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Poll: How old were you when you got YOUR OWN first canoe (and what was it)?
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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In 1974 I inherited a 17' square stern fibreglass beast from Canadian Tire that previous inhabitants of our "new " home on the Ottawa River had left.
Also left a pair of 6 foot long maple paddles...
Terrible canoe that wallowed like a whale and resisted any and all steering inputs I made. It followed me when we moved west to Lake Simcoe.
During this time i had found and borrowed/rented much better boats that maneuvered and paddled as I'd seen in Bill Masons movies.
The fibreglass pig ended up as a vegetable garden before being hauled to the dump.
Next canoe was a Chestnut Pal...
Bruce
Also left a pair of 6 foot long maple paddles...
Terrible canoe that wallowed like a whale and resisted any and all steering inputs I made. It followed me when we moved west to Lake Simcoe.
During this time i had found and borrowed/rented much better boats that maneuvered and paddled as I'd seen in Bill Masons movies.
The fibreglass pig ended up as a vegetable garden before being hauled to the dump.
Next canoe was a Chestnut Pal...
Bruce
1975 Wenonah whitewaterII 19 years old. had it for 25 or so years. Great BWCA guiding canoe.
"Scott" 16' Tripper in FG. 65 pounds when I was 18 (1979). $500 got me the canoe and 1 paddle.
Karin
Karin
Wow! Am I the only one!!?? OK, I’ll take the walk of shame...in 1978 We moved to Connecticut and I was able to get my drivers license that year at 16. This was big stuff for a NY City boy. I bought a 15 Coleman tandem in “Colorado Red” and proceeded to abuse that beast on local rivers, creeks and flat water. It was a pig to paddle, but I didn’t know it then; but it was probably the perfect boat for a kid who knew nothing and hit a lot of rocks on the River. That boat was tough. I kept it long after I had better boats as a loaner/beater, finally selling it to a neighbor on St Simon Island, GA in 2004.
In 1975 when I was a senior in high school and 18 I bought a 13ft-8in cedar strip canoe from Carl Bausch of Charlotte, VT for $250. Carl built canoes to order and the one I got was never picked up. I had no idea what I was buying, only that it looked nice and seemed like a "deal". I think it's more a whitewater boat than flat water, and it's set up tandem which I now find odd. I paddled it summers throughout college and not much since. I still have it and think about setting it up as a solo boat. I have not weighed it but it is light. No in wale, cedar out wale, and only a football of fiberglass on the inside. Orange shellack, not varnish. Although it's always been stored inside out of the sun, it's not now and never has been pretty and clear to look at, although I do think it well crafted. I wonder if it's a polyester resin boat?
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At age 33 I bought the 16' fiberglass Northern Canoes Prospector that I use in the videos I make. I got it for $1400, which was a deal, as it was a demonstrator boat. It had barely any signs of use and, needless to say, I went home happy that day.
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I was "almost" born in a canoe. It was 1952 in Mt. Pleasant Mi. My parents "and I " were canoeing on the Chippewa river when my mother was ready. My dad pulled the canoe over and they got to the hospital just in time for me to enter the world. This was a Grumman aluminum 17 ft. It was the family canoe until my Dad decided he wanted one of those new fiberglass canoes. He bought a very heavy Indian Voyager. The old Grumman was put in the barn and later was given to me. I liked it more than the glass canoe. I still have it but have not used it in quite a while. I've had lots of canoes since but a lot of memories with the Grumman.
It was 1977, I was 24 years old and owned a bicycle store in the same Mount Pleasant Michigan as the previous poster.
My friend said his friend needed some money fast and had a canoe for $250 that I should buy. I gave my friend the cash and the next day he shows up with a Sawyer Loon, a Krueger closed deck design that was the predecessor to the Mad River Monarch and later, the Krueger Sea Wind.
I had no idea what I had stumbled into. I’ve owned and paddled many other canoes over the years, but always preferred the Loon to anything else I’ve ever tried. I figured the only way to get a craft that I would like better is to get a newer version of the Loon, so in 2004 I bought a Sea Wind.
I still own the Sawyer Loon.
My friend said his friend needed some money fast and had a canoe for $250 that I should buy. I gave my friend the cash and the next day he shows up with a Sawyer Loon, a Krueger closed deck design that was the predecessor to the Mad River Monarch and later, the Krueger Sea Wind.
