Way off Topic- Canoes

[Bigahh]

Every other year on average I hunt the state of Montana with my brother who lives there. We love to float hunt, and Fish the Missouri river with boats, smaller flat bottom boats for a week or more at a time. I am due this fall for another deer tag. I am interested in a Canoe, or better yet a Scanoe. Anyone have experience with these? How much gear will they hold compared to a small flat bottomed boat? Would they be stable enough for a beginner? I think a Scanoe will hold a small motor for emergency reasons. Never tried them. My thinking is no trailer to haul, and easy to carry to and from water. My only worry is I have no experience riding in one, and do not want any fear of tipping one over from lack of experience. My thoughts are each guy can have his own to haul gear, and his deer.

[Blaine]

Get thee to the OldTown site and peruse........

[Hobie]

I'm as traditional about boats as I am guns but somehow plastic canoes don't seem so bad. Your scanoe would seem to be more stable than the average canoe. Kinda like a new take on the freighter canoe. Paddling's reviews seem pretty good.

[nemhed]

Looks like a sturdy little beast, little on the heavy side to car top, plenty of beam, and 950 lbs weight limit. That ought to be plenty of boat for you, your gear and a deer (well not the big monsters like I shoot but a normal deer )

[alnitak]

The scanoes are great in flat water, but you will need a motor of some kind in any moving water (unless you are constantly moving downstream). They are too heavy for one person to effectively paddle against a current. Pluses -- hold a lot of equipment and people, room, stability (you can stand up in them to fly fish), easy to attach a motor. Minuses -- not an efficient paddler (lines and drag aren't as good as a standard canoe), not "agile", heavy, and...uh...heavy. You will need a canoe cart to move it around or a buddy or two. Not really for SUV/car top, unless you have heavy-duty rails (mine will take up to 150 lb load). However, a nice compact fishing platform for one person with a 3-4hp motor.

[DerekR]

+1 on the Scanoe. I use one quite a bit on Tenneessee streams and rivers. They are not great to paddle alone. I usually mount an electric trolling motor to the back on the larger and swifter streams, especially if a weak paddler is manning the front! They do hold a lot of gear and are almost as stable as a Jon Boat. With the trolling motor, car battery and Scanoe, you will want to be able to back down to the water!

[Bigahh]

Thanks for the info Hobie! I am going to look closely.

[Rusty]

You might want to check out the Gheenoes made over in Titusville, Fla. They are more stable than a jon boat.

From having tried to paddle Coleman products before I find that the hull flexes too much for efficient paddling, IMHO.

[KCSO]

A good canoe will be stable enough if you pic the right one. You will want a lake canoe with a wide flat bottom and moderate tumble home. You will want a 17 foot canoe and that will haul 2 people and enough gear for a week in the wilderness. If it were me and I were getting my first canoe I would look very serious at the Colman as they are made VERY sturdy. You can bouce an arrow off the side of one and not hurt it. They are a little hevier and a little less manuverable than some others but hell for stout. Another canoe would be an Old Town, a little lighter but not quite as sturdy. Stay away from fibreglass canoes as they are heavy and not as sturdy for the most part. A lot will depend on what is available in yor area and how much you want to spend. I used a 17 Colman as a river canoe on the missouri and for back country fishing for over 20 yyears. Thhat is still the canoe i give to beginnners. You can stand up in it and bow fish or pee over the gunnel and still fell like you are on solid ground. I currently have 2 canoes and 2 kayaks and willl be getting another kayak this spring.

[KirkD]

We have a 17 and a half foot, kevlar, flat bottomed, Tripper type canoe. It weights around 56 pounds and we usually have at least 600 pounds of people and equipment in it and still have about a foot of freeboard. The charts say we should be able to load about 900 pounds and still have a safe freeboard. When that flat bottomed canoe is loaded, it is very, very stable. In my opinion, there's no worthwhile advantage to a shorter canoe. The longer they are, the faster they go and the more they can carry. I've portaged a mile through heavy brush and absolutely no trail, up and down gullies, etc. with that light 56 pound canoe on my head and did not need to rest or stop even once ..... that's the advantage of a kevlar canoe.

[Griff]

I agree w/ Kirk, my Nona 18' Kevlar weighs 80#s, but has tractor seats molded in the deck fore & aft, plus carry yoke and full-length keel. Rated for 1100#, she's wide & stable, but that's offset by difficulty in paddling solo. Excellent for lake use, not so good for smaller rivers where turning is more important than straight tracking.

[AndyM]

for a lower cost option, look at the Old Town Guide series canoes. These are value priced and built very good. I have the 14 ft. model and it can do alot of things well, not really great at any of them but handles most things

For 2 adults and gear, they make a 16 ft. model also, plus it is an Old Town. The Winchester of Canoes...