I just picked up an older Old Town Discovery 146 and am wondering what to expect in terms of challenges with it being only 14'6" long.

Obviously I won't be able to put as much gear in it but is there an other disadvantages.

I took it out for the first time last night for a test paddle and it seemed to handle well, maybe a little less stable then a longer canoe but it has a 38" beam so its fairly wide.

How will it handle in wind/waves?

Just curious what peoples opinions are, the guy I bought it from was firm in his stance that it was not a BWCA canoe.

I have no experience with that particular boat but this is what I can say.
It is not the optimal choice for a boat but I would say it would work.
If the paddler was skilled and knew their limitations on what they could or could not handle. Your boat is only a foot shorter than two of my boats that I take up there.
I was up on a trip a few years ago going on the Basswood River between lower and upper falls and we came across two guys tripping in a pack canoe. Now that is small for two people.

Todd

umm.... I would just say pack light. There won't be a lot of room for packs. I would never a say that canoe is not BWCA worthy. It's just a tad small. (My solo's even smaller!)

Well, the current 119 (11'-9") is good for 500 pounds and the 158 (15'-8") for over 1000 so 14'-9" might not be too bad.

I thought - big I THOUGHT - the con of short and wide canoes was not tracking very straight and being slow no matter how hard you paddle. The pro is they are very stable (38" is wider than my SR 17!) and turn quickly. Maybe I'm all wet.

Paddled my 14 1/2ft Pathfinder (Oldtown) for many years. I took a trip in the eighties with my young family and a dog to Fourtown Lake. I think back and wonder how we did it. My son took it to WCPP solo last year using a kayak paddle. He moved along quite well.

I agree with the previous post from ZIMTLSA. it is not the best choice but it will work. It is not one that I would plan on taking any distance. With the dimensions I would think it would be fairly slow, but maybe not. Go to a canoe Demo day and try some different canoes. Then you will know how much of a difference there is. My canoe is 15.6 ft. and 36 in wide. It is a nice fiberglass canoe and goes though the water quite nice. A foot shorter would be getting cramped. I have known some guys who took a Coleman up there. They were young and strong and could handle it. It worked, but not the best choice. Well there is my two cents. Let us know how the trip went and if you agree. Joesporting goods and Midwest Mtn both have Demo days.

Jrlatt

Thanks for the input. I think I will give it a shot.

The trip will be me and a friend and we are both 30 years old so young enough to handle the weight of the canoe (70+ lbs) and the slow paddling. We will just keep the first trip with it fairly short until we know how it handles a little more. We only have 4 days anyways so we won't be going too far. Our main goal is to relax and catch some fish. I don't see why this boat won't allow us to accomplish those goals.

Maybe when I bring the wife and dog I'll splurge and rent something lighter and longer.

My SR 17 is only 35 at it's widest lots of stability at 38 you can probably stand up in that thing. No problem, take that canoe up and enjoy your trip.


JB

Ummmm .... One of my solos is 14' 6" and the other is 14' 10". I'm trying to imagine them as tandems. The seats have got to be pretty close together leaving you little room for packs. Since it is 38" wide, you can probably get two packs in side-by-side rather than one in front of the other.

It's probably going to handle like a tug. Sounds to me like a fair-day fishing boat. You probably going to bob around like a cork in rough water.

I hope you have calm waters.

I did a 2 man trip on the Devil's River in Texas in a similar canoe. It will be really tight for storage. Paddling an overladen tub in wind and white caps is no fun at any age. We did not have to portage much but did a lot of lining the canoe. They stay it is made of a plastic material but I was convinced it was made of stone.

It is so easy to rent a nice kevlar canoe up there I would go the rental route with a proper tripping canoe. You will be living in it and might as well be comfortable.

My Mad River Tahoe is a 14'er with a wide beam. I primarily use it for family camping on small lakes. It also works well on river trips where the Roylex can take a beating and the short length means it turns easy. The wide beam makes it perfect for fishing from or hauling small children...

I rent when I go to the Bdub for one reason...the Tahoe is slow. It will hold all the gear you want it to...but the wide beam makes it noticeably slower than longer canoes.

So, if it is the only canoe on the trip (so you don't have to try to keep up to another boat) and you don't mind working a little harder it will get the job done. On the plus side, those short canoes are a lot easier on the portages = easier to manage and typically light (mine is only 45 pounds).

My OT Pack is 12 feet long, and very wide at the beam. Holds everything I need for a week long solo trip. Slow, but not so bad with a double paddle. The portages are a breeze with it....34 pounds empty.

Never Fear, you may not be able to pack as much and expect slower travel, and I believe they are on the heavy side but you own it, use what you have. I was going to trip with my Old Town 147 this year but found a fair deal on a bit larger and lighter canoe so I upgraded.

I have decided to take the 14 footer. Its just me and another guy going out alone so we don't need to keep up with another group. Also we plan to do minimal portaging and just base camp it.

We will be on Brule but we are keeping to the east side where it is a little more protected.

I figure I won't know how the canoe works until I put it to the test. But I am making this an easy trip until I know how it handles.

Brule is a proper name for that lake in my experience. I have only been on it twice. I put in there and did a loop and back out. Plan to go in early before the wind picks up. You may have to wait for the wind to calm down before you come out.

Happy trails

Jrlatt

Well I got back today from my trip with this canoe. It worked fine for everything we asked it to do. It wasn't the fastest or lightest but for 2 guys who were not going very far or for very long its a great canoe.

We base camped on the far end of Brule Bay on the east end. Took maybe an hour to paddle out with just a slight head wind. We portaged into Vernon and Echo lake and my home made portage pads worked like a charm.

We had one day with a strong west wind that kept us off the main lake, we could have gone out if we wanted to but we decided to save the energy for the next day when we wanted to head up to Echo lake.

I wouldn't take this canoe if I was going to do a several day loop with alot of portages nor would I bring it as apart of a group because it couldn't keep up but I'm comfortable now using it for the type of small excursion i just completed.

sounds like you had a nice trip!