Old Town Dirigo 120 or Camden 120

Advice
#1

Hello



So my wife and I gave our kids Vapor 10s for their birthday (son 9 and daughter 7). They love them and now want to go several times a week to the lake. My initial plan was to upgrade the canoe to a better one but the wife decided she would rather be a kayaker.



So been looking at a couple different kayaks and was wondering what the real world differences were in these 2 kayaks, Dirigo and Camden? Also looking at the wilderness Pungo 12 or the Perception 12 footer. Leaning more towards the Old Town though because my family has had one thing or another of theirs since I was a kid.



Once the kids get better at control, turning, and paddling we will be spending a lot more time on rivers.



I myself am kicking around the idea of a solo canoe like a Fusion or Next.



Thanks for the help

#2

I like the Dirigos.

– Last Updated: Jul-07-15 7:07 PM EST –

We enjoy our Dirigos. We are a family of 4, have a couple of Dirigo kayaks in the line up. We have a Dirigo 120 and a Dirigo 109. I like them both real well. I don't have any experience with the camden.

They are stable and user friendly. Good storage and comfortable. We also have an Old Town Rush kayak. My 13 year old daughter uses it now. My son is 18 and uses the 109
and likes it.

We have a sit on top, yak board, use it mainly for surfing at the beach but take it out on the river if we need the extra boat. We have a couple of tandem canoes for times when we are all out as well.

I too would consider a solo canoe, thought about that myself and I think that is a good option to keep open. I don't know anything about the Next. Looks nice though.

Did you look through the reviews on this site? May be helpful and give you some insight. Here is the link; http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1555

You can choose other makes and boats in the reviews and check them all out. http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/

Good luck.

#3

I
had a Dirego 12’ for a summer and loved it. Very high quality build, comfortable seat, paddled very well with good glide and tracking, and big cockpit for easy in/out access. I went to a 16’ sit inside, but wish I had kept the Dirego too.