I got out with Scottb on a local river last Sunday. Loading up I put a cooler and dry bag in the front of the Solo Tripper. I put my bucket in the back and called it good. For paddles I had my Mitchell double bent and Bending Branches double blade. As soon as I pushed off I was struggling like hell to make the bow respond and also had to kneel. Scott’s observation was that I was bow heavy. Now mind you, I didn’t have much weight at all! We shifted all the weight to the rear of the canoe and all was good. I did keep the dry bag up front but it was just filled with an extra layer of cloths in case of a dump, which I did of course, and couldn’t have weighed more than 2 pounds.
As soon as I shifted the weight I was able to double blade and single blade from the seat instead of kneeling which I had to do before moving gear.
So, why would any forward weight in this canoe make it such a dog to turn? This is the second jaunt with it where it behaved this way. I’m stumped!! I am thinking that perhaps moving the seat back some may help with this problem but am hesitant to do so.
The boat is F/G at 15’7", 30" wide, a slightly rounded bottom, almost no rocker, weighs in at 44 pds.
Does anyone have any thoughts on why this boat would be so hard to navigate with just minor weight in it? Many thanks for any insight as I want this boat to work for me.
dougd
have no idea
Have the Nomad and its not trim sensitive at all.
Kneeling itself sometimes pitches the bow down.
You might want to move the seat back a little.
I think that may have been done in my Nomad already…about two inches back of initial installation.(Got it from someone else)
You said it!
Almost no rocker is a big control problem. We always want a solo trimmed a little down by the stern, but that is more important without rocker. The hull sets it bow and the stern skids around it if one is bow down at all.
Another thing to check is set placement. The front seat bolt should be ~ 6" aft of center. You can check that by swinging arcs with a tape to the bolt from bow and stern.
That works for trim folk, heavier need the seat edge set further from the bow. It’s a Center of Gravity thing.