Solo canoe thoughts

[Terrierman]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:27 PM, ColdWaterFshr said:

I've had Yakima's of various types for 30 years now, going back to cartopping an aluminum canoe on my '66 VW back in college.  They work well.  Tie down the bow at the very least, and stern too if you're not too lazy.  Buy good straps and replace them before they start to age.  Not complicated.  

A 12 foot canoe isn't really a canoe.  Its a bad combination of a canoe and a kayak.  Get a proper 15' or more canoe, and thank me later.  OR, get a kayak and wish you had more space and complain about your arse being soggy all the time.  

 

On 9/24/2021 at 10:18 AM, Gavin said:

I like my 15' Mad River Solo Canoe allot better than either of the two 12' sit on top kayaks that we own. It's faster, lighter, tracks better, you sit higher, and it has less tendency to roll in serious chop. There are no disadvantages on the water. That Esquif Echo (15' solo) looks like a really sweet boat, I'd go for that over that 12' solo. 

Mad River Legend 15.  Pretty good boat.

[top_dollar]

"A decent solo canoe will do everything a kayak will do and do most of it better."

How many rods do/can you fish effectively out of a solo canoe?  Do you just lay them down horizontally in front of you?  Is lower cost the only reason fishing kayaks are so popular?  I have a kayak, and I do like it, and can fish effectively out of it, but it seems like a solo canoe is a better option.  That said, almost everyone I see fishing is using a kayak.  

[moguy1973]

I like my kayak, the only thing I wish it had was a better seat like some of the newer ones have.  My kayak (an older Ocean Kayak Trident 11) has a lot of internal storage and I've put a tent, sleeping bags, sleep mats and other over night stuff inside for 2 people.  I can strap a decently sized cooler in the rear well, and still have plenty of space for tackle and 3 rods.  I usually have 2 between my legs and the one I'm using. With it fully loaded like that I have to make sure I plan ahead for making it through sketchy sections of the stream since it's sitting pretty low in the water, but I usually have no issues.  As I get older though, I think a canoe is in my future just for the ease of things, and having something that is a little bigger than the kayak but yet still the same weight. I think mine weighs about 52lbs.  Also the seating position of a canoe looks to be a little better for my aging back.

[Gavin]

See T Man's boat. He appears to be properly prepared for an evening or two of life on a gravel bar. I'm sure that he has a full sized lawn chair, jumbo sized sleeping pad, roomy tent, packed full sized cooler, real cook ware, and accessories. If I'm set up like that, I will have three rods rigged (Caster, spin, fly/spin, fly, fly/ or caster, caster, spin) depending on location. On a day trip. I'll rig 4-5 rods.. Al runs with around 5-6 rods. More bait casters, than spinning rigs. It' a PIA to run more than two rods out of either of our SOT kayaks. The seating positions really limit your reach to what is right in front of you. Your butt is stuck in that one spot.

[top_dollar]

3 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

I like my kayak, the only thing I wish it had was a better seat like some of the newer ones have.  My kayak (an older Ocean Kayak Trident 11) has a lot of internal storage and I've put a tent, sleeping bags, sleep mats and other over night stuff inside for 2 people.  I can strap a decently sized cooler in the rear well, and still have plenty of space for tackle and 3 rods.  I usually have 2 between my legs and the one I'm using. With it fully loaded like that I have to make sure I plan ahead for making it through sketchy sections of the stream since it's sitting pretty low in the water, but I usually have no issues.  As I get older though, I think a canoe is in my future just for the ease of things, and having something that is a little bigger than the kayak but yet still the same weight. I think mine weighs about 52lbs.  Also the seating position of a canoe looks to be a little better for my aging back.

One thing I do not like about kayaks is the internal storage.  I use a jackson bite, which is essentially just a big wide platform, so there is no internal storage, but it has lots of space for dry bags and such.  I like the open design because I generally fish 4 rods that are between 5½ to 6 feet long, and they just lay nicely right on the deck in front of me.  I suppose you can do that same thing in a solo canoe though.

[Terrierman]

7 hours ago, Gavin said:

See T Man's boat. He appears to be properly prepared for an evening or two of life on a gravel bar. I'm sure that he has a full sized lawn chair, jumbo sized sleeping pad, roomy tent, packed full sized cooler, real cook ware, and accessories. If I'm set up like that, I will have three rods rigged (Caster, spin, fly/spin, fly, fly/ or caster, caster, spin) depending on location. On a day trip. I'll rig 4-5 rods.. Al runs with around 5-6 rods. More bait casters, than spinning rigs. It' a PIA to run more than two rods out of either of our SOT kayaks. The seating positions really limit your reach to what is right in front of you. Your butt is stuck in that one spot.

