Lightweight canoe recommendations for small paddler

I paddle a Bell Wildfire that I love to paddle. It weighs 35 lbs. I easily carry it over my head. I sit and kneel according to what I need to do. It is 14 ft. long.

No, Hornbeck arranged the shipping with someone who delivers boats on the east coast. But they can ship anywhere, Iā€™m sure.

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Thanks! Iā€™m in Florida too so was wondering.


Hornbecks here. My wife has a classic 12 and I have a New Trick 15. My boat is just over 20 lbs. I think to carry a dog that large, you will need a longer boat. Classic is wider and more stable feeling. We paddle a lot with Rhode Island Canoe and Kayak Assoc., and there a lot of the smaller ā€œNessmuckā€ style boats replacing kayaks and canoes and a lot of them come with dogs. More in the 30-40 pound range, though. Ours is 18 lbs., and she does load the bow down noticeably, increasing weathercocking. Her habit of jumping onto the gunnels to bark and the waves is also problematic. Hope your pup is a bit more mellow.

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Not sure exactly how light weight ur looking for or what you plan on paddling but if u find an OT Appalachian for $800, jump on it. 67lbs. I have one and love it being a good all around boat. My lower back is fused and I also have DDG in my neck. I found mine on Craigslist a year ago for $800. Came with bow and stern cages already installed as well as the bags. Also had skid plates.

Thank you! This is super helpful information. I wouldnā€™t call my dog mellow, but he does what I ask of him. Given that your dog weighs down the bow of your canoe, my dog is definitely too big for that boat! When I take him out on my SUP I have to stay far on the back to counterbalance him. I think a lightweight canoe is probably not going to work for us. Drat.

67 lbs is not lightweight in my world! Not even close. :laughing:

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Just a suggestion not knowing the extent of your injury and capabilities due to it.

I thank you for the suggestion, and Iā€™m glad you are happy with your canoe, but I honestly canā€™t imagine anyone would consider 67 lbs to be remotely lightweight.

My Esquif Canyon whitewater boat is 16.5ā€™ weighing 75lbs. Still lighter than most plastic type canoes.

Just to be clear, the weight of the canoe doesnā€™t influence how much the dog would sink its bow. That is based solely on the size/shape of the hull in the water. A longer/wider canoe would help compensate for the dog, the hull weight is not a factor.

A 75-pound dog will sink the bow of a given canoe the same amount, whether the canoe weighs 18 pounds or 100 pounds. The dogā€™s weight is compensated solely by displaced water, which has nothing to do with the hull weight.

Some canoes list a characteristic called ā€˜weight to increase draft by one inchā€™ or something similar. Some list the waterline (wl) depth (i.e. draft) for given loads. For example, the Placid Boatworks Spitfire 13 is listed as having a 3" draft with 200 pounds on board, it increases to 4" with 280 pounds. Your dog would sink it about one inch overall, but if heā€™s in the bow, it will sink more in the bow, less in the stern, which may actually rise a little. The longer/narrower Rapidfire carries 210 and 320 respectively, i.e. the extra inch of draft supports 110 additional pounds instead of 80.

Heavier canoes accelerate slowly, are more work to maneuver and more difficult to handle on land. The older you get, the more important lighter becomes, Iā€™m a believer in buying the lightest you can afford.

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I have an older Curtis Solo Tripper that is 15ā€™ 8" Kevlar and S-glass, that weights 36 pounds with an extra layer for heavy use. My 40 pound dog Maggie and I did fine with it.

A Wenonah Solo Plus ultralight is 40 pounds for sale in Raleigh, NC
Wenonah SoloPlus Ultralight Canoe - boats - by owner - marine sale (craigslist.org)

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Itā€™s only going to be lighter than SP3 or rotomolded. Not going to be close with Royalex, Royalite, T-Formex. My Dagger Reflection 16-4 is 62 pounds.

I and others mentioned Hornbeck earlier. On their site they have a table showing the various models. For example, a mid volume 12ā€™ Classic has a capacity of 275 lbs and weighs only 18 lbs. You can bigger or smaller too. If you need to you can balance trim with a little ballast behind you. Dog dish, treats, you know, the essentials. I know other brands make lightweight Kevlar canoes and would have to think a suitable very light boat would work.

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I donā€™t know much about canoes. I have a 16ā€™, 80lbs FG behemoth that has been sitting up at my Maine camp for years unused. Itā€™s just gotten too heavy for me to want wrestle with by myself.

I do have a Hornbeck 12ā€™ New Tricks that is easy and a joy to use (and car top). I can easily grab the (18 lbs) by the gunwale with one hand and carry my fishing rods and tackle box in the other hand and portage without stopping the 200 plus yards from car to the launch of favorite bass pond.

Itā€™s got way more capacity than for my 150 lbs. I like sitting inside and paddling with a double blade paddle. My kayaking skills carry over easily to this canoe.

sing

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Wenonah Wee Lassie here, 16 pounds Redirecting...

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Great info from you and others here. Thank you. Curious what length paddle you use in your Hornbeck, and how tall are you? No one claimed the nice low angle paddle I found this Summer and it might be long enough, but might not. I wish Werner made a paddle extension for their 2 piece paddles. I wonder if I could do it by cutting up another one I have here.

Anyway, I have been back on the Hornbeck site. My weight combined with my dogā€™s is 185 lbs so the only real issue is weight distribution. They offer a dog package, which includes a movable seat and a few other goodies. I am going to give them a call to discuss it all.

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I am 5ā€™3" . I went to demo the canoe on their onsite pond and brought along my 215 cm touring paddle. I am usually a ā€œhigh angleā€ paddler since most of the time, I am sprinting the surf zone. If was a pretty windy, fall day. No problem handling the New Trickster, but I was getting pretty wet from the high angle paddle.

One of Hornbeckā€™s son was handling my demo at the pond. After finishing up my demo, Peter Hornbeck came over (he had been with another customer) and asked about the length of my paddle. I told him that I am generally a high angle kayak paddler. He suggested that I might want to try a longer paddle, that I would get less wet and can take a more ā€œrelaxedā€ lower angle paddling experience.

After several months of paddling the Hornbeck, I wondered about getting a longer paddle. I ended up getting a 240 Werner to use with Hornbeck. I donā€™t get dripped on as much (but still doā€¦ Itā€™s ā€œwet sportā€ afterall!). But, I did settle into a lower angle stroke and got more into adopting a relaxed paddling style (what I admittedly used to wryly characterized as ā€œlily dippingā€ sometimes) with the Hornbeck. This fits well the venues for which I use the Hornbeck ā€“ which is lily dipping, relaxing, under the guise of fishing ponds and small lakes. :slight_smile:

sing

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Sing I looked at the list of certified Lilly Dippers.
You arenā€™t there.

Thank you. We are near the same height. Iā€™m 5ā€™5" but have a 33" inseam so my upper body is short short. I am looking at their Classic for more stability with my dog, so Iā€™d need an even longer paddle. Good info for the back of my mind. I think a double bladed paddle would be easier to use with my dog, even though I enjoy single bladed paddles a lot. I expect he will often be right between my legs - heā€™s a big velcro dog.

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