.
@TDog78 said:
@kayamedic said:
I live in an area with summer kid camps and they do wilderness trips
Your kids are old enough to take part in all aspects of the trip
This includes portaging.
Unless you will use both boats more than a few times a year I’d just get oneUnfortunately with teens other stuff takes over
Don’t overthink stability but do be aware that unloaded the Champlain is a sail. Not good on day trips
Nah, duck tape chastity belts and disabling vehicles will keep us doing things together as a family
Clearly you haven’t succumbed to teens working or worse teens playing year round hockey
They’re too tired to be involved in nefarious pursuits!