Hemlock or North Star Solo's in the Bay Area????

[Alan Gage]

Isn’t blacklight similar to the Bell blackgold layup.

I haven't really kept up but I don't think so. The blackgold layup was meant to be tough rather than light. It was solid composite with no foam core.

The blacklight layup looks to be aiming for lighter weight and it does have a foam core.

Not saying one is better than the other, they're just suited for different uses.

Alan

 

[lowangle al]

Thanks, that'd be great. When I spoke with Dave Curtis he said to go three and a half inches back from center for the first hole and 8 1/2 in back from the first hole for the second hole. His advice was to have your belly button over the center of of the boat.

On my boat the holes for the leading edge of the seat are 5 1/2 inches behind the holes for the center thwart.
For the seat drops, I only found two and they were cut on an angle. They were about 1 1/2" on the short side and about 1 3/4 on the long side. They are for the leading edge of the seat. The rear of the seat was mounted directly to the gunnels IIRC.
FWIW, I eventually removed all the seat drops from the bow and stern seats for improved comfort and still have plenty of stability. If you will be tripping with this boat keep in mind that you won't be able to keep a yoke permanently mounted with the center seat installed. Also the boat paddles solo really well from the bow seat facing backwards or like I do, from the stern seat.

 

[Halpc]

Bluetick82- On my Malecite (Kevlar 8/88 build date) the hole for the leading edge of the center seat is 9’1” from the tip of the bow, measured along the gunnel. It is 7 7/8” behind what appears to be the hole for the yoke. I don’t know if it is a factory setup, but it works well for me. My center seat front drop is slanted from 3/8” to 5/8”. The rear edge is directly bolted to the gunnel. Bluetick82- have you purchased the SRT in Colorado? A friend of mine is interested in it and has gotten strange, and inconsistent responses from the owner. You appear to be first in line, if there is a line. , He references a “guy in California” which I assume is you. He first posted that it was “no longer available”, then a little later said that it was still available and now it is a “maybe”! We don’t know what to make of the situation.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Bluetick, a belated welcome to site membership! Feel free to ask any questions and to post messages, photos and videos, and to start threads, in our many forums. Please read Welcome to CanoeTripping and Site Rules! Also, please add your location to the Account Details page in your profile, which will cause it to show under your avatar, as this is a geographic sport. Many of the site's technical features are explained in Features: Help and How-To Running Thread. We look forward to your participation in our canoe community.

I own a Hemlock SRT and have never paddled a Northstar. The SRT is significantly deeper and likely has more tender initial stability. The SRT would probably be a better canoe for heavily loaded, multi-day wilderness trips and for day tripping in class 2/easy 3 rivers. The Northwind solo might be preferable for day trips on lakes, especially if they are windy, and would be almost 10 lbs. lighter to carry. Only you know what kind of canoeing you'll do. You live in a beautiful part of the country, but as you say, it's not exactly river/lake canoe country.

The SRT has a lower asking price but there would be a lot of added time and expense to pick it up. In addition, the Northwind comes with a lot of extras for the extra price.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Answer to the factory spacing for the Malecite solo seat....

Mine is original. It has the slotted wood gunwales. In a straight line from the point of the bow to the front seat hanger screw is 106". The seat is contoured and hangs from angled trusses 2" fore and 3/4" aft.

 

[bluetick82]

I missed out on the NW Solo in Berkeley, I'd still love to get the SRT in Colorado, just dont have the time now, still lusting after it. We'll see. A Bell Wildfire popped up locally, but I think its way over priced. Paddled the Malecite for the first time today. I'll defiantly be raising the seats up. Per the advice of Dave Curtis at Hemlock, did 3.5" back from center for the Conk seat. Way to low with the knelling drops he sent. No way I can get my feet under at all. Ill have to do some trimming...

 

[Halpc]

Bluetick82- sorry but the SRT has been sold. My friend John and I drove over to Durango and picked it up on Saturday. We owe you a big thanks for starting this thread and to Noelcanoedad for spotting the ad and posting it. The SRT is a 2015 build and had only one small repair on the hull. Very few scratches and solid wood. It has an interesting adjustable seat (fore and aft) which I had never seen before. John got to try it out for balance in a pool on the way home and was really psyched that he avoided dumping it, even though he has limited canoe experience. Most of his time has been in a Bell Yellowstone and he was a bit nervous that this would be too “high performance “ for him. I’m looking forward to trying it out and comparing it to my Wildfire, Indy and Phoenix.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Bluetick82- sorry but the SRT has been sold. My friend John and I drove over to Durango and picked it up on Saturday. We owe you a big thanks for starting this thread and to Noelcanoedad for spotting the ad and posting it. The SRT is a 2015 build and had only one small repair on the hull. Very few scratches and solid wood. It has an interesting adjustable seat (fore and aft) which I had never seen before. John got to try it out for balance in a pool on the way home and was really psyched that he avoided dumping it, even though he has limited canoe experience. Most of his time has been in a Bell Yellowstone and he was a bit nervous that this would be too “high performance “ for him. I’m looking forward to trying it out and comparing it to my Wildfire, Indy and Phoenix.

Now there's four boats I'll be really interested in seeing a comparison!

 

[bluetick82]

Well glad it went to a good home. The seller seemed like a nice guy.

In other news, attempting to adjust the drops on the solo seat in the malecite.... I measured the seat in my mad River Explorer and it's 11.5 in from the hull. The highest I can get in the malecite with no hanger/ straight to the gunwales is 9.5. I think I'll try that unless someone can give me a really good reason NOT to attach to the gunwales directly?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I measured the seat in my mad River Explorer and it's 11.5 in from the hull.

What seat in the 15" deep Explorer, the bow or stern? Those seats are not at the same height as a centralized solo seat would be, especially for kneeling.

