Old Town Or Aluminum

[wily]

got my eye on another canoe...looking for something lighter than the gheenoe for two little boys and me.

would you chose a 16 foot old town polylink?

or a square stern aluminum?

thanks

[eric1978]

Unless you're planning on using a trolling motor on it, I'd go Old Town for sure.

[Buzz]

Unless you're planning on using a trolling motor on it, I'd go Old Town for sure.

I agree. I've been in a couple Old Town's this year and they are sweet rides for sure. Besides, I've never been a fan of aluminum canoes.

[bobber]

gheenoe, will be about the same as the aluminum square stern. unless it's real long, or real wide. then it could also work well on a small lake. but what type of old town? ..... and is the money difference that much? between the two? .... could you add the extra seat in either one?

[eric1978]

One major consideration if you plan on fishing out of it on Ozark streams is the noise factor. Aluminum is just so loud I feel like the fish know I'm coming a mile away. It's mostly just annoying...to me, anyway.

[Wayne SW/MO]

You don't say what your use will be. I would imagine that stability will be a big factor and how about weight? You would have a lot more options with the Old Towns and they also have lighter materials available then polylink.

[Al Agnew]

There are two big drawbacks to aluminum that make it far inferior to the polylink or to Royalex, the other good plastic canoe material. One, as eric said, is noise. The other, even more important to me, is that aluminum grabs everything, while the plastics glide over everything. Logs, gravel, rocks...the plastics slide over these materials so much better than aluminum. The ONLY real advantage to aluminum is that it is well-nigh indestructible as long as you don't wrap it around something in fast water.

[wily]

looking at an old town charles river...old town more expensive but only marginally

will be for streams...namely shoal creek and the like.

i agree that the square stern and the gheenoe are practically the same. albeit maybe lighter in aluminum. i like the stability of the ghennoe.

thanks

[Chief Grey Bear]

If you have a lead on an Old Town, I'd go that route. I'd steer clear of aluminum. Mostly because like it was said, it is tougher to glide over the riffles. It is a bear to drag too.

As far as noise, you won't find a completely silent canoe. That is where one has to learn to paddle without banging the sides. One must also refrain from sliding their equipment around in the bottom of a canoe. I guess what I am saying is that a canoe is only as noisy as the operator. At times I am just as guilty too.

[Gavin]

I'd definitely go with polylink or royalex over aluminum...As for the Charles River....looks like a pretty nice boat, but its only 15'8" long in the poly link version...Might go with something a bit longer like the Discovery 169 for hauling 3 people and replace the seats with something better than the plastic fantastics it comes with. Price is about the same, not a big deal to paddle one solo, and they last forever. Cheers.