Got My Pack!

[Jack Jones]

Big Thanks to GrizWilson for tipping me off about the Pack for sale on Craiglist. I blew off my chores this afternoon, drove to Willow Springs, and got myself a Used Old Town Pack!

From what I was told about it, it was originally purchased in Minnesota, then the current owner bought it and used in Arkansas only a few times before giving it to his son-in-law to sell off. The son in law seemed to be in his 60's and mentioned his father in law was a too elderly to use it.

The Pack came with a trolling motor mount already put on the back end. It looks old, and so I may replace it. But it makes a good template. The registration sticker on it is from Minnesota 2003 so the boat is obviously at least 10 years old.

The bottom appeared in good shape. Very few scratches. A few gauges as you can see in the photo.

He threw in a paddle (not the greatest), and a new wooden web seat that was in an LL Bean box.

All of this for $350.00. Well....$360 actually since ATMs don't let you take out odd amounts and I wasn't about to quibble about change.

So....pics below for viewing and I cannot wait to get on the water tomorrow. May take the motor mount off for now though. If I put one on, that's down the road a bit when I can cobble together the $$$$ for motor, battery, etc....However, that might be kind of fun for Lake Springfield and Fellows Lake shoreline.

Now I just need to name it and christen it.....have to dig out a bottle of Boone's Farm to smash on the hull, LOL!!!

Time to get back to chores and mow though.

Postscript:::I only have a handwritten bill of sale. Don't even know if it has the price on it. Don't have the original manufacturer's statement of origin. Anyone who has experiencing registering boats under this type of circumstance, feel free to post or PM on what is needed to do so for when/if I do decide to put a trolling motor on it. Was thinking maybe the Minnesota registration sticker may help with that if I called whoever does their registrations. But given the age, they my not have the records.

[ollie]

Man you can put just a small trolling motor on the back in a forward position, use your paddle to steer and get upstream in a hurry!

[RSBreth]

You're probably already out there trying it out - you'll find out the Pack feels "tippy" until you paddle it around a bit. It's been said it has only fair initial stability (why it feels tippy when you first get in it) but good secondary stability (it's actually pretty hard to tip over.)

I'd ditch the trolling motor mount for river fishing because it'll just get in the way. For Lake Springfield it might be handy but it looks like you'll need a handle extension at least - that's why most motor mounts are offset - puts them closer to the back seat and easier to grab. That mount would make it so you have to turn almost halway around to grab the tiller handle even with an extension.

[Jack Jones]

haven't tried it yet. I'm probably going to take that mount off this morning and just put it aside for now. Still thought it was pretty neat that it came with it. Also gonna get a paint scraper and try to take that registration sticker off.

[BadKarma]

Did you remember to take the ski mask off when you drove away with that in the truck? What a steal. SWEET pack bro.

[Gavin]

Congrats! A heat gun or hair dryer and a plastic putty knife will make quick work of the registration numbers. You'll probably have to get a title by affidavit from Missouri Water Patrol if you want to run trolling motor on it...but paddle it first. Mine worked well with a kayak paddle going upstream..but for downstream I used a single blade.

[Jack Jones]

Thanks Gavin, I have no plans to put a motor on it just yet, but it is nice to have that option and to mount already made. The wood on the mount is old, so I'd likely re-build one with new wood. At least, I have a good template. Can't wait to get it out on the water. Hoping tonight.

[Al Agnew]

If you have the webbed seat, see if it will fit closer to the center of the canoe than the existing cane seat. You will probably also need to move the thwart in front of the seat forward and cut it a little shorter. Trust me, moving the seat up to where the front edge of it is at about the center of the canoe will make a WORLD of difference in both paddling characteristics and initial stability. The reason Packs have somewhat of a reputation for feeling tippy is that the seat is too far back, in a narrower part of the canoe. Move that seat forward and the canoe will track better, be more efficient when using a double bladed paddle (it won't zig zag with every paddle stroke), and feel less tippy. I always considered my Pack to have pretty decent initial stability, but that was because I moved the seat forward after my first trip in it.

You won't need a trolling motor, and in fact probably won't be able to mount one to where the canoe works well with it. The existing mount on the end, as RSBreth said, will be very awkward to use at best. And because the canoe is so short, mounting a motor on a side mount just doesn't work too well because the canoe doesn't want to turn and actually runs at an angle to your direction of travel when you're going straight. Couple that with the fact that you'll probably have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it registered, and I don't think it would ever be worth it.

[Jack Jones]

I took the motor mount off. I took it out tonight for a test run at Finley River Park in Ozark. Absolutely love it. It sits so much higher than my kayak. I had no problems with the stability. I didn't find it tippy.

I do want to get a strap on seat with back rest. Also, I think skid pads would be appropriate. I'm going to research them and how to install tonight. Other wishes is a paddle that's about a foot longer.

I agree the the reviews that the a small breeze moves it, but no big deal. It moves a lot quicker and with less effort than my kayak. I really think this was a good investment.

[RSBreth]

That's alll I did to mine - added a seat back rest. I thought about moving the seat forward like Al said - but in the end I was pretty happy with the way it paddled stock so I left it alone.

For poking around SWMO streams and lakes I think it's a great little boat.