Solo Canoe - Weight Forward?

Took my brand new Mad River Adventure 16 out for her innagural trip the other day. I’m paddling from the rear seat mainly because it has that nice, comfortable CSS seat rigged.



One thing that became instantly obvious is a need for some weight up forward so I’m not too much at the mercy of the wind.



Do any of you canoeists have this problem, and what did you do (weight wise) to solve the problem?



Thanks!



Mark

common problem soloing tandems

– Last Updated: Feb-15-07 9:07 AM EST –

You've really got to figure out how to paddle the canoe backwards sitting in the bow seat. Either that or figure another way to get yourself and your weight more toward the center. Adding a kneeling thwart is one way.

Once you do that, you won't have to add a tremendous amount of weight to the bow to bring it into trim. Water is the best since it is weight neutral if you find yourself in water. Rocks and the like are the worst and could actually take your boat down if things got bad.

A wide mouth container for water is best. That way you can easily fill and dump it before and after the trip. I used a lot of different methods but can't really say any of them were supurb. Then I got a solo and abandoned the quest for the perfect ballast container.



Most people…
turn the tanden around,and paddle from the bow seat,but in your case you can’t. Get a girlfriend/wife,or a dog to sit in the bow seat.Some people use jugs of water 3/4 full,as they will flost if you dump.Any other weight will go to the bottom on capsize,unless teathered{but that can be a real problem in moving water}. I am not wanting to sound mean,just asking ,but if you are a solo paddler,why did you buy a tank like that? 81lbs must be a nightmare to load by yourself. Can’t portage the thing,no place to tie anything.For what you paid for that,if you are a solo paddler,you could have bought a good Roylex solo,or usable small tandem.As an occassional flat water paddler it will be Ok.



Happy Paddling billinpa

I know…

– Last Updated: Feb-15-07 8:47 AM EST –

> turn the tanden around,and paddle from the bow seat,but in your case you can't. Get a girlfriend/wife,or a dog to sit in the bow seat.Some people use jugs of water 3/4 full,as they will flost if you dump.Any other weight will go to the bottom on capsize,unless teathered{but that can be a real problem in moving water}. I am not wanting to sound mean,just asking ,but if you are a solo paddler,why did you buy a tank like that? 81lbs must be a nightmare to load by yourself. Can't portage the thing,no place to tie anything.For what you paid for that,if you are a solo paddler,you could have bought a good Roylex solo,or usable small tandem.As an occassional flat water paddler it will be Ok.

Happy Paddling billinpa

Yeah, the Adventure 16 is a bit of a tank, but I wanted to get something big and comfortable enough to occasionally take the wife and grand-daughter out sightseeing (that's how I justified it to the spousal unit). The majority of my paddling will be short distances to flats fish.

Just passed 50 and have a hip replacement, so the MR, with the molded seats and CSS seat backs looked comfortable enough. Plus with all the cup holders, it's like the minivan of canoes!

Milk jugs
I’ve got a bud who carries a string of 10 or so gallon milk jugs in his boat.

Fills them up with water when he needs the weight forward. Empties them when he doesn’t.

Semms to work pretty well for him.

Tommy

A common problem…
with soloing a tandem. Like others said, driving it backwards in the front seat will help a lot. Also, get the biggest dry bag you can find. Fill it with water,seal it and place it in the front of the boat. It helps a lot. When done fishing, you can empty the bag and off you go to lugg the boat onto the car.



Open the following link and click on solo a tandem canoe. I think that will help you.



Good luck!



http://www.redrockstore.com/



Bob.

Markdido
Like billinpa I believe your choice does not suit your need very well but I certainly understand justifucation to the spouse, etc. I started with a tandem (although one I could reverse paddle) for fishing for very similar reasons. What I found was I went alone more than 90% of the time so I ended up purchasing a dedicated solo for fishing (Wenonah Vagabond in royalex - about 42 pounds) and kept the tandem for taking my wife. I suspect that down the road one of two things will happen:

1)You will not use the canoe much due to the weight of loading/unloadng yourself and the hassle with the forward weighing, or

2) You will purchase a solo to meet your needs.