Correct.  Always a therma rest sleeping pad and a tarp for shade if it's hot or to have shelter outside the tent if it rains.  Tent is a 4 man Eureka Timberline.  Perfect for one or two people.  One thing I really like on a float trip is a roll up full height table - makes food prep and a place to sit down and eat without a paper plate in your lap really nice.  Two burner Coleman stove and Coleman lantern always go too.  On a longer trip with multi boats there's usually a small chain saw too.  I like to rough it easy.  Some good scotch and a good book complete the deal.

I've got a grandson who likes the rivers too.  Instead of buying him a computer for his HS graduation present, I bought him a Wenonah Prospector 15.  Something he's going to be able to use for the rest of his life and will never need a software upgrade.  He can be handy to take along.

[Terrierman]

On 9/24/2021 at 12:33 PM, Gumboot said:

I have an older Bell Morningstar in royalex that I want to make it solo.  Where do I move the seat?

Just slightly aft of mid boat.

[snagged in outlet 3]

14 minutes ago, Terrierman said:

Just slightly aft of mid boat.

I was visiting a customer and got to see their new offshore dredger.  I said “that’s one big boat!”   He said.  It’s a ship not a boat, son.   😂.   They’re lines not ropes.  Big thick “lines”😂. Not ropes.  

[Al Agnew]

I carry five rods in my solo canoe.  I like short rods in canoes, not just because they fit better, but because when you're in a seated position I like the somewhat different angle to the water that you hold a shorter rod with the tip near the water--this is especially true if working walk the dog topwaters.  So my rods are generally 5.5 feet, but one of them is often a 6.5 footer (and my topwater rod is 5'3").  In stowing the rods, I'll have two longer ones lying with handles resting on the sides of my bench seat and tips tucked beneath the gunwales in front, two shorter ones lying with the handle resting on the thwart right in front of me and the tip under the front end cap, and one more also resting on the bench seat sides with tip tucked under the rear end cap.  Thus none of my rods are sticking out to get snagged on anything or get in the way when I'm playing a good fish, and all are within instant reach and always rigged and ready to go.  My tackle box is an auto battery box, which five 3701 Plano boxes fit into perfectly, and it goes under my seat (I had to raise the seat slightly on a couple of my solos for it to fit) with the opening facing forward and the Plano boxes lying flat.  So all my lures are also instantly and easily available, just slide out the appropriate box from between my legs.

On multi-day trips, I carry a 4 person tent, sleeping bag, inflatable mattress with a closed cell foam pad for a little more of a barrier against the occasional rock sticking up on the gravel bar, a small pillow, two high end coolers that both fit crossways in the canoe, whatever clothing I need, and if it's a cool weather trip, a plastic box with cooking gear--I don't bother cooking anything on hot weather trips.  So the two coolers, and two dry bags with the tent, sleeping stuff, and clothing apportioned into them, are the main bulky items in the canoe.  I could certainly fit a bit more stuff in the canoe if I wanted, but it would entail the gear being higher above the gunwales and make rod stowage a bit more inconvenient.  Still, I'm getting to where I'm considering taking some kind of camp chair.  (As for the two coolers, that's actually only for trips of more than two days--one cooler holds the stuff I'll eat and drink the first couple days, the other the stuff I won't get into until the third day.  If it's just an overnighter, I'll only carry one cooler and could fit a bunch more stuff into the canoe instead of the second one if I wished.)

[Al Agnew]

11 hours ago, top_dollar said:

"A decent solo canoe will do everything a kayak will do and do most of it better."

How many rods do/can you fish effectively out of a solo canoe?  Do you just lay them down horizontally in front of you?  Is lower cost the only reason fishing kayaks are so popular?  I have a kayak, and I do like it, and can fish effectively out of it, but it seems like a solo canoe is a better option.  That said, almost everyone I see fishing is using a kayak.  

I described my rod situation elsewhere, but as to the question of why kayaks are so popular, fact is that solo canoes have never been really popular, especially in this region.  So most people never paddled anything but a tandem canoe; if they tried to paddle it solo it wasn't a whole lot of fun, and if they only paddled with a partner it took cooperation between them.  So when kayaks suddenly began to gain popularity, all of a sudden a lot of people were trying them out and finding that they were fun and gave you a great sense of independence.  No wonder they lapped them up and thought they were better than canoes.  And then, the kayak companies began a lot of smart marketing, adding all kinds of gadgets for anglers, sponsoring guys to video using their kayaks for fishing and write articles about how great they were.  And meanwhile, the canoe manufacturers had no clue how they could better market solo canoes, which had always been a niche market with a pretty small niche.  Once you start adding geegaws to a canoe, it quickly becomes heavier and more cluttered, and the beauty of a canoe is in the simplicity. And then Royalex became unavailable, and the already limited choices in solo canoes became even more limited.  You can find a hundred different models of kayaks just about anywhere, but only a handful of good solo canoe models for fishing and floating purposes.  And cost is also undeniably a part of it; good solo canoes start at well over a thousand dollars these days with a few exceptions.