I had no idea what I had stumbled into. I’ve owned and paddled many other canoes over the years, but always preferred the Loon to anything else I’ve ever tried. I figured the only way to get a craft that I would like better is to get a newer version of the Loon, so in 2004 I bought a Sea Wind.
I still own the Sawyer Loon.
Grew up paddling the local river and made one BWCA trip in a plastic 14' Sam's Club special my dad had bought for abusing on said river.
When I wanted to go to the BWCA again in my mid 20s (like 7 years ago) I picked up a well-used 1980 fiberglass Wenonah Jensen for $600 off of craigslist, followed in short succession by a Scot Explorer for $100, an Alumacraft for free and then a kevlar Wenonah Odyssey for a grand. Sold the Jensen to my cousin after I bought the Odyssey, he painted it and it still sees the BWCA every year
When I wanted to go to the BWCA again in my mid 20s (like 7 years ago) I picked up a well-used 1980 fiberglass Wenonah Jensen for $600 off of craigslist, followed in short succession by a Scot Explorer for $100, an Alumacraft for free and then a kevlar Wenonah Odyssey for a grand. Sold the Jensen to my cousin after I bought the Odyssey, he painted it and it still sees the BWCA every year
G
Guest
Guest
1972. I left home at 16, and my father allowed me to take the most beaten and battered of our aluminum canoes to have as my own boat; a mid-60’s Montgomery Ward’s “Sea King” 15 foot tandem.
Wards Sea Kings of that era were built extra tough and, although that canoe had been through the wringer in near-idiotic WW use, it was my only canoe until 1988. Eventually stolen from a lakeshore near my home, I’d love to recover it, and at the same time I wouldn’t want to pick it up or paddle it again.
First canoe I ever paid for was a very early single layer poly canoe, a “Whitewater” brand canoe, manufactured in the whitewater heartland of Iowa. Seriously not a whitewater canoe, it had massively recurved stems, a full keel and had baked UV brittle in the west Texas sun for decades before I bought it used ($60 and a lot of elbow grease).
Got my money’s worth out of that one, and got smarter about canoe design and materials.
Wards Sea Kings of that era were built extra tough and, although that canoe had been through the wringer in near-idiotic WW use, it was my only canoe until 1988. Eventually stolen from a lakeshore near my home, I’d love to recover it, and at the same time I wouldn’t want to pick it up or paddle it again.
First canoe I ever paid for was a very early single layer poly canoe, a “Whitewater” brand canoe, manufactured in the whitewater heartland of Iowa. Seriously not a whitewater canoe, it had massively recurved stems, a full keel and had baked UV brittle in the west Texas sun for decades before I bought it used ($60 and a lot of elbow grease).
Got my money’s worth out of that one, and got smarter about canoe design and materials.
A 2004 Bell Yellowstone Solo - first and last boatI purchased new from a dealer (in 2004), and the boat I would keep if I could have only one.
2004 Bell Yellowstone Solo - first and last boat that I bought new at a dealer (in 2004), and the one I would keep if I could only have one.
Early 80's, in my late 20's. I was working in a bike/ski/paddle shop in Plattsburgh, NY. We only had a boat or two in stock, but could order them. The Mad River rep came by occassionally, and was a really nice guy; I got a kevlar Malecite, mist green, wood trim, and I loved it.
Later sold it to the shop's owner after I bought a Blackhawk Covenant solo, as I found I was always paddling alone, and being a little guy the Malecite was a little big for me. I still think about that Malecite, wish I hadn't let it go.
Later sold it to the shop's owner after I bought a Blackhawk Covenant solo, as I found I was always paddling alone, and being a little guy the Malecite was a little big for me. I still think about that Malecite, wish I hadn't let it go.
Our first purchase as newlyweds, I was 23, she 19, 1971, a brand new 17' Grumman lightweight factory second right from Grumman in bethpage, L.I., NY
The canoe is in Ontario, she's cooking breakfast in the kitchen and I wish I had that Chevy Nova back.
The canoe is in Ontario, she's cooking breakfast in the kitchen and I wish I had that Chevy Nova back.
First one I owned was a strange beast, I believe it was a Springbok, it was a twelve foot aluminium bath tub. I did some very crazy things in that canoe, and even took three of us on couple of overnight trips with gear and the works.
