I think I'm buying a Canoe...

I’ve just suffered a traumatic experience with my computer (lost my whole life of data) do to a freak incidence. makes me realize I should be doing something fun,useful and non-stressful rather than collecting music and other crap that’s prone to nuking. I have about $600CDN to buy a Canoe with…I’m open to suggestions. I’m just under 6ft, 30" inseam and 300+lbs and my primary paddling partner is my lil bro, just over 6ft, 32" inseam and 185lbs. current target is the Mad River Adventure 16, being I can get it for $589 at Coast Mountain Sports.



what say have you? thank you for your thoughts!

recent thread on the Mad River Adventure
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=548702

I just bought an OT,

– Last Updated: Oct-01-06 7:03 AM EST –

Lots of brands. Here are the reviews for OT. Check out the other brand reviews. http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showCanoes.html?manf=116

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1316

camvan
recently you were considering getting a kayak



is this in addition too?



or do you need an intervention?



crossed over to the dark side?

Dark side?
Sorry, but canoes are undecked and full of light.



Kayaks, with only the butthole and an access hatch are much darker with their insides filled with spiders and other unseen creepy things living in the pointy ends.



Far from being on the dark side, the man is looking at the light side.



With age comes wisdom.

check out the used equipment on
line, on The Mountain Equipment Coop and Aquabatics website. Mountain Equipment is all accross Canada but lots of BC paddlers. Aquabatics has mainly Alta paddlers but costs for shipment is not too bad i would think since your in the interior. I recommend Dan Foss Couriers. Since we are enterring the down side of the year for paddlers a lot of stuff should be on the market.

with age comes wisdom.
with age comes wisdom.



and hair in your ears :slight_smile:



Loves his kayak :slight_smile:

I just wanna be on the water…
and it’s gonna be a bit before I can get a yak that fits my current girth. was out on Paul Lake just for fun back on Friday with my brother in a friends Fiberglass canoe…I think I just want to have a boat, better than sitting at my PC during the day. night time is when we do astronomy :wink:

thanks Kanaka…
just went to those sites to peer around and see what’s what. the only one that stands out is a 16’ Royalex Mad River canoe for $850…which unfortunately is $150 more than I can reasonably expect to afford. of course, as you mentioned, being the off season now, stuff might be coming on…I’ll watch carefully :slight_smile:

wisdom and ear hair
It’s a no brainer for me.



I’d gladly accept hair ear in exchange for wisdom.



And when you get older you’ll probably be giving up your buttboat for something that’s kinder and gentler to your aging body.



Paddle on!

The important thing
I know many will tell you to save for the right boat and that makes a lot of sense if you already have access to a boat. If not then worry more about getting a decent boat you can use for the next couple of years to get on the water.



Odds are you’ll need a second boat to lend to friends to use anyway.



I’ve hears a lot of talk about how bad the old grummans were and how sorry the pelicans and colemans are. However I’ve had a lot of fun in all these barges and there is not one single trip I’d have given up if I had to do it in a barge all over again.



I hope you can get on the water soon.

I haven’t paddled one, but …

– Last Updated: Oct-02-06 12:54 AM EST –

... in many ways it's not even a "real" canoe, but more of a recreational tandem kayak with taller seats (the construction method is the same). It's a lot heavier than it oughta be and has less interior space than it oughta have for a boat of such dimensions. I understand that price is a concern, and if it were my money, I'd look for a used canoe. If you can get your hands on a Royalex Old Town (discernable from a plastic Old Town by the fact that it isn't severely warped), that'd be a good start, and I'd even considere a used aluminum canoe, preferably a Grumman (the best-built of the aluminum canoe brands). Aluminum is usually looked down on these days, but a good aluminum canoe will serve you well for average purposes, and it needs no special care. Still, if the Adventure is the boat you get and it lets you get out on the water, then have no regrets and make the most of it. You will still have fun.