The highest I can get in the malecite with no hanger/ straight to the gunwales is 9.5.

I can't quite visualize this, as the Malecite is 13" deep at center. A Conk seat is primarily a kneeling seat. Most centralized kneelers likely use a seat that has the front edge between 9.0" and 10.5" off the bottom depending on their height, leg length and foot size. A sitter might want a higher seat in a stable canoe.

I think I'll try that unless someone can give me a really good reason NOT to attach to the gunwales directly?

I don't know if you're a kneeler or sitter, but you should place the seat at a height and cant that is comfortable for you—in terms of butt comfort, knee comfort, foot extraction comfort, and stability comfort. That could include attaching the seat to the gunwales if that's what it takes..

 

[Steve in Idaho]

The factory contoured solo seat in my Malecite top at the center is 9" from the floor. If it was a flat seat, it would be 10" high. Having said that, I think I would not be afraid of mounting the contoured seat flush with the gunwales. Not sure about doing that with a flat seat, but if my feet were bigger I'd sure give it a try.

 

[bluetick82]

I'm going to try
Mounting the front of the seat with 0.5in spacers and the rear directly to the gunwales

 

[Halpc]

That is basically what I did with my Malecite and it works well for kneeling, “Olympic” kneeling and sitting. I wear size 10 1/2 shoes and usually wear some type of river shoe or Five Fingers footwear. Kevlar is abrasive on bare feet unless you have a pad.

 

[bluetick82]

Looking to pick up one of the North Star pads

 

[lowangle al]

The factory contoured solo seat in my Malecite top at the center is 9" from the floor. If it was a flat seat, it would be 10" high. Having said that, I think I would not be afraid of mounting the contoured seat flush with the gunwales. Not sure about doing that with a flat seat, but if my feet were bigger I'd sure give it a try.

I have straight seats mounted to the gunnels on mine. The bow seat is 12" high and the stern is just shy of 12.5". I don't have any issues with stability and I've paddled it empty from the stern seat. Raising the seats to the gunnels changed the character of the boat in my eyes. For some reason it made the boat look more rugged and capable, and like I said above, it is more comfortable. I did paddle the boat for a lot of years with the seats in the original position before raising them.

 

[adkjoe]

I missed out on the NW Solo in Berkeley, I'd still love to get the SRT in Colorado, just dont have the time now, still lusting after it. We'll see. A Bell Wildfire popped up locally, but I think its way over priced. Paddled the Malecite for the first time today. I'll defiantly be raising the seats up. Per the advice of Dave Curtis at Hemlock, did 3.5" back from center for the Conk seat. Way to low with the knelling drops he sent. No way I can get my feet under at all. Ill have to do some trimming...

Just joined the party! I have owned a NW Solo (Currently for sale on Hemlock's used page) and it is a very capable boat. I also own a Hemlock Peregrine, Eaglet & SRT..... In my non professional opinion you cannot go wrong with an SRT. My NW Solo was the starlite layup with aluminum trim. I had Hemlock pull all the aluminum and replace with wood and install one of their seats. I just like wood trim. I traded the NW Solo to Hemlock for a used Peregrine (Personal choice). I've included images of my NW Solo (3) and the Hemlock family (Peregrine, Eaglet & SRT), best wishes to you in your search.

 

[NikonF5user]

Bluetick82- sorry but the SRT has been sold. My friend John and I drove over to Durango and picked it up on Saturday. We owe you a big thanks for starting this thread and to Noelcanoedad for spotting the ad and posting it. The SRT is a 2015 build and had only one small repair on the hull. Very few scratches and solid wood. It has an interesting adjustable seat (fore and aft) which I had never seen before. John got to try it out for balance in a pool on the way home and was really psyched that he avoided dumping it, even though he has limited canoe experience. Most of his time has been in a Bell Yellowstone and he was a bit nervous that this would be too “high performance “ for him. I’m looking forward to trying it out and comparing it to my Wildfire, Indy and Phoenix.

Do you love it?!? I had that boat reserved but the transport to Maryland wasn't going to work before leaving on my trip to the Yukon so I backed out - have been kicking myself for not finding a way to make it happen. I love the SRT, especially a red SRT, and this one seemed pretty well perfect!

 

[Halpc]

My friend, John, is the one who purchased it. He loves it, except for the tractor seat, which he said was too narrow for his butt. He replaced it with a contoured web seat from Ed's last week. I paddled it in a lake for a couple of hours before the seat swap and liked it a lot. I think it will be better with the new seat, especially for kneeling, which I prefer. I haven't gotten to try it in a river yet. It slipstreams nicely on a lake and I had no trouble with its tracking. I use an ottertail or beaver tail, very rarely switch sides, and enjoyed its straight line performance. I think he got a really good deal on it. He paid the full asking price of $1,500. The photo is John's first paddle in the SRT with the new seat installed.

 

[adkjoe]

My friend, John, is the one who purchased it. He loves it, except for the tractor seat, which he said was too narrow for his butt. He replaced it with a contoured web seat from Ed's last week. I paddled it in a lake for a couple of hours before the seat swap and liked it a lot. I think it will be better with the new seat, especially for kneeling, which I prefer. I haven't gotten to try it in a river yet. It slipstreams nicely on a lake and I had no trouble with its tracking. I use an ottertail or beaver tail, very rarely switch sides, and enjoyed its straight line performance. I think he got a really good deal on it. He paid the full asking price of $1,500. The photo is John's first paddle in the SRT with the new seat installed. View attachment 142790

$1500 is a steal!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

he photo is John's first paddle in the SRT with the new seat installed.

Wow, sitting no less in a new SRT. Way to go, John. (Hal, get John to join the site if he hasn't already.)