When I was around 19, it got stolen, so the insurance company asked me to get a valuation. I went to the place where I bought it, and he wrote me a note assigning a ridiculously high value to it, with the understanding that I would come back and spend the money at his shop.
I did just that, but now comes the part of my life i like to keep hidden....I bought a kayak. First time I used it I almost drowned, it had a very small cockpit that made underwater extraction quite difficult. I can't remember what happened to the kayak, I probably traded it for a case of beer, something I did a lot of in those days.
There's a lot to be said for those old aluminium canoes that many of us cut our teeth on. I'm on the lookout right now for one with the right price, so I can use it as a loaner, since my poly canoe got destroyed by a snow plow.
When I was around 19, it got stolen, so the insurance company asked me to get a valuation. I went to the place where I bought it, and he wrote me a note assigning a ridiculously high value to it, with the understanding that I would come back and spend the money at his shop.
I did just that, but now comes the part of my life i like to keep hidden....I bought a kayak. First time I used it I almost drowned, it had a very small cockpit that made underwater extraction quite difficult. I can't remember what happened to the kayak, I probably traded it for a case of beer, something I did a lot of in those days.
There's a lot to be said for those old aluminium canoes that many of us cut our teeth on. I'm on the lookout right now for one with the right price, so I can use it as a loaner, since my poly canoe got destroyed by a snow plow.
OT Penobscot….don’t remember the year (those days were pretty “hazy”). First solo was Wenonah Solitude….today I would view it as an uninspiring boat but it did it’s job and hooked me on solo.
My first canoe was a BART Hauthaway 12 ft Sugar Island decked canoe that he finished building for me in 1976. It came with a mast step and sprit sail so I could sail or paddle it. I waited a year for him to build it while he hunted deer and fished for stripers off cape cod from a similar decked canoe, I enjoyed it a lot paddling it around Massachusetts but eventually went to longer faster kayaks and canoes.
I did buy the Bell version of this design when it first came out but the Bell was inferior in design and construction to my Hathaway canoe so quickly traded in the Bell.
Bart Hathaway was quite a character.
I did buy the Bell version of this design when it first came out but the Bell was inferior in design and construction to my Hathaway canoe so quickly traded in the Bell.
Bart Hathaway was quite a character.
A Coleman Ram X, I believe it was made by pelican company? It was in the late 90s. At 34 I got a late start. First canoe I ever paddled. Took that thing everywhere in east TN. Learned a lot from it. Gave it to my nephew.
Back in the early 1990’s I was teaching high school, as well as coaching football and running the weight room. I had a significant shoulder injury and was desperately attempting to avoid surgery. Talking with our trainer, we decided that canoe paddling may help as part of my training rehab.
One of my ball players had a badly faded, hogged bottom Coleman canoe, the one with pipe running along the frame. I had no canoe experience, no canoe bars on my truck … but I borrowed that canoe and paddle everywhere up and down the Wisconsin River. My body utilized the resistance of the current and that crappy boat, and my soul flourished experiencing such a terrific way to experience wild places.
As my shoulder shoulder improved my desire to learn to paddle well grew. YouTube and people I met at Canoecopia helped me tremendously and the following spring I bought a used Sours River 17 footer. What a difference in paddling, I felt like Superman with a healthy shoulder and better canoe - I explored every back channel, main channel of the entire lower Wisconsin waterway. I felt like an older version of Tom Sawyer as daily I had new adventures just a short truck ride away … I have been hooked ever since.
Bob.
One of my ball players had a badly faded, hogged bottom Coleman canoe, the one with pipe running along the frame. I had no canoe experience, no canoe bars on my truck … but I borrowed that canoe and paddle everywhere up and down the Wisconsin River. My body utilized the resistance of the current and that crappy boat, and my soul flourished experiencing such a terrific way to experience wild places.
As my shoulder shoulder improved my desire to learn to paddle well grew. YouTube and people I met at Canoecopia helped me tremendously and the following spring I bought a used Sours River 17 footer. What a difference in paddling, I felt like Superman with a healthy shoulder and better canoe - I explored every back channel, main channel of the entire lower Wisconsin waterway. I felt like an older version of Tom Sawyer as daily I had new adventures just a short truck ride away … I have been hooked ever since.
Bob.
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