Just browsing canoes and noticed something peculiar about the OT Next. The dimensions are 13’ long, 29" wide, and 11.5" tall, strangely similar to the average sized pirogue. They claim the Next is “totally fresh”, but to me it appears the couple-hundred year old shallow low seated dugout canoe concept from the Cajuns is catching the mainstream. I’ve seen pirogue style boats called “double-paddle canoes” on several boat building websites/forums, but it’s interesting to see a manufacturer outside of Lousiana just recently starting to make this style of boat… unless I am missing something.
I couldn’t find a pirogue to buy in my area without building one, maybe the Next is the next best thing? The next pun I tell will be better… oh, it wasn’t.
Its OT’s interpretation of the pack canoe which has been around the Adirondacks for 140 years. Pack canoes are paddled generally with double bladed paddles.
Placid Boatworks, Slipstream, Hornbeck,Hemlock, Swift, Adirondack all have been making pack canoes for many years…Savage River and Wenonah have joined in too
Traditionally they were made of lapstrake construction or cedar strips in later years.
Ah yes, I forgot I’ve read about those, like the canoe George Washington Sears used. So it’s just fresh to Old Town’s lineup then. Well, now I want one of these too… and here I was thinking canoeing was going to be less expensive than owning a sailboat. Thanks a lot haha.
I think the Next is an important boat. Most pack canoes are flared as the Ruston originals were lap strake. Placid was the first builder to make tumblehomed pack canoes, allowing use of shorter paddles and more efficient , more vertical, forward strokes. Swift is introducing tumblehomed pack boats as is Mad River, and now Old Town legitimizes the design concept in a most unpackable material. [Mad River, Placid and Swift are all near twenty pounds, Old Town over 50.] Swifts and the Mad River should both be at Canoecopia this weekend for inspection.
@CEWilson said:
I think the Next is an important boat. Most pack canoes are flared as the Ruston originals were lap strake. Placid was the first builder to make tumblehomed pack canoes, allowing use of shorter paddles and more efficient , more vertical, forward strokes. Swift is introducing tumblehomed pack boats as is Mad River, and now Old Town legitimizes the design concept in a most unpackable material. [Mad River, Placid and Swift are all near twenty pounds, Old Town over 50.] Swifts and the Mad River should both be at Canoecopia this weekend for inspection.
What is and who makes the “Next”—seakayaker that is gimped up and looking for boats with no deck and cockpit—it’s an issue.
The Next would be ideal for river floaters seeking a double blade boat with a heavy seat and high back… Lots of Ozark paddlers would fit the description and the Next fill the bill… Sea kayakers are not the market.
Pirogues I envision as paddled standing or best poled in the bayous… there is the same sort of craft in New Brunswick among clammers… No surprise both Acadian.
@Yanoer said:
The picture that planc provided reflects my perception of a pirogue - flat bottomed.
Yes I agree. I have one friend from bayou country that had one he made, and another that had made 2 which I sat in the bottom and paddled with a short straight blade.