Aluminum

– Last Updated: Oct-02-06 1:35 AM EST –

Yes, for your budget I think an aluminum would serve you well for quite some time. Paddled one for some 40 years myself. The only reason I switched was for weight. I'm a wuss.

But probably go for a 17 footer.

you can tell a couple of 77 year olds I
know to give up their butt boats. One is an instructor and can roll with the best. Then, there’s the 80+ year old I met the other day paddling an old Phoenix fiberglass white water kayak. Paddles it in races.

thanks for all your thoughts!
I will keep your thoughts in mind…need to hit up the most recent buy & sell to see what’s inside it. there was a word of advice in a magazine I read recently…it goes like this: ‘don’t borrow anything unless the owner is coming with you’. that may be a bit of a misquote (hence the ’ ’ ) but it gets the point across. I would rather own the barge I’m in than borrow one. you would not believe how much Murphy loves me :frowning:



that aside, the Adventure 16’s weight is decent and it has a heavy load capacity (blows away all the Coleman’s) and the price is right. if I see an aluminum up for grabs in my range, I’ll consider it. I’ve never heard of Grumman, but for the jet fighter…so I need to look that up.



there was also another adage I read…better to be on the water, than not. I just wanna get out there! unfortunately, I can’t afford much :frowning:



again, thanks guys, I appreciate your words :slight_smile:

A side-note on Grumman
Since you say you’ve never heard of Grumman canoes, here is the most basic info about them. After World War II, the need for fighter aircraft came to an end, and the Grumman company needed to find new things to make out of aluminum to keep themselves afloat. Not only did they make aluminum canoes for many years, they also made the bodies for delivery trucks (it used to be common to see a big aluminum van body with the Grumman logo on the side, mounted on a GMC truck frame). Nowadays, the Grumman canoe-making business is owned by the Marathon Boat Company, but the canoes still bear the Grumman name.

exceptions and rules
I’m always amused when exceptions to something are thrown up as proof that a statement is untrue – an example of simple black 'n white thinking run amuck.



On those instances when I paddle with kayakers I’m always bemused at the takeout point as the older kayakers wiggle and squirm out of their boats moaning and groaning all the while and once out of their plastic fantastics they sit on the ground moaning with pleasure as they rub body parts to relieve cramps and restore circulation to their tortured appendages. We canoers usually stand around them and look down on them in bemused amazement.





They then grumble about how heavy their boats are and are usually amazed during the pack-the-boats to-the-cars stage when they discover that canoes are generally much lighter and easier to carry than their beloved kayaks.



And yes, I too know old kayakers who refuse to give up something they love. They exist and they are exceptions and their existence doesn’t prove anything beyond their existence.


OT 174, 169
When I got into canoeing I started out with an OT 176 and an OT 169. Both canoes were heavy yet they served me well. Considering you and brother are both little people, I would choose the 17 ft length over the sixteen ft length; it will give you a bit more stability. I purchased one canoe for $400 US and the other one for $450 US. I am running rivers with rapids I therefore would not consider aluminum canoes. If you are going to paddle lakes and gentle rivers an aluminum canoe would work fine. I have seen good Rx canoes for a low as $550 US but they are hard to find. Many outfitters try to sell off their canoe fleet in the fall sometime one can find some great deals. I used my OT canoes for a couple of years and then sold them for the same price I bought them for. Now that I am a canoeing junky, my canoe fleet (6) consists of canoes designed for specific usages having various haul shapes and materials. Good luck in your search and have fun canoeing but be careful it can be addicting.

I’m a Grumman kind of guy, too
This is as maintenance free as it gets. There’s always used Grummans around in your price range.



Look for a 13 or 14 footer.

17’+++++
Yep, I rival your size and weight and all I can recommend is that your go to a 17’ version especially when your partner is getting close to 200#. If you have any gear at all, your pushing the limits. Maybe even 17’-6"… IMHO