Camper is lighter than the Tripper
It also has less capacity and less free board. The Tripper gives a little dryer ride on rough days. it takes waves a bit more graciously with a sharper entry and added rocker. Still the Camper is a nice paddling boat and takes a fair load. The Tripper needs to be loaded a little , it is made to trip after all ! The Camper is just one of those boats that everyone feels comfortable in, toss it in any pond or reasonable river situation and it does the job. It does take a little stern paddler skill to keep on track well but you learn that fast enough and actually it’s very easy to counter a sloppy bow paddler in the camper… It is flat bottomed with a little rocker added though and leaning gains you just about nothing. It’s very forgiving in river currents, it will drift over just about any structure but is not a class 3 boat at all. The Tripper fills those gaps and carries more but heavier to load.
Pros and cons
Yeah it’s a very hard choice. I like the extra weight cap of the traveler but it’s only by 200 or so lbs. the 21 pound weight dif can make a huge dif in car topping it. The traveler has everything needed like paddles jackets etc. but the camper is newer and nicer and it has Rolodex for sure.
Both have pros and cons.
Will they be about the same in the water?
Myself and my wife are pretty heavyset so there will probably be a pretty big amount of weight needed. I am not sure how much they are going to want to go though. I wonder if the camper would hold all of us ok.
If they don’t end up liking it then the solo aspect of the camper also benefits me.
Of
the three, I would avoid the squareback and the delaminating one.
Any squareback canoe will move well, with a motor but they are not as good with paddles.
Anything that is falling apart, I tend to avoid, UNLESS I am intimately familier with how to put it back together.
SO, imho, the 17’ OT.
I happen to have a Disc. 169 and what I can tell you is that the weight 3’s are high. I have tripped in that boat with another guy who runs about 250 also with gear for 5 days. That is enough even at 2/3 the weight that it is listed for. I have put kids in it and pushed them into the lake and they made it go just fine. I havent tried soloing it for any lenght of time but plan on it in about a week or so if weather permits.
Disco 169 vs Camper and Tripper
The 169 I paddled was a slug in the water by comparison. It was heavier than either other boat first off but too, this particular one oil canned badly and that just made it a bear to turn as it effectively took out all rocker and shallow arch. I’ve seen many Disco boats, including the 169 permanently oil canned sitting in the rental racks. I wanted to like the 169 because at the time I was much younger and felt it would make a good less expensive substitute for a Tripper even knowing the extra weight was there. I rented that one twice, no go. Rented a Camper and later that year went right to Old Town and bought the one we have now. No comparison, though the 169 has more capacity.
And I’m not knocking the posters Disco 169 in this thread but my experience is something to look out for in that model is the point. His may not oil can and paddle fine. It’s still heavy at about 90 lb.
Mad RIver Explorer RX
If you ever see one come up it’s a great paddling boat. It does everything well, 16 ft, good load capacity, tracks , steers, lower drag than a Camper in the wind. Just a good paddling experience.
Penobscot 17 in Royalex is another. Just lower the seats from stock height a bit. Huge load capacity, excellent tracking, low resistance boat. Takes rough water but not much rocker so you need to lean it a bit to steer quickly, works fine. About the same weight as a Tripper. those are my four favorite RX boats. Tripper, Pen, Explorer and Camper.
grub
no worries, I wasnt comparing the disc to the tripper in anything except size and capacity for use as a family boat.
Like I said, of the three he is looking at, I would get the tripper. One is broke, one is a squareback, the other is the tripper.
grub
I’m sure that a 169 in better shape than the one I paddled is much better on the water. And yes it should be a decent family boat. Actually I was making the comparison , I know you were not! Any poly boat or even royalex should not be stored all summer long in direct sun. That’s the real message I should deliver. The rental places often do just about that and it kills the hull bottom shape. I’ve even seen 158s caved in. So its not solely a 169 thing. I mean caved in so bad they aren’t worth renting, not from an evaluation standpoint anyway.
capacity is probably not an issue
As someone mentioned above, both boats will almost certainly have excess capacity regardless.
Between the Tripper and the Camper, I’d say it would come down to your intended use. If you’re going to mostly go on long excursions with a lot of gear and travel a good distance, then the Tripper is probably the better choice, in spite of the weight. If you’re just doing mostly day trips, fishing and sight seeing and not planning on traveling far, then I’d go with the Camper.
Keep in mind, that extra 20+ pounds can be a burden. 80 pounds is a lot of boat. Heck, sometimes 60 pounds is a lot of boat. If it’s so heavy that you hate to get it out you may be less likely to use it and get less out of your investment.
Good luck. I hope you let us know what you get.
too old
Buy a used boat no more than 10 years old.
Look for a Wenonah in tuffweave.
sometimes
Sure, newer is often better, but a lot depends on how well it’s been cared for.
I’ve seen 25 year old boats that have been properly cared for and stored inside their whole lives in way better shape than 5 year old boats banged around and left to sit on out in the sun.
10-year limit is totally unreasonable
Two of my composite boats boats are ten years old, and are still in practically new condition. I have zero worry that they aren't durable enough anymore. I've seen composite boats more than three-times that old that seemed to be as durable as new, certainly durable enough for almost anybody, and fiberglass powerboats can be found anywhere that are in good shape and much older than that. I hear that Royalex gets brittle eventually, but even that's usually no problem for people not bashing rocks. My brother's Royalex Blue Hole still provides good service, can still take a pretty good hit, and he bought it in 1980.
Too old
Totally depends how it was taken care of. I bought a fiberglass canoe built by Nature Bound back in the 80’s that the owner still has in good shape ( sold a few years later because it had an actual keel in it and I don’t like keels, then in 96 bought my Camper and a Penobscot 17 a year or two after that). My boats have always been stored in the shade outdoors. If I had no shade on my property I would just loosely tarp them over.
My Camper hull is almost as good as new, got a couple wrinkles from river use and one small 1/8 inch outer skin puncture I put in it myself from a bad clamp job with the tie downs. A little rtv seals that right up. 303 once a year if I think of it or haven’t run out and good to go. It’s been a great canoe, we kept it over the Penobscot because it was more a do everything canoe. More universal, as much as I liked the Penobscot I sold it and got 3/4 of my money back .
Compared to a couple different Coleman canoes I’ve paddled the Camper is a dream boat, believe me. I’ve paddled Coleman’s Ram X 15, and some older rental one, they are functional for little money but they are draggy boats. You get a work out . But even they will get you on the water, no good in a river cause of their keels etc.
I have an OT Penobscot 16…
that is 14 years old and is still going strong. I’ve added kevlar strips on the ends, but it still gets paddled 4 or 5 times a week, spends months on the rack on my truck, and has been paddled thousands of miles.
just wondering
did you get one of them?
Agree about 10 year nonsense
Thats like saying “Don’t buy a house over 5 years old” but even worse because a house actually has many more variables and biuld quality. A known quality made canoe thats well cared for and properly stored will last indefinately and be as good a paddling canoe as it was brand new. Really deplore blanket statements like that. My 1985 Old Town Columbia and 1993 Old Town Northern Light are literally like new because of proper care.