Has anyone had any experience with extended tripping in a Merlin 2? Curious if it has enough space for a 2+ week trip carrying paddler plus portage pack and 60L barrel...
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Extended Tripping in a Merlin 2?
- Thread starter NikonF5user
- Start date
I think I used a30 liter plus some outside pouches. in my Merlin2. Could do16 days.
Did many in Temagami
Did many in Temagami
No experience with the Merlin 2, but I do 3 week trips with a Winters Kite that has almost identical specs.
Mark
Mark
I recently bought a damaged merlin 2 from a buddy clearing out his garage. Haven't done any extended events with it, but have used it quite a bit as a hunting and fishing "beater" canoe. Perhaps a bit snobby of me given the canoe's lineage, but its already damaged goods. Given what I paid for it and being able to repair just about anything that could conceivably happen to it works out well for me. Its definitely ultra light and well mannered on the water though.
Anyway, in terms of load capacity... Here's a couple photo's with a 90-100lb live weight deer, plus 30lb+ back pack and some misc stuff you can't see behind the pack. I'm about 170lbs these days. So that would have been roughly 300lb+ load. This particular outing was only about 3.5-4 miles of flat water paddling each way with maybe a 100 yds of twisty cyprus knee laden mud/swamp/creek to get out on main body of water, but canoe handled fine. So I would think there's more than enough load capacity for a 2 week trip. I could eat on that deer for at least a month
That said, this is the only merlin 2 I've ever laid eyes on or paddled, but if they're all made like this one I'd be far more concerned about damage on an extended trip than I would be about capacity. This hull is as thin as they could have possibly made it. They definitely counted on leveraging the tumble home, gunwales and divynicel sole pad to hold its shape and minimize oil canning. The tears I repaired could easily have been made worse with little effort. So if it were me, I would absolutely have a repair kit on any extended trip with this thing or at least a roll of quality duct tape...
Anyway, in terms of load capacity... Here's a couple photo's with a 90-100lb live weight deer, plus 30lb+ back pack and some misc stuff you can't see behind the pack. I'm about 170lbs these days. So that would have been roughly 300lb+ load. This particular outing was only about 3.5-4 miles of flat water paddling each way with maybe a 100 yds of twisty cyprus knee laden mud/swamp/creek to get out on main body of water, but canoe handled fine. So I would think there's more than enough load capacity for a 2 week trip. I could eat on that deer for at least a month
That said, this is the only merlin 2 I've ever laid eyes on or paddled, but if they're all made like this one I'd be far more concerned about damage on an extended trip than I would be about capacity. This hull is as thin as they could have possibly made it. They definitely counted on leveraging the tumble home, gunwales and divynicel sole pad to hold its shape and minimize oil canning. The tears I repaired could easily have been made worse with little effort. So if it were me, I would absolutely have a repair kit on any extended trip with this thing or at least a roll of quality duct tape...
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