one that you can paddle on oceans, big swells. something that’s the canoe equivalent to the surf ski. don’t say outrigger. i know about those and have owned and raced a solo. they’re too assymetric. you always lean to the right, never the left. i’d like a C1-style fast boat with a deck, rocker and a rudder that is also self-rescuing. anyone know where i can find such a boat?
interesting but
hmmm…
notice no one responded to your post?
my dream canoe is also somewhat weird. i want a 15 footer with a hull almost IDENTICAL with the old bell wildfire (now the placid wildfire).
but I want it decked, preferably in teak or some other fantastic wood, with bulkheads and matching hatch covers. the cockpit would be open enough for easy entry and have a pedestal seat for kneeling
thats it. shucks…
glenn
Can you say kayak?
cheers, and Marry christmas,
Jack L
Kruger seawind Standard
The Kruger Seawind standard may be what your looking for. Its pretty fast for a Canoe, measuring at 17’ X 28" wide. pretty narrow for a Traditional canoe. Probally has good speed. Its very capable in rough water, has a rudder, deck, and it can hold alo of gear/weight. check it out-
http://www.krugercanoes.com/prod01.htm
Pretty awesome canoe- if your welling to spend 4 grand. Looks like it might be worth the money though.
Deck/ Decked Starfire
– Last Updated: Dec-22-07 6:55 PM EST –
Adding a deck shouldn't be too hard if you don't care how pretty it is. You could do skin-on-frame, strip, stitch & glue, or composite construction.
http://www.epoxyworks.com/16/index16.html
The aticle on "Modern decked sailing canoes" describes adding a composite deck to a Bell Starfire.
The bigger trick…
…would be finding a Bell Starfire. The molds went to Placid years ago, but even they don’t currently build it.
oh, also check the
Sawyer Loon
don’t want a kayak
done that and just plain don’t like it.
not even close
i know about all these other canoes: kruger, sawyer loon, decked bells with sailing rigs. i know that canoe isn’t out there. i know i’ll have to build it. just looking for ideas. surely i’m not the only one who wants to paddle a canoe fast on big water.
You know about them, but…
have you paddled them?
I know, the Sawyer Loon isn’t near as fast as a J-boat, but it’s likely more sea worthy. I’m just speculating about that, because I havn’t paddled a J-boat, but I know of them.
I was clocked by GPS at 6 mph in a sprint in the Loon last summer and I’m relatively technically and physically weak compared to many of you paddlers. I know that 6 mph isn’t very fast.
The waterline width is probably only about 25" with my 150 lbs.
When the water thaws out, I’m going to try padding the seat in my new ruddered QCC Q400X a couple inches and trying the single bent shaft in it. I don’t have a short enough bent shaft to try with the stock seat. My shortest bent shaft is 47.75".
I look forward to seeing what you end up building.
It doesn’t exist
I’ve been dreaming of something like for a few years now. A nice solo canoe hull with a full deck like a whitewater C1 as well as bulkheads and hatches like a sea kayak. Probably cut the shear way down to reduce windage too.
Based on reputation and my own experience I’d look to the Bell Magic or Hemlock Peregrine for the hull. The Placid Rapidfire is another thought though I’ll guess I’m looking for a bit more beam since I want to be a good 9" off the floor.
I asked Dave Curtis if he would deck a Peregrine for me but he was not interested. Not worth creating a mold for a market of one. He did suggest there was a person who could. I know Ron Sell does that with Bells. I’d think he would do it with a Hemlock. I’d expect it to cost some $$.
I think the self rescue part might be tricky. Rolling a whitewater C1 requires kneeling and a snug fit. Being able to get out and stretch from time to time is awful nice. The upside is if you commit to Kneeling you could bring the forward bulkhead back and really reduce the cockpit volume. That would be nice in a re-enter and roll situation.
A paddlefloat type rescue depends somewhat on the length of the double bladed stick. IMO you would need more boyancy than you get with a standard float to do that with a single blade.
of the decked canoes
the loon is probably the closest to what i’m looking for.
another buyer
Make that “a market of two.” I’d buy a low-shear, decked Hemlock.
I’ve been dreaming and searching, too, and I agree that a long, skinny, decked solo canoe doesn’t exist. I haven’t been able to paddle a Bell Rob Roy from a kneeling seat, but I guess that’s the closest thing to my specs out there. I’m thinking of designing and building my own, but it would be a lot of work with a high probability of failure.
I’ve also thought of buying a 13-foot slalom canoe to see how I like a narrow boat, and I’ve even though of taking a hacksaw to my RapidFire, then getting out the epoxy and fiberglass to make a deck. So you see I’m desperate. I would be fine with an ugly boat.
My dream specs: burden of 180 to 250 pounds plus boat weight; 26 inches wide max, with a 22-inch waterline at 220 pounds plus boat weight; 16 feet long; 10 inches deep from the bow back to the cockpit, deeper cockpit, a little shaller aft; lots of flare, with lots of space for my big feet; 3 inches of continuous, symmetrical rocker, plus an adjustable skeg; flattish panel in the side (like on the WildFire) to allow shortening the boat by heeling; long cockpit opening (yet unquantified); option to use bags instead of bulkheads; height-adjustable seat for varying stability and allowing both sitting and kneeling; foot board or foot braces; and (since I’m dreaming) an indented deck where the wing paddle would hit. No idea if these specs are even self-consistent or realizable in composites.
Incidentally, TommyC1, I paddle my RapidFire kneeling on a cane seat that’s 8 inches off the bottom at the front and 10 inches off the bottom at the back, if I remember the heights correctly. It felt a little dicey at first, but I learned to trust the flare of the sides, and now I’m quite comfortable in two-foot (regular) waves. I paddle it on the lower Hudson all the time. Highly recommended. But no deck.
– Mark
placid
i’d like to try one bagged out with a seat about 7 or 8 inches off the hull with a single blade.
and, hey, looks like more folks want a similar canoe than first thought.
wouldn’t a good spray deck
– Last Updated: Dec-29-07 4:01 AM EST –
meet your needs, on one of these canoes that you like?
otherwise, find a sea kayak design that meets your needs, and make it a C boat in the cockpit just like ww paddlers do with river yaks. you could take out the bulkhead and move it forward the whole shootin match.
Sea Kayak to C1 Conversion
I tried that with a CD Solstice. The Solstice is fairly beamy at 24" and feels to me to be super stable (as a kayak).
I took out the seat and put in a saddle from a GyraMax C1. Then I paddled it on the very quiet Sudbury river in Lincoln, Mass.
It was very tender, no suprise when you raise the CG 5"+. I could keep it upright but it required constant attention.
It was very uncomfortable. The Solstice has a round cross section which didn’t allow me to spread or even move my knees at all. I was glad to be on a river with plenty of places to get out and stretch.
In hind site that was not the best boat to try to convert. Something with a flatter bottom, maybe more chine so that I could get my knees spread, would be better.
the mold was damaged
in transit but I believe it has been fixed and PBW is ready to build
Wenonah Odyssey
or Souris River Wilderness. The former a little faster.
Is the Atlantic Ocean or Lake Superior big enough?
These boats require a lot of gear though. The Wenonah is a little lacking in stability when empty; it floats high…We flipped in the middle of Long Island Sound…
Now I have a RapidFire and its doing well off the Maine coast.
Maybe a QCC 400X