I Need A Bit Of Advice

[drew03cmc]

Thanks you guys! You have really helped me out. I am looking for a used boat, and if I can't find a used solo cheap here locally (I am not driving to St. Louis to pick it up unless the price is worth the drive, and someone puts me up for the night and a float the next morning, haha) I am going to look at a 14-15' tandem that can be soloed very easily if need be on lakes and likely on streams.

[grizwilson]

Not sure where you are located, by your listing assuming Kansas. I am just west of Springfield and have a 2009 Old Town Pack that has been floated very little and always stored indoors when not in use. The only flaw are the skid plates I put on last fall, while very functional, they are not pretty. My bright idea to use layers of Kevlar cloth rather than one strip of Kevlar felt turned out a good skid plate that is not very pretty. The boat is very light, it has a few scratches but has only been floated 4-5 times. Not sure where to price it fair, I paid 900 plus tax. Think I could live with $600. I am 5'10" 250, getting older and slower every day, it is just not a good fit for me. PM if interested can try to get some pictures up.

g

Should note it is the Pack Angler with the lowered seat, work deck rod holder and anchor.

[Al Agnew]

The thing about soloing any tandem canoe is, it will work, the canoe will be serviceable as a solo, but it won't be the joy to paddle that a solo will be. I went for many years soloing a 15 ft. Grumman aluminum. When I got my first solo, an Old Town Pack, it was SO much better than the Grumman. Paddling was fun, not just something you did to get the canoe down the river in order to fish it. Yeah, you can stand up in some tandems where you can't comfortably in solos. But standing up has never been a priority with me. I seem to do just fine fishing without standing; if I want to stand up I get out and wade or take the jetboat.

Griz's Pack would be a nice choice. The Pack is far from the best solo, but it's better than soloing a tandem, especially with seat modifications. I basically wore my Pack out, put on skid plates, and nearly wore through the skid plates, before getting a Wenonah Sandpiper, which turned out to be only slightly better than the Pack. During a Smallmouth Alliance get together, I tried out somebody's Vagabond and fell in love with it, and have yet to find anything better. Although I also own a couple of old Oscoda fiberglass solos, which are much faster and better tracking than any of the plastic canoes, and use the one in Missouri when I'm floating streams with lots of long, dead pools. Glass isn't really a bad material for the Ozarks, and if you found a glass solo cheap, depending upon the design, it might work well. Biggest problem with glass is that it's noisy, not as noisy as aluminum, but far less quiet than plastic.

[Gavin]

Another thing to beware of...dont get a Pelican or a Coleman...they paddle like bathtubs and the hull cannot be repaired.

[OzarksRiverman]

Hey everybody. Didn't want to start a new thread for this question, so I thought I'd resurrect an old one...

I've been a creek wader for most of my fishing adventures, but I'm now thinking about buying a watercraft this summer. I've thought about a canoe, a couple kayaks, but it recently struck me that a small jon boat could be my best bet. My thinking behind this stems from the fact that the last few times I've been floating, I've been really uncomfortable in a canoe. I'm 6'8'', and since college I've packed on the weight (up over 320 now). Based on this--and the fact that my little girl could start attending short float trips within the next couple years, the jon's stability is what has me intrigued.

Could y'all help me out with some questions I have about the jon boat before I go out and buy one?

What is the skinniest/shortest (canoe-like) jon boat made? Suggestions?

I have in mind a 12 ft. flatbottom

I like to float medium size streams: James, Finley, Bryant, Beaver, Upper Big Piney, etc.... Will a small jon boat be a BIG nusiance when float in shallow water vs. a canoe?

Are they real squirrely going into bends (vs. a canoe)

Hard to flip? (vs. a canoe)

Hard to paddle (pick up speed in slower pools)?

Without a motor, will it need to be licensed?

[Gavin]

Oz, the boat your describing would be a paddle jon or a white river jon...flat bottom, fairly narrow with some rocker on both ends. Kyle Kosovich has made several old school river jons..and I've heard that they are very stable. Not sure if youd want a 20' boat..but the design looks like it could be shortened to 16' or so.

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/ozarkian/index.htm

[OzarksRiverman]

I looked at the paddle jons and they look perfect. The hard part will be finding a used one for sale! I called about a new one in Licking and they wanted $2200 for it.

Anybody have experience with using a Coleman Crawdad on float trips?

[Greasy B]

I looked at the paddle jons and they look perfect. The hard part will be finding a used one for sale! I called about a new one in Licking and they wanted $2200 for it.

Anybody have experience with using a Coleman Crawdad on float trips?

IMO you would be better of floating in a tupper wear bucket than a Coleman anything.

[OzarksRiverman]

IMO you would be better of floating in a tupper wear bucket than a Coleman anything.

duly noted.

[ollie]

I had an old bassmaster boat similiar to the crawdad or at least I think that was what it was called. Very stable boat and I took it a couple of times on floats, but wouldn't do that again!! While they are stable, they can't manuver worth a flip!! keep one of those on a pond and that is about all they are worth IMO.