I, like many on this board, started with one canoe and then added more to the fleet and upgraded with each purchase. I was up to 5 in my fleet but now have 3 and (for the moment) am satisfied with my boats. I have the Vagabond for general solo fishing, a Bell magic for solo tripping, and an OT Penobscot for tandem fishing and tripping.



I highly recommend purchasing used and this board’s classified section is a great place to shop!

I have the same canoe
we can’t sit in the bow backwards as the seats are molded to fit the shape of an a*& sitting foward and the seatback flips down on top of it. not very comfortable. we do however, have a middle seat would that work to solo or is it too tough to steer?

5-gal bucket
First about the seats, and I’ll say I don’t know what they look like, that I paddled OT’s ass-mold seats, sitting backwards in the bow seat, and it wasn’t that bad. The Disco I rented to paddle on the Wanganui had em, and I was putting in 8-hour paddling days, and I don’t recall any actual pain.



5-gal buckets are often used by fishermen for various purposes. Fill one or two with water and put them in the bow. They fill quickly. They empty quickly. Good for 30 - 40 pounds of ballast.



~~Chip Walsh, Gambrills, MD

ballast
here is what this cottage canoe looks like.Its cheap but single purpose. It is not very adaptable.

http://www.madrivercanoe.com/zoom_boat.php?img=Adventure_16_tt.jpg



Put your ballast as far forward as you can get it.



I prefer wine bladders because they can be thrown in and they stay put and dont slosh over or tip over. Plus its fun to empty them of wine and then fill them with water.

from the center
I usually solo tandem canoes from the center, kneeling with a bag or something between my knees to sit out. Then you heel the boat onto its side and becomes much more manageable. I wrote about what I do a couple of years ago and it is posted here: http://www.nessmuking.com/solo.htm

A Neat Kneeling Trick
I learned this trick from former P-netter “Memphis”. Take one of those little plastic coolers that’s just the right size for a six-pack of soda (since the plastic is bulky, they are about one foot long and 8 or 9 inches high), and place it on the floor of the boat and put a “boat cushion” on top (a worn-out cushion works best). Sit your butt down on that cooler and put the rest of your weight on your knees (experienced paddlers will recognize this makeshift seat as being just like a pedestal). It sounded like a really crude arrangement to me, but it actually works amazingly well. Try it. You might be surprised. I know I was.

Use the middle seat when solo
The molded-in middle seat is the place to paddle this canoe when going solo. It is wide in the middle, but either of the tandem seats is a worse compromise. With the flip up seat backs on the front and rear seat everyone else’s advice to paddle backwards from the bow seat won’t work.

This canoe does not paddle anywhere as poorly as most would guess by looking at it. Mad River did their homework on the hull below the waterline.

From the middle seat use long relaxed strokes to get the weight moving. Put too much force on the paddle and it will turn away from your paddling side faster than you want it to. Try to make your strokes in the shape of a letter C with the ends away from the canoe. Not a really rounded C, but just enough curve to keep the canoe on course. It will work better than the traditional J stroke when solo.

When taking very small passengers who can’t add much to paddle power, seat yourself in the middle seat and put the small ones at the ends. the narrow seat positions will make reaching the water easier for them and your trim will be much better than with you in the stern. You will still have control of the canoe and they can paddle to help out. Get them small paddles with good grips, like the Sawyer or Fox. Kids tire from lifting the paddles, not from pulling them thru the water.

Have fun,

Bill

Great Info
Thanks for the great info! I’m not the original poster but this will help me with my mad river canoe as it’s the same model.



Thanks again,

Jason

Thanks For All the Replies
Ditto!



Lots of good advice. I will try some of these suggestions this week!