Solo canoe thoughts

[tjm]

Can you stand up and pole those little solo boats?

[Al Agnew]

As Tim said, as long as you're talking just Ozark streams and similar, the less rocker the better.  And he's right in everything else he said, too.  High sides just catch wind, high ends catch it even more.  You seldom encounter waves big enough to make a high sided canoe desirable.

I always say that the difference between a good solo canoe and any tandem canoe is simply that paddling a tandem canoe by yourself is simply a means to an end...you paddle it in order to fish or just get down the river.  Paddling a good solo canoe is FUN.  The paddling itself is far more enjoyable (and less work).

The Wenonah Wilderness is a great canoe, but unless you are a big guy and/or you do a lot of canoe camping and like to carry a lot of gear, it probably isn't as good a choice as some of the slightly smaller canoes.  My all-purpose solo is the Wenonah Vagabond, but in Royalex, which is no longer made.  I haven't paddled the tuff-weave Vagabond, but it should be a pretty nice canoe.  I also have an old Oscoda Coda glass canoe (well, actually I have three of them), which is better tracking and faster than the Vagabond, and gets used when I'm floating a slow river like the Bourbeuse or middle Big and I'm covering a lot of water, since I can get down the long, dead pools faster and easier with it.

[Gavin]

No, solo canoes are too narrow to pole. Can pole my 17' tandem upstream a couple miles but not great at it. Could use more practice with that and a better pole. Mine is just a 12' closet rod with some copper plumbing caps & screws on the ends.

[Gavin]

The Vagabond is a good boat, but it takes on allot of water on a drop. Excels on flat water with a light load. Bought my old Vagabond from a  250-300lb guy who could not keep it upright. Fine for me at 5'11 180 with a light load of gear. Easy to overload it though.

[tjm]

You guys have convinced me to stick with the 17' aluminum, I've never had an ounce of trouble paddling it up stream solo and I can stand to cast or pole. I'd look for some thing sportier for white water, I suspect. 

Thanks for the explanations and I apologize if I derailed your thread, Fishfighter.

[Gavin]

Tandem canoe=barge. Solo=Ferrari Kayak=Pig with Lipstick

[Gavin]

Hey TJM, what are you poling your canoe with? Would like a nice aluminum Belitz bros style pole.

[tjm]

Gavin, I've used a few things in past years, EMT, conduit, PVC pipe, sassafras sprout. It's not an always thing, just an option I want to have, like the ability to rig sails, if I want to some time. Unfortunately Mo. requires registration for sails.  Also important just to be able to stand every so often to keep the cramps and pains subdued, 10-15 minutes is a comfortable time to sit.

I had been looking at kayaks for a while, seeking to lighten the load/unload weight and maybe shorten the length, but the more I learned about them the better I liked canoes in about the same carry weight and length the canoe apparently has more space, load capacity and stability than a yak. This discussion has just made me like the 17'/80# LoweLine more, so I'm left with figuring out better transport for it. Once on the water, it does what I need, and it has been paid for  a long time past so no new expenditure. That money could build a trailer or buy a roof rack, maybe. 

I'm not familiar with Belitz Bros,  but there are some pretty pricey units out there. 

[Fishfighter]

Thanks for all the replies!! I have made my final decision. I'm ordering the nova craft fox 14 solo tommorrow! I can't wait.

[Al Agnew]

I guess different people paddle in different ways.  I find the Vagabond to handle well with a good load--although I'm 5'8" and 170 pounds...but I load the thing with enough stuff for three days on the river and it handles as well as it does on a day trip.

Love Gavin's description, though...tandem equals barge, solo equals Ferrari, kayak equals lipstick on a pig.  I paddled a 15 ft. Grumman for more than 15 years as my only canoe.  My first solo was an Old Town Pack, and I knew right then I'd never be without a solo canoe, even though the Pack leaves a bit to be desired.  I now own 6 solos, all of which are sweeter paddling than that old Pack.

If you have good balance, you can pole some solos, but it's not comfortable like poling many tandems.  That is the only drawback to a solo canoe.  Yeah, you can paddle a tandem upstream.  I can do it quicker and easier.  I can also paddle downstream quicker and easier, stop the canoe in current more easily, move it sideways in current more easily, take far fewer paddle strokes to turn it around, in fact just about anything you can do in three or four strokes with a tandem paddled solo, I can do in one or two in a real solo.  At the end of the day, I'll be a lot less tired.  Not to mention, even less tired after loading the thing onto the vehicle at the end of that day.