Helpful tip, thanks kona! Especially in reference to another Bell royalex, which I assume has the same style/shape of gunnels.
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'new' Bell Morningstar
- Thread starter Tsuga8
- Start date
Oh wow. I have another unicorn. Or is that - dinosaur? Looking at my fleet, I have now four great boats no longer made by anyone.
I think I like the idea of the royalex Morningstar as a dedicated poling canoe for up to technical class 2+. 55 lbs in standard dress, from what I read. Pulling those seats and dropping that by 3-4 lbs makes an attractive hull, IMO. That one's on my BOLO list.
Yes....I guess you and I have a weakness for uni-dino-corn-a-saur poling boats, eh? I'm continually on the lookout for a boat that poles well, will stand up to rocks, isn't a pig (Heron) or a whirlygig (Souhegan) to paddle solo on the flats, and is light enough for easy cartopping and portaging down to the creek. The white gold Morningstar seems to fit all those except I can't bring myself to scrap up a hull in good shape on rocks. As you said, the Rx version solves the rock issue. It's a bit beastly to carry without a yoke, but I'm hopeful adding a yoke and losing seats might make it fit the bill. We'll see how it paddles solo on flats and lightens up with less seats and a proper yoke.
What are your four dino-corns?
What are your four dino-corns?
There's the previously mentioned Coho, the Mohawk Solo 14, my stunning '98 vintage kevlar eggplant Malecite with 3 contoured seats and slotted ash rails - and if I may....my wife's kev/glass Wilderness Chesapeake, which I consider a decked canoe. Talk about unicorns... I've been on strict orders to buy every one of those I can get, but I've only ever seen one other for sale within range - and somebody beat me to it.
I don't consider the Bell Wildfire to be either unicorn or dinosaur.
I'm not familiar with the Chesapeake. The others I've heard of but never seen in person, let alone paddled. I see Mohawks for sale around here periodically, but not solos.
Chesapeake is a 12' what most people call recreational kayak. It's a shallow arch hull with soft chines. Extremely Swede form. Very large cockpit (hence, my argument for "decked canoe"). Weighs something under 40 lbs (I forget what, exactly). I read somewhere that it was Wilderness Systems's first kayak, on which the plastic Pungo was based - but it really doesn't resemble that boat much. Think - Poke Boat, but much more refined.
(For Glenn
)When I was recovering from an injury, it was the first boat I got into - and I paddled it with a single blade. I'm heading out for the day, but when I get a chance, I'll post a photo.
Interesting. We have a Wilderness Systems kayak in the family from the early days. I can't remember the model name, but it predates the Pungo - it would have been bought late 90s? It sounds like the opposite of the Chesapeake. Durable plastic, 13ft, hard chines and a deep vee hull, moderately sized cockpit opening (small for a rec boat, maybe avg for a more serious kayak) but a lot of people find it hard to get in and out of with the narrower opening and the tippiness of a deep vee in shallow water or on the beach. My mom and sister love it as it firms up well with speed and in wind or chop, but it's heavier (and probably more durable) than a lot of plastic boats of it's size. I hate hefting it but it does paddle well.....for a kayak.
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Of course it popped into my head after I tried to start thinking about something else. It's a WS Manteo. This isn't my listing but there are nice pics of the chines here. Don't see many a canoe with chines like this! https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/882733917154330/
Chesapeake is a 12' what most people call recreational kayak. It's a shallow arch hull with soft chines. Extremely Swede form. Very large cockpit (hence, my argument for "decked canoe"). Weighs something under 40 lbs (I forget what, exactly). I read somewhere that it was Wilderness Systems's first kayak, on which the plastic Pungo was based - but it really doesn't resemble that boat much. Think - Poke Boat, but much more refined.
(For Glenn
I'm heading out for the day, but when I get a chance, I'll post a photo.
Edit: I wrote "shallow arch" but meant to say shallow vee. And width BTW is 28".
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Nice! You could fit a large dog in that cockpit with you.
Yep.
I've been thinking more about trying a pedestal style seat. Did you make this one yourself? Are there many 'factory'-made on the market?When I want to paddle it, I use this.
Yes and no. The main body of that saddle is available from NRS and a few others. Because I wanted both saddle and kneepads to be removable, I glued the 1" foam pad to the saddle. I just installed another saddle just like it (I bought two, years ago when they were on sale) in my Wildfire, but I wanted it an inch taller as well. So I glued some of that 1" foam on the bottom, cut to match the saddle's footprint.
Thanks!
Well, I finally got out the scales and weighed some boats. The RX Morningstar comes in around 60.5 lbs, and that's with only a center seat. I still don't have a yoke and the shape of the gunnels doesn't work that well with the clamp-on yoke I have. The Rx Heron is only 55 lbs with two seats. The WhiteGold Morningstar (center seat only) and Souhegan come in around 44lbs. (And then there's the Penobscot 16 at 68 lbs).
I do like poling the Rx Morningstar well enough, but it's a bit of a fight car-topping it and getting down the creek bank vs the others. Plus, it's more of a round-bottomed boat, and as I hear more about wanting flat bottom and chines to carve turns, I'm leaning back towards the Heron and Souhegan for the bony creek. (I do like the WG Morningstar for swamp poling, where I'm often paddling the deep stretches as well). I think I need a fixed yoke for the Rx Bell, though I'm tempted to say that's the one to get sold. But, it could be a nice lighter alternative to the Old Town on a rocky river solo camping trip with some minimal portages ....
I did finally see a Coho in person - Chip Cochrane had one at the ACA New England Poling event. Races were cancelled due to flooding, but we still got on the bankfull river for a bit - the guys absolutely schooled me on handling the pushy water - I was struggling to stay upright at times. Chip said the Coho is Swedeform, but he found it's faster poled facing the wider end, so the wide end tends to ride up in front and the narrow end sinks and provides a bit of tracking. I can't remember if he said he pulled in one of the thwarts to get that effect though. I wonder how many Cohos are out there.... I have my eye out for a kevlar MR Explorer or Malecite too....
I haven't noticed Chip saying anything online about changing anything on the Coho. I keep forgetting to try turning around and facing the stern. Next time...
