I am looking for some information on a canoe I picked up today.I have searched the internet and I can find any info on it.The boat is a 1986 Jensen J-150 it’s 16’6" and made of kevlar.What I really want to know is the weight limit on this boat.
Th
It would help to know the depth at
center, and also the center beam. I would guess you could carry 450, but it might carry more if it is deep enough. Many Jensens are cut kind of low and racy, but there are exceptions, such as the Wenonah Odyssey, a Jensen design. Maybe my speculations will inspire someone to reply who knows about the boat.
Thanks
I am sure there is somebody out there that used to race one of these.It’s a very low and very narrow boat.
Mike
450?
that boat’s not built for 450 pounds of paddler and gear. it’s a racing boat, albeit an older one.
i’ve never paddled one or seen one; but if it’s a Jensen design that was at one time a racer, it would swamp like hell carrying 450 pounds.
if the sides are low and the hull is shaped like a diamond, i wouldn’t carry more than 300 in it on open water, unless you have flotation, covers and major, MAJOR skills – and a set of brass ones.
If the J-150 is in line with the J-180
… and J-200, I am going to speculate that it is a boat for a very light person that comes in at less than 150 pounds. Please note I said “speculate.”
agree
The canunut had a J-180 and I would swamp it all the time (1 was 185 lbs) He had little trouble with it as he was 150 lbs. The J200 I had use of was wonderfully stable…
Well, I knew I could be way off, either
way. But no one had responded, and I wanted to bump the thread to the top so someone who knew about the boat would respond.
check out
The Freedom F1 from Clipper canoes. www.clippercanoes.com
This is the Jensen F1 design and is likely very similar to yours. take a look at the picture and the specs.
Cheers…Joe
number equals design weight
Eric’s memory is still good. the original J-series solos ran from a very petite J-120 to the J-180. The number was the ideal weight for the boat. It had to be tempered with the height of the paddler. A 7’ tall paddler who happened to weigh 120# was going to have a hard time with the J-120 since it was designed for a very small woman paddler. Its original name was the Sheila, for the woman that Jensen built the prototype hull to race.
The sizing made for a great reach to the water for the paddler and better handling in wind since it limited the hull size.
There was also a corresponding K series designed by Dave Kruger that were more stable and a bit more forgiving. They were designed for triathletes who might not be able to develop the skills necessary to paddle the J boats fast.
The J-150 is not going to be slug with a 180# paddler, but it might be a challenge to keep upright and paddle fast for a paddler with big wide shoulders. It is the smallest of the J boat that i felt even remotely close to comfortable paddling. Someone with the balance of a Flying Wallenda maybe, but not me.
Jensen F1
Those with a bit more memory will, I believe, remember the Clipper Freedom boat as Jensen’s Wenonah C-1F (F for Flatwater, as opposed to the C-1W, with W for downriver Whitewater racing). Cool boats, very different from each other. My guess is that the J-150 is somewhat smaller than the F1/C-1F, but, as Joe_O says, a similar design from about the same period. The brain fades…
C1-F vs J Boats
The J Boats marked a different design approach to a solo canoe. They are very narrow hulls with a wing at the legal waterline to make them wide enough for the minimum hull width. This wing is above the actual waterline when paddled in a race. The actual contact patch is much narrower making them very fast and not very stable initially. The wing does add a bit to the secondary stability, but the J-Boats are no where near as stable as the earlier C1-F series. The C1F is much closer to the Advantage than the J series.
I asked someone a few years ago:
after I got my J boat, (the J-190) how on earth they turned them, and the response was: “lean and pray” !
Earlier this year I took it to the local lake to do a lot of “leaning and praying” and ended up doing a lot of swimming.
One of these decades I am going to learn how, and I just might be able to stay with the middle of the pack group in those bouy turn races.
Cheers,
jackL
You don’t lean, the boat does!
Keep your head level and upright as well as your torso.
Say you want to turn left. Do a hard sweep on the right side, heel the boat to the right, come across or switch grip hands (sit and switch) and plant the paddle in the water just in front of your knees with the leading edge a little farther from the boat than the trailing edge…otherwise the paddle blade is parallel to the boat…
And you all thought FreeStyle was for rockered boats.
I described the post for straight keeled boats…while its a FS maneuver, its roots are in North American Touring Technique and buoy turns in racing.
Exactly, but I swim while
all my faster and better racing buds turn !
Cheers,
JackL
Jensen Canoe Question
You could find out yourself by putting your boat in the water and pouring in water until you reach the 6-inch freeboard mark. Just keep track of how many gallons you pour in and then multiply them by 8.3 to get the weight the boat will carry with 6 inches of freeboard.
Dan
I betcha you are trying to keep up
with them…
Heeling a boat to make that turn comes slowly with practice.
Go off by yourself and try little baby heels at first…
If you practice running before you can walk well, you bang your head alot…