Looking for information on a Mike Galt Lotus Dandy canoe. Specifications and how it paddles.
Dandy[s]
– Last Updated: Feb-08-09 8:06 PM EST –
The Dandy was Mike Galt's first successful solo Lotus design; ~1985. It was also made by Pat Moore during one of his iterations in Indy, mostly w/ aluminum rails.
It is 13'9" by a constant flared 27.5 molded, 29 w/ outwales. It seems overwide, causing difficulty in stacking hands across the rail, and, featuring Mike's pinched stern shape, is bog slow. The straight keel is another issue, but Dandy lifts it's stems when heeled near the rail.
A great item for one's sport solo collection, it has been surpassed in performance by many more recent designs from Sawyer, Curtis, BlackHawk, Bell, WeNoNah and Pb, in chronological order.
But it was the first, and beautifully made by Mike Galt, his own self, who abandoned us in 03.
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Subject: Lotus Canoes in the 14 foot range
Posted by: Yanoer
Date: 1/22/09
Responses: 29
BOB
Beautiful
as all Mike’s boats were/are. Particularly pleasing shape viewed from the seat, but as CEW says, pretty slow, pretty wide for a solo. If your usage will be day paddling with no regard to distance covered, the elegance of the design is worth enjoying. Aesthetics are worth a lot…at least to me. And it might be nice to have a piece of solo history.
lotus dandy
The Dandy dates from earlier in the 80’s maybe even late '70’s In the summer of '83 the Coast Guard got after Mike and made him put individual serial numbers on all his canoes. The early canoe’s wood trim was hand crafted by Mike of Brazilian Pirana Pine. Wet sanding with Watco brings out the true beauty of the trim. Mike gets all the credit, but he was bankrolled by a partner, Courtney?, who worked as a brew-master at Anheiser-Busch, and provided all the cash while Mike lost money on every boat he made.