canoe buying tips

He who has the most canoes in the end, wins.

Nice article on building the fleet.

quote Moonpath: "He who has the most canoes in the end, wins. "

I only have one canoe and I won.

I have been down sizing this last year. Went from 4 to 3 canoes.
One Quetico 17, one Prism and one 1972 old Alumacraft 17.

Sold my Old Town 17 penobscot - actually almost gave it away to someone who needed a canoe.

quote kanoes: "

quote Moonpath: "He who has the most canoes in the end, wins. "

I only have one canoe and I won."

That's because you use Magic...

quote Pinetree: "I have been down sizing this last year. Went from 4 to 3 canoes.One Quetico 17, one Prism and one 1972 old Alumacraft 17.
Sold my Old Town 17 penobscot - actually almost gave it away to someone who needed a canoe."

I too have downsized significantly over the last few years. At the moment, I have only one canoe in the barn, my Nova Craft Trapper. My wife has two solos, so the barn is "Empty" compared to the way it used to be. BUT, Wenonah has my Prospector in transit and I have a W&C Chestnut Pal to pick up in Kansas City if I ever get enough time off work to make it up there and pick it up.

I'm also down to three and they all have different purposes:

2001 Wenonah Prism-solo. Sees the most use in the fleet.

1997 Souris River Quetico 17 tandem-mainly used for youth trips back in the day and has done some tandem trip duty since

1993 Seliga Wood Canvas 17 foot-I have it cause It's pretty and I have the utmost respect for Joe Seliga. It does see use but not much. It is my prized possession.

Gone but not forgotten

1975 Old Town Penobscot 17-sold it when I bought the Souris River-wish I still had it for river travel

unknown year Grumman 17 foot canoe that was given to me by my grandfather a couple years before his passing. I sold it when I bought the Old Town cause I had no place to put two canoes. I really wish I had that one still cause of the memories with my grandfather.

He or she who uses all the canoes in the stable each year wins. Number makes no difference.

An unused canoe is looking to run away.

edit.. and since the post I have put in an offer for another canoe.. and one in the garage is going to get kicked out..

sigh...

Thanks for the thread still.

My old aluma craft 17 I keep as my rock canoe,
but outside of borrowing it to people I have not used it in 15 years. Could sell it but it is banged up so it wouldn't be worth much. At least I don't have a backyard full of cars that don't run.
Also a lot of memories in some canoes,you just can't sell them to anybody.

Talking about used canoes from outfitters,always can tell when I hear noises coming from a portage and someone is dragging a canoe leaving aluminum or or paint on the rocks. Nobody does that to their own canoe.

I shudder and it kind of hurts like I can feel the abuse some canoes get.

I treat my own canoes and rentals the same - I use them... I don't care about battle scars if that's what it takes to get over a portage or to have a child carry the canoe for first time...

Mine are not pretty.

quote BWPaddler: "I treat my own canoes and rentals the same - I use them... I don't care about battle scars if that's what it takes to get over a portage or to have a child carry the canoe for first time...


Mine are not pretty."

I agree,but there is a common sense level,and there is a level if it is not my canoe it doesn't matter. I am also sure most people are conscious and try to keep care of the canoe and some don't.

Actually have only 3 canoes and 3 kayaks for the wife and I. Canoes are Souris River Q18.5, Wenonah Wilderness in faster green color, and a 16 ft royalex Buffalo for the rocky rivers and streams. Kayaks, wife's Old Town 14.5 Cayuga, 10 ft Ocean Kayak SOT, and an Old Town sit in recreational kayak at 9.5 ft. That's all the self propelled we have.

Bruce

Heel, I hate these list things! That said, I've owned ~40 solos and ~20 tandems, finally arrivng at what works for me.

I'm 170 lbs, formerly 5'10" reducing toard 5'8". and an ACA ITE, a fairly skilled paddler.

I've a custom solo Loon Works Nakoma, a Colden DragonFly and Colden FlashFire for solos; a Placid Ohneka and a Bell RX YellowStone for tandems.

MY S.O./Fiancee has a Loon Nakoma and a Placid Flash for solos, Chestnut Peterborough 16 and Pal 15, both W/C, and two Bastion 14's in W/C for tandems. She is one of the three best Canadian Style paddlers living, justifying the W/C tandem imbalance.

We're looking to acquire a Swift Kee 16 in Textreme, etc, etc, a 34 lb tandem we can tote in our decline.