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New Swift Tandem - Lavieille 17-6
- Thread starter NikonF5user
- Start date
I have no problem soloing my 17,18, and 20 foot boats. With a bow light trim they all turn easy, with a flattish trim it depends on the boat.
Small families may very well be the target market. Our Malecite (16.5' for anyone who doesn't know) came with a center seat, which I always assumed was there for solo paddling. That's how I mostly used it before acquiring a solo canoe, but we've also put grandkids on that seat (one at a time) for day trips. Another foot would certainly buy some time.
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A reasonably nice but nothing fancy 1 acre waterfront lot with a small cabin will run you about CA$2 Million in Muskoka, a bigger lot with a smallish all season house on a good lake will be in the 3 - 4 Million range.
If you want high end you are looking at 5+ Million in that area where Swift are located. Most people who have cottages there will have already dropped $20 - $100 Thousand on a motorboat so $5,000 for a family canoe is not out of range.
Five years ago, I built a nice new 3 bedroom cottage (plus a sleeping loft) on five dry wooded acres on a small private association owned no-motors allowed lake in the western Adirondacks. I have a good 40 year combined civilian government pension, a 22 year military pension, and social security as income. I have accumulated 13 high quality canoes in carbon, kevlar, or cedar (no kayaks). Raising two kids, my wife and I had carefully saved our pennies during my working career and have only about $300K, including 200' waterfront 5 acres fully paid cash invested in the cottage. With just a 3-mile perimeter to paddle, it is my canoe race training lake, but several other much larger lakes and rivers are not far away.
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I have got a Spirit II with three seats. Like my old Dagger Explore, and quite a few other tandems with middle seats, the problem with having a paddler at the middle seat is balance. A balanced sitting position is too far from the Gunwales to be an effective paddling position and an effective paddling position (buns to the guns) dangerously upsets the canoe balance as that position is way outside the center line of the canoe. Third seat paddling only worked when the kids were small, so two of them would fit on the seat next to each other, and each was able to paddle.
I saw a video ones where four guys (could have been 5...don't recall) paddled a racing type canoe. All but the bow and stern seats were on sideways rails, and every time they switched paddling sides, all but the bow and stern paddler had to slide to their respective opposite sides of the boat. The sliding bit had to be highly coordinated or the whole crew landed in the drink. Not sure if that was a prototype of something or if that is a standard. Either way, I can see that working for a good paddling team in a race but not much else.
To me, the Lavieille's third seat looks too far behind the centerline. I'd be worried about loading up the stern a lot, unless the bow paddler or gear can make up for it. However, if one were to solo this canoe, the tucked in gunwale at the third seat might make for a great spot!
That sliding mid seat configuration is very common among C4 and voyageur (C6-7) racing canoes. Balance could be a problem with a C3, however. Seats are on a wheel system that rolls left to right and back again during huts. Coordination is critical though. One partial miss is forgivable, but a complete uncoordinated slide can mean the entire crew gets wet, unacceptable while racing obviously. My first voyageur canoe had fixed seats until I discovered that I could order sheets of Teflon plastic. With slippery nylon shorts being worn, the slide side to side was easy. Later we opted for the wheeled seat option. Fortunately,, as a 99% bow racing paddler, I do not have to worry about sliding, unless someone behind me is uncoordinated and I have to attempt a counter with my own weight shift and paddle draw. The only other problem was on the Yukon, each paddler had their own custom fitted spray cover and the fabric would get caught under the wheels if it wasn't kept tight around the waist.
Piling on to agree - this is not a tripping boat for three adults & gear, unless they are unusually small adults. Cottage boat? Sure.
I've tripped in the larger 18' 9" Northstar Northwind with three people several times, and even though we were single-carrying & pretty light...the boat felt sluggish and overloaded. Give me a MN3 for three adults & gear.
Edit to add: This is, IMO, a gap-area in the canoe market. There's just not many true 3-person trippers out there. And again...swift makes some fantastic boats...just don't see this as a player for wilderness work.
I've tripped in the larger 18' 9" Northstar Northwind with three people several times, and even though we were single-carrying & pretty light...the boat felt sluggish and overloaded. Give me a MN3 for three adults & gear.
Edit to add: This is, IMO, a gap-area in the canoe market. There's just not many true 3-person trippers out there. And again...swift makes some fantastic boats...just don't see this as a player for wilderness work.
I have been looking at the NW 20. The length is 20' 5", but storage would be difficult, and I rarely have the need for that sort of capacity. Besides, the problem with where the 3rd (or eve 4th) paddler should sit to keep the balance is still unsolved. IMHO those larger canoes are still really only made for bow and stern paddlers with lots of gear, non paddling family, dogs...etc.
