Solo Canoe Build

[River Dog]

Hey guys I'm new to the forum and am about to buy an old town guide 119 from dicks. I will be modding it for creek and river fishing and wanted to see what you guys came up with. Anchor systems and different seat will be my first mods. Any tips are welcome. Thanks!!!

[Jack Jones]

Dog, I would run a search through the forums. There are several posts that discuss modding that canoe extensively and include pictures. Many folks have that canoe and/or similar and there's lots of good ideas out there. Start with a search and you likely won't be disappointed.

[Flysmallie]

Here's one, but Jack is right on, lots of info on here. Need to go back and re-read some of it myself.

[Al Agnew]

Just keep in mind that one of the beauties of those little solo canoes is how light and portable they are. Put too many gee gaws on one and it becomes heavier, harder to carry around and cartop, etc. I have plenty of mods for mine, but all are very quickly removable. I transport the boat to the water with nothing more than it had when I bought it, then put on the stuff. My seat back just slips onto the bench seat, no nuts to tighten down or straps to strap. My tackle box system slips under the seat and attaches with a pair of velcro straps. Those are the only things I even have to attach. When I used an anchor system, it attached to the end plate with three bolts and wingnuts, and when I used a trolling motor, the mount attached with two bolts and wing nuts. However, for me the anchoring deal just wasn't worth even that much hassle, and neither was the trolling motor.

Here's the link to a thread I started on my seat back and tackle box system. This was when I was still carrying enough lures to fill both the boxes, but now I've cut down on the number of lures I carry so I only use the battery box that fits under the seat.

Don't know whether that will automatically link...I'm still getting used to using an Ipad.

You'd have to replace the seat that comes on the 119 with a bench seat as is on mine, but I don't like those molded seats anyway.

[River Dog]

Thanks alot al agnew. I was wanting to keep everything removable just like you said. I really like your tackelbox storage system and can tell you right now that will be part of my first mods. I am with you on the molded seats, i have a kayak with a molded seat and hate it but can't change it because of the way its put on the yak. OK back to the canoe, do you have any ideas on removable rod holders, i like the way ol hooker from the RiverBassin forum did his but do not want to drill any more holes in the top of my boat than i have to.

[Gavin]

You will want to replace that awful molded seat in that boat. and move it forward for better balance. Add a Sitbacker or other canoe seat. An old milk crate works well for tackle storage. Just enough height to keep it dry mostly. The anchor system is optional...I have one, I cant remember the last time that I used it. I'd get a long kayak paddle in addition to a long single blader.

[Al Agnew]

No ideas on rod holders. Since 99% of my canoe fishing is on streams, I don't want any kind of rod holder that makes a rod stick up in the air because it will get hung on overhanging branches. What I did was sit down in the canoe and spend the time to figure out where I wanted my rods to stow, so that they were easy to reach and the tips were within the gunwales. It helps immensely to use short rods in the solo, especially a solo as short as the 119. I'm able to carry five rods in my 14' 3" solo--and carried four all the time in the Old Town Pack that was my first solo, none of them over 6 ft. in length and all but one 5 to 5.5 ft. None of the rods are strapped down in any way, though a couple of times throughout the years that has resulted in lost rods when I kicked one overboard. If you were really worried about that, you could install elastic bands on the side "thwarts" of the bench seat that you can stretch over the rod handles as they sit there. I think somebody on here has shown how they did that at some point.

[ness]

Yeah, I remember somebody (maybe Eric) had some pretty slick looking wooden things with some kind of elastic loop to hold the rods down. I'm sure a Google would find a couple million ideas.

My flyrods fit pretty well in my 16 footer with a center seat. Grips lay on the seat thwarts and the reels hang down. I can stick the tips up under the gunwales and the rods stay pretty snug.

[RSBreth]

Whatever you do - DON'T put rod holder where the tips of your rods stick out like 'Ol Hooker at RiverBassin has in some of his early mods. If I remember right He moved them inside after a while, and I don't know if he snapped the rods or came close but anyway - if you re-do the seat so there's space on either side it's easy to carry acouple or 4 or 5 rods if they aren't too long. I have a Pack and just left the seat in the original postition so I could carry longer rods under the deck. I didn't screw anything to the hull but I did add double sided velcro across the center thwart to lash down the rods when running trickier water or quick portaging. Don't have any "inside the deck" pictures handy but can add some when I get more time. I like to keep it light because I usually paddle and portage upstream and float back, although I hit bigger water with the Pack, too.

[River Dog]

Thanks for all the tips guys. My longest rods are six feet so it shouldn't be a problem stowing them inside the gunwales.